The Quest: In the Name of Friendship
by UkyoRafa
Summary: COMPLETE! A story about friends who are separated by the dark menace of the Heartless, and about their struggle against this dark force. Will they ever meet each other again? Crossover KH, Ranma 12, Final Fantasy VII, Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, etc...
1. Default Chapter

Hey there, folks! How have you been? Desperate, I take it, if you're reading this... ^_^ As usual, I'll now bore you with my introduction / lowdown / explanation / whatever you wanna call it...  
  
This story sticks to the one of Kingdom Hearts, however, there will be many different things. For starters, this is a MAJOR crossover between KH, Ranma ½, Final Fantasy VII, The Legend of Zelda, Darkstalkers, and Street Fighter, and the two main characters will be none other than Ukyo and Wilheim (If you don't know who this guy is, read my bio, read the story 'The Wish of an Immortal', or keep on reading to find out! ^_^). But don't you worry: Sora will obviously be here, as well as Riku and Kairi and all the Disney cast...  
  
So, if there's anyone out there that likes any of this games (or anime, in Ranma's case) and has a death wish, you may begin to read my story. ^_^ Oh! Also, once again, I advice against going any further to any Ranma - Ukyo fan or Ryoga - Ukyo fan... You'll hate me if you do.  
  
Last but not least, most of the characters in this story (exceptions are Wilheim himself, Demean, and Tish... I'll keep you posted) don't belong to me. They are property of: Nintendo, Capcom, Rumiko Takahashi, Squaresoft, Tim Burton and Disney. Now (finally), on to the story!! Enjoy!!  
  
THE QUEST: IN THE NAME OF FRIENDSHIP  
  
The nocturne sky extended its glow to every corner in the small town of Nerima. Even though there wasn't a single cloud in the sky, and though the moon and the stars shone fiercely, the shadows crawled over the pavement and scaled the walls of the houses. For seconds, it appeared as if they were moving, like a hungry tiger that stalks its prey as it moves, unnoticed, with the cover of the high grass, and then it freezes, and becomes one with the light and the shadows, and one with the breeze...  
  
The stars in the sky slowly faded away, as if they were fireflies that were being devoured by an invisible foe. The shadows that adorned the moon began to peer at the town with malice, and suddenly, they seemed to climb down the white rock and into the town... Slowly, every light was engulfed by darkness: every tinkling candlelight was blown away, and every lamp was broken by an unknown force...  
  
"How much time do you give it, Ucchan? A week? Two weeks?" asked Ranma Saotome to her good friend, Ukyo Kuonji, who was sitting behind her grill and was staring at it without saying a word. She, Ranma, and another girl named Akane, were staying at her restaurant, 'Ucchan's', a little, yet great locale... She was completely lost in her own thoughts, and every word that Ranma or Akane spoke, seemed to echo in her mind as one of Wilheim's, her beloved, sighs...  
  
Ranma, Akane, and Ukyo were all seventeen years old. The boy was a tall, athletic young man, with a deep, gray stare, and short, dark hair. Akane was a beautiful girl with a breathtaking, brown, glance; a glance that seemed to be made with the fairest trunk of the fairest tree. She had black hair, a beautiful body, and an innocent face...  
  
Ukyo was a tall, gorgeous girl with the body of a goddess. Her sculptural curves and lines were simply perfect: not even the greatest of artists could capture such magnificence in one of his works. Her long hair fell down her back like a brown waterfall, and her white skin was even softer than silk. Her eyes were as blue as the deepest of oceans: their waters were calm and friendly when she was happy, but when she was angry, a terrible storm broke loose and surrounded her pupils with rage... She was truly a spectacle to behold.  
  
Wilheim, the being that loved Ukyo, was a sixty - eight year old vampire who had the body, heart, and spirit of a seventeen year old boy. Time had passed by him mercilessly, yet he always remained a teenager, for he had vowed to himself that he would not ever grow up, until he had regained his humanity... That moment had now come, for Wilheim had been freed from his destroyer: a malevolent vampire named Magnus. Along with Ukyo and her friends, the boy had fought a deadly battle in which he and his companions had emerged victorious... And now, the young man with the strong, tall body, the long, clear - brown hair, and the mysterious, yet captivating and magical violet glance, was about to become human again... He had parted from Ukyo's side, and had promised to return to her as soon as he could see the light of day once more. And the girl could do nothing but to think of that happy day...  
  
Yet, that night, she had something else on her mind... The last letter that Wilheim had sent had confused and troubled her deeply... Seeing that Ukyo gave no answer at all, Ranma slammed the grill with his fist. The girl trembled as if she had just waked up from a long sleep and said:  
  
"What is it, Ran - Chan? Quit banging my grill, will you?"  
  
"Ukyo, this is the third time this night that I've had to get your attention by hitting your stupid grill." Ranma complained. "My hands aren't made out of rubber, you know. Eventually, I'll end up with a nasty burn."  
  
"Then don't slam my grill." Replied Ukyo. "It's that simple."  
  
"That's the only way I can get you to listen to me..."  
  
"Try to stop thinking about whatever it is you're thinking for just a couple of seconds, Ukyo." Intervened Akane. "Come on, tell us. When do you think Wilheim's coming back?"  
  
"I don't know." Said Ukyo, and for a moment, her grim thoughts were driven off her mind. "But I don't think that he'll take more than three weeks. In his letters, he says that he feels he's getting close..."  
  
"Feels?" asked the boy.  
  
"Yeah... You know, a gut feeling." She paused for a moment and then added, with a silly smile on her face and a sigh: "I trust my Wilheim - honey. He'll be back soon enough. I can't wait to see his new eyes..."  
  
"I get it. By the way, what about the letter that you got from him this morning? What does it say?" asked Akane, and then added with a smirk: "Can you read it to us? Or is it a little too personal?"  
  
"It's rated G, so I guess I can read it to you." Laughed Ukyo, but then, her expression turned serious, as she remembered her beloved's last words...  
  
The girl loved to read her friends the letters that Wilheim sent her, and they loved to hear her as well, for Wilheim's words were powerful and magical, and always submerged them in vast, beautiful, and mysterious lands. Before he had known Ukyo, he had been a wanderer, a vagabond, that had seen many of the wonders and secrets the world has to offer. His speech was quite unusual, yet it was captivating and never ceased to fascinate all around him...  
  
However, Ukyo did not read every letter that came from Wilheim to her friends. Sometimes, her jealousy made her keep all of her beloved's words to herself. And sometimes, Wilheim's words were so powerful, so filled with love and eroticism, that Ukyo could do nothing but to think of his tough body and his soft lips...  
  
The girl reached to her pocked and took out the letter. As Akane looked at her friend's face, she noticed that all happiness had suddenly left her, and this worried her.  
  
"What's wrong, Ukyo?" she asked.  
  
"You'll see..." replied Ukyo.  
  
"Is it Wilheim? Is he alright?"  
  
"Sure, he's OK. I just told you that he'll come back one of this days, didn't I?" said the girl, with a giggle. "Just hear what he wrote... It's probably nothing, but it did feel a little puzzled when I read it..."  
  
Ranma leaned forward and let out a sigh.  
  
"So he's OK." He said.  
  
"Yeah, don't worry about it." Said Ukyo. "OK, here it goes..." and so, she began to read the letter out loud. It said:  
  
"Dearest Ukyo:  
  
"I look up at the sky as I write this, and hope that our merry encounter will come soon. As I glance at the stars, I begin to feel that their twinkling, once fair and mesmerizing, is slowly fading. I have seen the nocturne sky too many times: now all that satisfies my hungry eyes is the thought of your angel face. Not even the taste of blood can now ease my thirst... I need to taste your lips once more, my love.  
  
"I sense that my quest is almost over. I now stand in the middle of an empty Scottish field, with no more company that the soft blowing of the wind and the sweet smell of the grass. I have learned that the oracle Gabrielle dwells in these fields... Even though I have crossed them before, I do not remember them. It is as if I have never been here before... And I think I know why... Because the night that I ran through them, my eyes were filled with bloody tears, and all that I could see was a deep, black abyss in front of me, and all that I longed for was death. Yet, your face has become my moon, and your eyes are the lights that illuminate my way..."  
  
"What does he mean by that?" interrupted Ranma.  
  
"Oh, I'll... tell you later." Murmured Ukyo. She glanced at the letter and said: "This is the part that concerns me..." and so she kept on reading.  
  
"There is something that I want to share with you, Ukyo... I mentioned that I have seen that the lights of the stars are slowly fading, like an agonizing candlelight. This is not due to the fact that nothing that the world offers amuses me or captivates me as much as your breath. What I mean, is that the stars are truly disappearing in the sky. I have seen the same black sheet for over sixty years and now I notice that some of its decorations are missing. It is as if some mischievous imp were stealing the diamonds of the black cape... Where have they gone, I wonder?  
  
"I ask myself if I am not hallucinating all this. Who can tell? Maybe it is because of you, Ukyo. When I am not by your side, I cannot sleep and dream of the beautiful places that I have visited. That is why I need to make haste and find Gabrielle, so I can return to you and sleep once more... Only that, when we are together again, I will rest while the darkness takes over the sky. I will soon be human again. And when that happens, I will never be sad again, for you will be holding my hand once more...  
  
"I long for you, Ukyo. I desire to touch your soft skin more than ever... But we have to be patient. It will all happen soon enough, my dearest... Wait for me, my love, for I come to you.  
  
"Forever your humble slave... Wilheim."  
  
Ukyo then fell silent and sighed. She put the letter back in her right pocket, and reached for her left one, and pulled out Wilheim's bandanna. She held it close to her face and caressed it with her hands, as if it where her darling's face. However, her trance was interrupted by Ranma, who said:  
  
"I don't know what it means... But I think Wilheim is right."  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Akane.  
  
"There are not many stars in the sky, nowadays..." explained Ranma. "He wasn't hallucinating. There are many stars missing."  
  
"See?" intervened Ukyo. "I knew it! I've seen it too! It's not just my Wilheim - honey that has noticed this. What is going on?" she made a small pause and then said, with a worried breath: "That's why I'm concerned. At first, I thought it all was because of the torturing hours that I spend waiting for him to show up. But now I know it's really happening."  
  
"I've noticed that too..." said Akane, and her face was filled with fear. "Now I'm really scared. This isn't good..."  
  
"Hey, come on. Calm down, girls!" exclaimed Ranma, as he jumped from his seat. "It's probably because the stars have been going out naturally... I mean, have you ever heard of the super novas?" he said, with a triumphant and calm smile on his face. Nevertheless, he was very scared, and he was actually trying to convince himself with his own vain explanation that there was nothing wrong.  
  
"Sure, I've heard of them." Replied Ukyo. "But don't you think it's a little odd that there are so many ones taking place?"  
  
"She's right, Ranma." Added Akane.  
  
But Ranma shook his head and tried to find a reasonable, scientific explanation for this strange phenomenon. Yet, everything that he said was questioned by Ukyo and Akane. They kept on discussing for a long while, and reached no conclusion.  
  
Suddenly, the front door was opened by a fierce raft of air. The boys stopped arguing and turned to face the night... Nobody spoke or moved for a few moments. The sudden gale had frozen them all; as if it had been a spell that came from the hands of the greatest and most terrifying warlock. It was Ranma that finally broke the curse and slowly walked to the door and closed it.  
  
"What the hell's going on?" he muttered to himself.  
  
He was interrupted by a shriek that came from Akane's throat. When he turned around to see what was the matter, he found himself face to face with a shadow... His own. The dark figure stood high and proud and with an evil grin on its somber face. Even though Ranma could not see it smirking, he could feel its malevolent smile, mocking him and intimidating him... The shadow had ceased to be a picture that crawls in the ground to stay close to its master. It was now a black body with two red eyes: a red glance that petrified Ranma and chilled him to the bone.  
  
Slowly, the shadow raised its arm. The boy could not believe it. It was moving on its own! It was no longer condemned to imitate his own movements. It was free to attack. It was ready to slaughter him. The dark creature lost no more time and attempted to swing its arm at Ranma's neck. However, he suddenly let out a horrifying scream, and his eyes became as dark as the rest of its body... A moment passed in which time froze all, and then the shadow was split in two. Ranma and Akane stared at it with horror, while its shattered body hit the ground and then vanished like smoke in air. When all was clear, they saw Ukyo, who was breathing rapidly and letting her giant spatula rest on the ground. While the creature had cast its curse on her friends, she had taken advantage of its carelessness and had slain it.  
  
Ranma let out a relieved sigh and fell on his knees.  
  
"Thank you, Ucchan..." he muttered.  
  
"Don't thank me yet." Replied Ukyo, in a terrified whisper. Her eyes were filled with fear and her hands began to tremble, as she looked at the night... "This doesn't look good at all."  
  
When she finished saying this words, Akane and Ranma turned their heads to the sky, and their faces turned into an expression of terror. A dark circle was swirling under the dim light of the stars and, like a devilish black hole, was absorbing all of Nerima... The roofs of the houses suddenly began to fly in the air and disappeared in the darkness of the black circle. The air was filled by high - pitched screams and loud cries of help. No call was ever answered; they all vanished in the shadowy hole. The wind was no longer a mere, harmless wanderer; it had turned into a fierce enemy which only wished to carry all its helpless victims to its vicious master.  
  
Soon, Ucchan's Okonomiyaki disappeared completely. The three boys began to scream for help, but no caring soul came to them. The devilish gale captured them in its hungry arms, and carried them to the ravaging hole. They tried hard to get a hold on to something, but all was being carried to the dark mouth of the invisible beast. As they got closer to the hole, they could hear a low rumbling which grew and grew, like the purr of a panther that turns into a chilling roar... Ukyo closed her eyes hard, as she grasped both Ranma and Akane's hands and let out a wail filled with fear and desperation.  
  
"WILHEIM!!" she yelled... and then, all went dark. All of Nerima was consumed by the ferocious, dark hole. 


	2. Chapter One: Not Home

Chapter One: Not Home  
  
I slowly opened my eyes to the night that lay above us. All my body hurt like if I'd been punched by a horde of warriors. All was blurry, as if there was a mist surrounding me. But there was nothing there. Only Ranma and Akane, who were still unconscious. Ran - Chan was lying in a pile of boxes, and Akane was on top of my legs... I rubbed my head and let out a yawn. I didn't know why, but I felt as if I had been traveling for days without rest.  
  
"Ouch... my head..." I whined. "Akane... Akane, wake up..." I said in a firm voice, while I shook my friend's body. "What's with you? Come on! Wake up!"  
  
First she shivered, as if I had wakened her from a long - pleasant nap. Then she sat on the ground and rubbed her eyes. It took her a moment to stop... I guess she was also as tired as I was. Finally, she looked at me and said:  
  
"Ukyo! You're here! I'm so glad you're all right!" she then crawled away from me, and looked to our surroundings without saying another word.  
  
"Same here..." I replied. Slowly, I rose to my feet.  
  
It hurt a lot! I could barely stand. For a moment, I thought that my legs were gonna break like a pair of sticks. But I didn't fall down. I couldn't lie on the ground again, for if I did, I would surely stay there, and wouldn't get up. Not only because I lacked the strength to pull myself to my feet again, but because I didn't want to move at all. I walked without wanting to, breathed without wanting to breathe...  
  
I could do nothing more than to think of my Wilheim - honey. I could only remember how his face flashed in my mind before we were all swallowed by that dark hole... And now, we were in a place that was not Nerima. As far as I could tell, we were in an alley, in another city. The brown tiles on the floor, the wooden wall that lay to our right, and the brick wall that was at our left were nothing like I had ever seen before. I knew all of Nerima's alleys and streets by heart, and this didn't belong to my home... I could tell that Akane was aware of this as well, for she could do nothing but to stare at the sky, with a face filled with fear and confusion.  
  
I wanted to talk to her, to tell her that everything would be all right. But I simply couldn't do it. Because he wasn't by my side. We were so close on seeing each other again... And now the day that was around the corner seemed no more than a fairy tale. At that moment, I didn't cry, because I wasn't fully aware of what was going on... I was still confused. And it was confusion that held my tears in my eyes.  
  
After a few seconds, I got to where Ranma was lying. I gently shook his body and called his name.  
  
"Ranma... Ranma, wake up."  
  
He didn't move at all. I shook him harder, and after a few moments, I slapped him a few times. Finally, he opened his eyes and muttered something in a very low voice.  
  
"What?" I asked.  
  
"I said 'don't hit me...'" He grumbled, and rubbed his eyes. "Oh, Ucchan, there you are... It's good to see you." He stood up and put his hands in his back. His face became an expression of pain and a little whimper escaped from his lips. "Hey, Akane... Are you OK?" he asked, as he eyed her with a concerned glance.  
  
"Yeah, I guess..." she replied and hugged us both. "I'm glad that we're all alive."  
  
"Yeah, its good to know that." Giggled Ranma in a low voice.  
  
I smiled weakly, but I really couldn't share their enthusiasm. All I kept asking myself at that time was: * Where is he? *, and * Is he all right? * Sincerely, I couldn't care less about where we were. However, Ran - Chan and Akane wanted to know, and I knew this because once the group hug was over, they could only stare with a puzzled look at the walls and the floor.  
  
"Where are we?" Ranma asked.  
  
"I don't have the slightest idea." I answered.  
  
With that being said, the three of us walked toward the end of the alley. There was a big, red brick wall in front of us, apparently the side of a house. The exit to the main street was in the far right corner. We went out of the little alley and stared in awe at what was in front of us...  
  
There were some stairs before us, that lead to a peaceful and quiet plaza. In its center, there were a pair of trees. However, the weren't lonely, for there were plenty of folks walking about and around them. There were also a lot of wooden benches. They looked comfortable and cozy... As we walked to the plaza, we noticed that there was a small café on our right side. It had many little tables surrounded by four chairs each, and most of the were occupied. On top of each table, there also was a lit candle. The dim, twinkling light that came from the place was a nice thing to see. At our left side, there were a bunch of stores, most of the apparently sold clothes. There were not that many people in them; it seemed that most of the folks enjoyed themselves more walking about the little plaza than shopping. The place was all but colorless. Dark versions of blue, red, green and yellow adorned it and invited us to relax and to enjoy the sight. And that was an invitation that we couldn't refuse.  
  
We slowly walked towards a wooden bench and sat down. Slowly, the pain that shot through our legs and arms began to fade. For an instant, I even stopped thinking about Wilheim. Our eyes were mesmerized by the calm view of the cozy place. Though it was night time, it wasn't cold. I guess it was all because of the many people that dwelt there and because of the undying fire of the café's candle lights. It was all surprisingly relaxing... However, when we took a closer look at the people's faces, our confusion and fear returned and I once again started to think about my Wilheim - honey.  
  
There were mainly two kinds of faces... those that were as puzzled as we were and those that were as lost and sad as we were. It was as if the emotions mixed in our hearts had been sowed on each and everyone of the passing folks. No one talked to each other, save for the people that were at the café and that were slowly leaving it. As time passed by, I noticed that there was a little kid with brown hair and blue eyes with his arm around one of the trees. All the while in which we had been there, sitting in our butts without doing anything, he had been there, with his eyes focused on the sky, as if he was looking for a star or the absent moon. His expression reminded me of Wilheim so much... It was the same face that he had put the night I practically begged him to drink my blood. Confused and fearful he was at first... just like that little boy. Even though eventually he became mad at me and then he smiled passionately, that was the only glance that I could remember from him... I let out a desperate sigh and buried my face in my hands.  
  
"Ucchan... are you OK?" asked Ranma, as he put his hand on my shoulder.  
  
"Yeah." I lied. "My head hurts really bad, but that's all."  
  
"Alright, then." He said, and turned his head to the people once more.  
  
What can I say? Ranma has always been a little clumsy when it comes to women's feelings. But Akane, who clearly knew what was going on my mind, only stared at me with sad eyes and without muttering a word.  
  
The night gained strength and began to cover it all. The fires of the candles in the café went out one by one, until there was no light coming from the place and until there was no one there to light them again. The folks that strolled around the plaza passed silently by our side, only to disappear completely. For a moment, I looked at the nocturne sky. It was very different to the one above Nerima... and yet so alike. The same emptiness was in it... but the stars that remained in it were not the ones that I knew. When I lowered my head again, the plaza was completely empty. Even the little kid that was with his arm around the lonely tree was gone. We were the only ones that were left behind.  
  
"What do we do now?" asked Akane. "Should we search for a place to sleep? Or should we look for someone who could tell us where we are?"  
  
"We should have done that when all the town's people were here, passing us by." I said. "I can't believe we were stupid enough to stay here without even saying 'good evening' to the folks."  
  
"That was pretty stupid." Ranma agreed. But before he could say another word, from out of one of the stores, came a man.  
  
He had a white T - shirt over his strong, muscular, tall body and a pair of blue jeans. He also wore a bluish jacket and a pair of brown, leather gloves on his hands. He had blonde, short hair. A pair of... pilot goggles were around his head, as if they were trying to adorn it. He had a stern, yet warm face and had clear, blue eyes. They seemed to be filled with courage and strength and an undying will. I guess that this special glance was what made me stand up, walk up to him and ask:  
  
"Excuse me, sir... Where are we?"  
  
"What? Don't you know where you are?" replied the man with a clear, manly voice. He stood silent for a second and then said: "Oh, I get it. You've just arrived, haven't you? You came from the alley?"  
  
"Yeah... we did." I replied, while Ran - Chan and Akane caught up with me.  
  
"Oh, all of you." Said the man, as he understood that they came with me. He let out a sigh and murmured: "Come with me. I'll tell you what's going on here."  
  
His voice had suddenly acquired a strange, grim tone. I definitely didn't like that change. We all followed him reluctantly as he went up the stairs and into a lonely store with a green door. We went through it and found ourselves in a little stance; a small room adorned with a soft, white couch and a small fireplace. There still was smoke coming out of it, as well as ashes and a burnt smell. It was not a nice smell, but it was not disgusting... You know: the aroma that comes from a cozy chimney that burns brightly and warmly. For a moment, I wished that I could lit it and sit by it. Maybe the dancing fire would calm me down... Either way, there was also a rectangular brown table and a counter with a cash - register. At first, when I had entered, I thought that instead of a store, we had entered the man's house. But now, I was sure that we were in the store that he owned, and so he quickly went behind the counter and sat down in a chair that we couldn't see...  
  
He sighed yet again and signaled us to sit down. We obeyed and took a seat in the white couch.  
  
"OK, kids..." said the man. "First of all, the name's Cid Highwind. Nice to meet you, I guess."  
  
* 'I guess?' * I thought to myself. * How nice of him... * "Well, my name's Ukyo Kuonji. Nice to meet you too."  
  
"I'm Akane Tendo." Added Akane.  
  
"And my name's Ranma Saotome." Said Ran - Chan. He made a small pause and then asked: "So what's going on? Where are we, and why are we here?"  
  
"A huge, black circle appeared in the sky..." I explained. "And sucked us in. Well, not just us... Our whole town disappeared in it. It was like some kind of tornado; a twister that only destroyed everything that it could see, everything that stood where it passed. What the hell was that?"  
  
"Easy, easy, girl..." said Cid. "First thing's first. You're in Traverse Town. Oh, welcome, by the way..." he added, with a sudden giggle and, from his pocket, took out a small pack of cigarettes. He put one of them in his mouth, lit it, and breathed the smoke with a huge grin on his face. "I needed that..." he practically moaned.  
  
"Mr. Highwind..." I said, while trying to hold my breath... I really can't stand the smell of one of those things. "Could you please explain all this to us? We're all very confused."  
  
"Sure, sure." He said and nodded his head, as he took another whiz from his cigarette. "OK. There really is no easy way to say this... So I'll just say it. Your world disappeared."  
  
"What?!" exclaimed the three of us in terror.  
  
"Listen: have you looked at the stars lately? Haven't you noticed that some of them have gone missing? Just as if a wizard had put them out with his fingers: POOF!" Cid explained, and while he did, we closed our mouths and listened with horrified ears. "Well, those are different worlds. All of them have been consumed by some strange darkness; shadowy monsters usually appear and overrun them just before they are devoured by that black hole you saw."  
  
"My own shadow..." murmured Ranma, with a shocked breath.  
  
"Exactly." Cid said. "Your world has vanished..."  
  
"But, how come we didn't disappear with the rest of Nerima?" asked Akane.  
  
"You guys were lucky." Cid answered. "It seems that your hearts carry some unknown strength within them, and that's what saved you. Most of the ones that have a strong heart end up in another world. And this world had the amazing fortune to be graced with your presence." He added.  
  
I was on the verge of loosing my patience with Mr. Highwind. He obviously had no idea of how to give anyone serious bad news, and even though he was seeing our shocked, filled with fear faces, he kept on talking calmly and stopping occasionally to puff on his stinking cigarette. I took a deep breath and asked:  
  
"Is there anything we can do? Is Nerima lost forever?"  
  
"Well..." Cid murmured. "Not completely. It now exists as another land, isolated in space, and yet connected to this very town by it."  
  
"OK, I didn't get that." I grumbled and stood up. My face had now become an expression of rage, and I could even see my angry eyes reflected on the ones of Cid. "Explain it to me very clearly, OK?! Use apples if you must, but I need to understand what the hell is going on?! Are the people who I knew from Nerima OK?! Where are they?! Where is Ryoga?! Where is my Wilheim - honey?!"  
  
"Whoa!" exclaimed Cid. "Calm down, Ms. Ukyo! Settle down!"  
  
But I needed no explanation at all. I had perfectly understood all that he had said. Our world had been taken over by some strange, evil force, and even though we had seen its destruction, it still lay intact... But it was infested by those dark devils, and far away, in some place that only God knew of. I felt as hopeless as a sheep that has lost its shepherd...  
  
I was no longer confused. Sadness and despair took over me. I lost all sense and reason and threw myself against Cid. He jumped back and raised one fist. However, he quickly put it down when he saw that both Ran - Chan and Akane were holding me by my arms and trying to keep me still.  
  
"Ukyo!! Stop it!!" yelled Akane.  
  
"Leave him alone, Ukyo!! It isn't his fault!!" added Ranma.  
  
"Where is he?!" I demanded, without even listening to my friends' pleas. "I want to see him! I want to hold him! Give me back my Wilheim!"  
  
"OK, enough of this!" said the man and grabbed me by the arms. He gave me a quick slap on my cheek and then held me tightly and made me look at him in the eyes. His hit hadn't hurt: it had only broken the curse which had possessed me for those few, horrible seconds. "Listen, lady!" he said to me in a loud voice. "I'm sorry, but I don't know where Wilheim is! If I knew, I would take you to him without even thinking it twice! Believe me, I don't enjoy seeing people suffer the way you're suffering now. But I can't do squat about it, OK? You'll just have to believe that you'll see him again: you'll just have to believe that you'll find him sooner or later!"  
  
Ranma and Akane took a few steps back and held their breath. It was as if they were waiting for some terrible explosion to be heard. But my anger had vanished. Now all I felt was sorrow and pain...  
  
Cid still held me firmly and didn't let go. I lowered my eyes, and relaxed my body at last. But still, he wouldn't let go.  
  
"I want my Wilheim - honey." I murmured, in a low voice.  
  
"I can't take you to him." He said.  
  
"I want him... Give him back... Give him back..." I pleaded and my voice broke. Tears finally filled my eyes and began to run down my cheeks like two rivers of bitterness.  
  
"Oh, boy." Cid muttered and gave a quick glance to Ranma and Akane. They only let out a low, sad sigh and shook their heads.  
  
I suddenly felt their caring hands on my back... Their warm touch only made me more desperate. Because they would never be as warm as Wilheim's breath... Because the words they said would never be as beautiful as the letters that he sent to me everyday. Because he was lost, and I wasn't with him.  
  
I let out a loud, desolated cry, and threw my arms around Cid. I held him firmly and buried my face in his chest... At first, I thought that he would push me back and wipe my tears off his shirt. I was about to let go of him and go to Ranma and Akane, when he suddenly hugged me back... and actually rocked me with the gentleness of an old friend.  
  
"Easy, Ukyo..." he whispered, and his voice was filled with tenderness. Even though I couldn't see their faces, I can guess that even Ranma and Akane were as surprised and relieved as I was. "Don't cry... I'll tell you the truth: every day one of another world lands here. They are like you: sad and desperate. And I hate to see their tears when they come to ask me what has happened. And I take it that my friends and the town's folk feel the same way... Because there usually aren't any words of comfort. But I can tell you one thing: if this Wilheim has a heart as strong as yours, he's probably alright."  
  
I slowly raised my head and looked at him in the eyes once again. His face had completely changed: he now had the appearance of a young, warm man...  
  
"You really think so?" I sobbed.  
  
"You betcha." He replied, with a giggle.  
  
I wiped my tears off my face and forced a weak smile. At that moment, Ranma and Akane held me and rocked me with even more gentleness than Cid. My sobbing quickly died away and my eyes stopped crying bitter tears.  
  
"He'll be fine, Ucchan." Whispered Ranma, with a sweet voice. "And so will that stupid Ryoga."  
  
"Yeah, right..." I chuckled. "The one without a sense of direction, lost in a whole new world..."  
  
"Who knows? Maybe he'll be the one to find us." Laughed Ran - Chan. But he meant what he said.  
  
"We'll be okay, Ukyo." Added Akane. She wiped off a lonely tear that held on to my cheek and smiled. Then, she turned to Cid and said: "Thank you, Mr. Highwind..."  
  
"Don't thank me." He said.  
  
"Is there anyway we can... leave Traverse Town?" Ranma asked. "I mean, you said that our world is in space, right? I take it that there is a way to reach it..."  
  
"There is." Cid replied. "But, in order to do so, you must get a Gummi ship first."  
  
"What? A Gummi ship?" I asked. My anger was gone and I had recovered a little bit of hope, and for that, I smiled and asked: "Are you trying to make fools out of us?"  
  
"No way." He said and let out a laugh. "I'm serious... Look..." he stopped talking and gave a quick glance to a clock that was hanging on the wall. "It's late." He said. "Why don't you get some sleep? I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, okay?"  
  
As he finished saying these words, the door opened and we all turned our heads to see who had entered. It was a very beautiful woman... She wore a lovely, pink dress over her slender body, and had a green belt. Her arms were adorned by two golden bracelets and her light - brown hair was tied behind her head with a pink ribbon and formed a breathtaking plaid. She had a very pretty face and her eyes were as green as a pair of glowing emeralds. What can I say? Ranma's face turned red as a grown tomato, as well as Akane's... Only that Ranma had a clumsy, shy expression on his, and Akane had a very upset one on hers, for she was actually looking at Ran - Chan. And my face was colored by an envious green...  
  
She froze as she saw the three of us for a moment. Then, she gave us a warm smile and walked to us.  
  
"Hello, everyone." She said. "My name is Aeris Gainsborough. I'm pleased to meet you. Welcome to Traverse Town." She let out a nervous giggle and her smile faded away, as she added: "Though I'm sure that you'd rather not be here..."  
  
"Well... yeah." I muttered, while I took out a tissue from one of my pockets and blew my nose. "My name is Ukyo Kuonji. These are my friends Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo. Pleased to meet you."  
  
"They just got here." Intervened Cid. He seemed to know the woman pretty well...  
  
"I can see that." Said Aeris, as she shook our hands. "It's been some time since such strong boys appeared here, right Cid?"  
  
"What? Oh, yeah..." the man murmured, while he eyed me in silence.  
  
I noticed that, unlike Aeris who had glanced at it as soon as she came inside, he hadn't seen my giant spatula until that very moment. He couldn't keep his sight off it. His face turned serious and he gulped. I guess that he was now aware that if I had pounced on him without Ranma or Akane there to stop me, he would have been in very serious trouble. Of course, I take it that he was also aware that my two friends were very strong as well, for they had managed to keep me still... As I thought of this, I couldn't help but to let out a soft giggle. Who knows? Maybe if he had known this from the beginning, he wouldn't have slapped me... though it had been the right thing to do.  
  
"Well, it looks that Ms. Ukyo here has lost her... boyfriend, I think." Cid continued.  
  
"Oh, I'm really sorry to hear that, Ukyo." Aeris mumbled, and softly caressed my cheek.  
  
I only nodded my head, as the memory of Wilheim came back to my mind once more. Cid's words had gone deep inside of my heart and had given it hope. His warm embrace, my friends' smiles, and even the caring touch of Aeris had revived my faith. A strange courage began to grow inside of me. All my fear was suddenly gone, and all I felt was how my willpower wished to get my legs moving... I then knew, that if I looked for him without rest, that if I trusted the memory of my heart, and his undying and true love, I would surely find him. I looked at Aeris in the eyes and said in a firm voice:  
  
"Cid told us that it was possible to travel to other worlds. I want to get out of here... and find my Wilheim - honey. I don't care what I have to do in order to get a damn Gummi ship: I don't care if it means to lose Nerima forever. I just want to go back to him... And I'm gonna find him." And as I spoke, I could see the glow of my eyes reflected in the woman's glance. They shone fiercely. And that twinkling would never stop until I had found Wilheim.  
  
Aeris put on a puzzled expression on her face for a moment, and then gave me a sweet smile. Ranma and Akane nodded their heads and let out a soft, relieved sigh as they saw me recover hope. Cid laughed long and hard and then exclaimed:  
  
"That's the spirit! Don't you give up, girl!"  
  
"He certainly means a lot to you, doesn't he?" asked Aeris. She didn't give me any time to answer... "Then, we'll talk in the morning." She added. "There are many things that you have to know, and many others that you have to understand."  
  
"I agree." Interrupted Ranma. "Anyway, I'm not feeling too hot right now... I'm actually falling asleep in here."  
  
"Me too." Said Akane. "Ms. Aeris, Mr. Cid... If it's not too much trouble, could you give us a place to spend the night?"  
  
"Of course." Said Aeris. "Follow me." She turned to Cid and kissed him good - night. "I'll see you tomorrow. We gotta tell these boys many things."  
  
"Agreed." The man replied. "Be sure to bring Squall and Yuffie with you, OK? There are many things that they can explain much better than us two."  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Fine, then. Try to get some sleep, guys." He said, as he turned to us. We all said good - night and began to follow Aeris, who was already waiting out of the store. But before I could cross the door, Cid caught up to me and whispered in my ear: "Sorry about that slap, back there..."  
  
"Don't worry." I giggled. It had been as I had expected... "See you tomorrow, Mr. Highwind."  
  
"Oh, stop calling me that! The name's Cid, okay? You make me feel like an old goat, or something."  
  
"OK, then. See you tomorrow, Cid." I said, and followed my friends out of the store.  
  
Aeris led us up some stores, as we circled the small alley in which we woke up. We passed by some more stores and then reached the highest spot in town. At this very moment, she turned to us and said:  
  
"Everything that you have seen here is the First District. This town has three Districts and now, we'll be entering the Second one. All of them are somewhat similar, but they have enough differences for you to tell them one from another."  
  
And so, she opened a small door, which led through a gigantic brick wall and guided us into the Second District. It was just as she had said: the same colors adorned the buildings, and the same bizarre, captivating style prevailed in each and everyone of the stores. We were standing in what the upper level was; it extended itself to the sides and then down to a larger, lower level. There were some stores at our left, but then, the buildings disappeared and gave way for a small alley that lead to some unknown place. There was a little fountain right below us, and a hotel to the right of us... However, there was a huge difference between the Second and First District: The color of the District itself. This place was far darker than the other one we had been in. Even though most of the colors in the buildings were the same, there were not as many lights as in the First District. The night had more power in this place, and it made it more peaceful, and yet, more creepy and scary...  
  
Aeris quickly made her way to the hotel and let us inside. There was only one narrow, large corridor adorned with many paintings and a red carpet. Two doors lay on our right side: one green and one red. We entered through the green one, and when Aeris turned on the light, we found ourselves in a small, cozy room with three beds. The walls were brown, as well as the floor. There was a little round table in front of us with three small chairs around it. It looked very much like the tables that we had seen in the café in the First District... As I glanced to the far corner of the room, I saw that it had a small balcony. The curtains that hid it waved gently as the air that came from the opened window rocked them silently. It was a very cozy room, and I sighed in relief, for I knew that I wouldn't have any trouble in getting any sleep.  
  
"You've been through a lot, I take it." Aeris said. "So you should just rest yourselves, okay? We'll talk in the morning. If you really want to go and find your friend, then there are many things that you must be warned about. The shadowy enemies lurk in every world." She paused for a second and went out of the room. Before she closed the door, she smiled and added: "I'll be staying in the next room. Sleep well... but stay sharp." And then she was gone.  
  
We all looked at each other with quick, questioning glances.  
  
"What did she mean by that?" Ran - Chan asked. "I didn't like the sound of that... Something tells me that my dark - self could still be around here."  
  
"I believe so to." Said Akane. "Either way, we should get some sleep."  
  
"Yeah, but we should take turns to keep watch." I suggested. "How about if I take the first watch? I'll stay up for two hours, and then I'll wake you up, Ran - Chan."  
  
"Seems fair to me." Ranma agreed. "By the way, how do we know that time even runs at the same pace in here?"  
  
"I don't know." Akane said. "However, my watch is still working. I'll lend it to you guys while you're awake."  
  
"Great." I said. "Go on, guys... get some sleep."  
  
"Hey, Ucchan..." Ranma murmured in a soft voice, as he put his hands on my shoulders. "We'll find Wilheim. And Ryoga. It'll all be all right. I don't care if there are any shadow monsters waiting out there for us: I'll take em' out."  
  
"It's ok, Ran - Chan." I giggled. "I'm not that scared anymore. After all, I'm sure that Cid will help us... And besides, Wilheim and Ryoga are very strong. They'll be alright without us."  
  
"I hope that Shampoo and Mousse are OK as well." Intervened Akane. "Even though I don't like them much, I wouldn't want any harm to come to them."  
  
"I agree." I said. "It's okay, guys. Get some sleep. The countdown for your turn starts as of this moment, Ran - Chan."  
  
"OK, I'm off to bed." He said with a chuckle and jumped on one of the beds, while Akane quickly lay down on the other.  
  
I sighed, turned off the light and sat down in one of the little chairs. There was still plenty of moonlight pouring through the window to keep me awake. Even so, I wasn't very sleepy. It was Wilheim's echoing voice in my mind that kept me up for those two hours. All I did during that time, was to caress and press against my cheek the one and only thing that he had left me to remember him: his headband. It had been nearly three months since it had left his body and still his scent lingered. I breathed it deeply and sighed again and again... I thought about him even when Ranma waked up and took his turn. But I didn't think that all was lost, and that we would never meet again, no. I wondered where he could be, in what strange world could he have landed in... Was Ryoga with him? Who would he meet? Was he a vampire yet? Or had he recovered his humanity right before the tragedy? And what about us? When would we go? How could we stop the shadows? Would they attack us again?  
  
So many questions finally tired me and I fell in a deep sleep. 


	3. Chapter Two: A Nightmarish Place

Chapter Two: A Nightmarish Place  
  
Slowly, I opened my eyes. Everything was dark at first. I felt as if I had been locked away in a forgotten, obscure room for the longest of times. But then, the dim light of the stars began to pour in the land that embraced me with its somber soil and its bizarre texture... I stood up and rubbed my eyes, and studied all that now surrounded me with care.  
  
The vast, green plains that had kept me during the last few nights had either vanished under a spell, cast by Earth herself, or had turned into the desolated, black field in which I stood. What devil could have done this to me? In which hell was I in? There was not a soul around. Even the chilling breeze that stroke me made no sound at all. It was as if everything was dead... And so I remembered that the last thing I had seen before I had entered in my deep sleep had been a horrifying, hungry black hole, which had devoured every tree and plant in the plains... Including myself. Could this be the belly of the beast?  
  
As I looked at the far horizon, I convinced myself that I was not in the Scottish fields anymore, and that I was not being held captive in the monster's stomach... A house stood before the great, round, white moon. It rose itself high above the ground, on a pillar of rocks. Only an unstable wooden bridge could get me there... I stared at the bizarre shape of the house in awe for a long while. It curled up like a snake to the sky, as if the very top of it was trying to swallow the moon with its closed, triangular mouth. Most of it was made out of wood, but there were some parts constructed with greenish stones, as well as red tiles. Some of the house's parts stretched to its sides, like hungry wolves with sharp teeth, ready to pounce on anyone who dared come near it. There was also a pair of cages hanging from what appeared to be a lonely, frightening, black tree. After some time, the mere sight of this devilish place made my head turn around to face what was behind me.  
  
I could not believe what my eyes were seeing... There was a big mount, with its peak curled up in a strange spiral against its body, as if the finger of God Himself had toyed with it and given it that bizarre shape. The foot of this strange mount was surrounded with big, orange pumpkins, each one with a malevolent face carved upon their skin... In what world was I now? I had never heard of any place like this. I had entered into a magical forest, were the threes gave shelter to ancient elves, and were the buildings seemed to be the shells of some mythical sea snail... I had entered into a mountain that housed a ruined city that glowed as if it were made out of a blue diamond, and that had hundreds of enchanted torches that changed the color of their fire... But I had never been in a place like this.  
  
After staying still and silent for a long while, I fell to my knees. I had been so close... For fifty years, I had longed to find the cure to my curse. And now that my destroyer had met his doom with the blade of my sword, and that my darling Ukyo was waiting for me, I had been drawn to the depths of an abyss unheard of.  
  
"This cannot be happening..." I muttered, as I slowly shook my head. "Why? Why have I been cursed with this eyes that long for disasters and misfortunes? Why have I been cursed with this body that cannot return to my dear Ukyo? Where am I?" I made a small pause and then raised my head and yelled to the heavens, expecting them to answer me: "Where am I?!" but of course, there was only silence.  
  
Desperation and anger filled me... an anger that I had not felt for a very long time. The violet, spectral glow of my eyes broke the darkness of the night and lit the ground under me with purple flames... I struggled to keep my tears inside of me, but one of them managed to escape its prison and ran down my cheek. I wiped it off and noticed that it was the reddest tear that I had ever cried. I reached to my head, but remembered that my darling Ukyo still held my bandanna with her hands... The red color that had always adorned it was not the color of the fabric: it was the one of my bloody tears. For I always used it to clean my unhappiness from my vampiric face... But now it was not with me. I could only hope that Ukyo could use it to remember me with the same strength that I remembered her...  
  
I decided to mourn my bad luck later. I had to find someone who could tell me where I was and how to return to my Ukyo, or to Scotland, at least. I wished to see her oceanic, blue glance again; I wished for it to engulf me with its waters, to drown me with a current of love... But I also longed to get rid of my curse. I longed to be human again. I wanted to be mortal, and to be by her side. I rose to my feet again and began to walk to the bizarre mount.  
  
As I approached the pumpkin patch, I noticed the body of an unconscious boy resting at the foot of the mount. I quickly ran to it and studied it. His heart was beating in a steady rhythm, and his blood was flowing swiftly through his veins. I then looked at his face, and let out a soft chuckle... That tall, strong boy with black, short hair, and a brown, innocent gaze hidden under his eyelids was none other than Ryoga himself... His yellow bandanna was still tied against his head, and his small fangs peered out of his opened mouth.  
  
"Ryoga... Ryoga, wake up, my friend." I said, firmly.  
  
He twitched and shivered as if he had suddenly been attacked by an artic gale. He sat up and shook his head several times. Then, he opened his eyes and looked at me.  
  
"No way..." he murmured, with a surprised grin on his face. "I don't believe this... Wilheim?"  
  
"None other, my good Ryoga." I answered.  
  
"Hi, Wilheim! It's so good to see you!" he exclaimed with a smile, and hugged me. I could not help but to smile as well and hug him back... After all, his breathing body was all that lived in the wasteland: I was not alone anymore, for a good friend now kept me company. "Incredible! What are you doing here in Neri--?" he began to ask, but stopped.  
  
He slowly turned his head to study what was around us. The sight of the nightmarish land made him put on a grim expression on his face. His eyes glowed with confusion and from his mouth came no word at all.  
  
"We're not in Nerima anymore... are we?" he asked, at last.  
  
"You are not in Nerima, Ryoga." I answered. "And I am no longer in Scotland. That is all I know."  
  
"So, where are we?" he asked. His face then shone for a moment and he exclaimed: "The black hole! This all must be because of that thing!"  
  
"You mean you were swallowed by one of those beasts without a body?" I asked. "Then it must have been that."  
  
"Then..." he muttered. "Maybe Akane is near."  
  
"Akane?!" I exclaimed, as I rose to my feet, and as my face was illuminated by hope. "If that is true and she is somewhere around here, my dear Ukyo should be here as well!"  
  
"And Ranma, and Mousse, and Shampoo too." Said Ryoga, while he got up from the ground.  
  
"Thank you, Ryoga. I can once again be at ease." I said... But, at that moment, I did not know that hope was all but within that land.  
  
He was about to answer me, when a sound that came from far away muted us both. It had been a chilling scream, a shriek that had died a few seconds after it had been heard by our sharp ears. But that was not all that we had heard. Another low sound came from the other direction, as if in response to the shriek. Only that this steady rumbling did not fade, and it got closer, and closer...  
  
Ryoga and I lost no time and quickly hid among a pile of pumpkins. We rose our heads above the hellish vegetables and peered at the spectacle that approached our way... A spectacle it was, indeed. For the sound were footsteps of hundreds of different monsters from every horror story that paraded by the bizarre mount, and all this while singing a merry, yet obscure song. I could only make out some lines of it, for the constant howls of the werewolves and the high - pitched voices of the witches echoed without rhythm, like a language that is unknown to me... It vaguely said:  
  
"Boys and girls of every age...  
  
"Wouldn't you like to see something strange?  
  
"Come with us and you will see...  
  
"This our Town of Halloween...  
  
"This is Halloween! This is Halloween!  
  
"Pumpkins scream in the dead of night!  
  
"This is Halloween! Everybody make a scene...!"  
  
Some lines in between I could not understand, and then it continued with the deep, lone, happy voice of some monster that I could not see...  
  
"In this town... Don't we love it now?  
  
"Everybody is waiting for the next surprise!"  
  
There were some more lines that did not reach my ears, and it went on.  
  
"I am the clown with the tear - away face.  
  
"Here in a flash, and gone without a trace.  
  
"I am the 'Who' when you call 'Who's there'?  
  
"I am the wind blowing through your hair..."  
  
The parade quickly passed us by and entered through a dark gate that had escaped our eyes, and into a graveyard. Ryoga got up and began to follow, but I held him by the arm and whispered:  
  
"Be patient, Ryoga. If you wish to follow them, then at least wait until their eyes cannot rest on you."  
  
"Why?" he asked.  
  
"Look at yourself, and look at me. These creatures are hideous monsters. It seems that only strange creatures are welcome. That is why we must be sly and cautious. I do not want to unsheathe my sword so soon; I swore to myself that, after I had killed Magnus, there would not be anymore deaths by my hand."  
  
"OK... I understand, Wilheim. But we've gotta find out if they know were Akane is. Besides, it looks as if there are no other creatures around."  
  
"Well, that is true..." I sighed and thought about a solution for a few instants. I then snapped my fingers and turned to Ryoga and said: "I will see what I can reveal. You shall stay hidden here, among the pumpkins."  
  
"What? And where are you going?" he asked.  
  
"You must remember, Ryoga, that I am a monster as well. You just have to look at my eyes and my fangs to understand that the night is indeed on my side. Even if my dark nature does not convince them, I am certain that I will be able to find something about by just disappearing with the wind. Do not forget that I can turn into a quick wolf, into a stealthy bat, or into an invisible mist." I explained.  
  
"I almost forgot that you were a vampire..." Ryoga murmured. "I thought that you were human again."  
  
"No living mortal has the spectral glance that I posses." I answered, dryly, and began to follow the monsters.  
  
I walked at a fast, silent pace, and I soon caught up with the monsters' parade. Not even one of them turned to see me. They were all submerged in their echoing song, and their eyes only saw what was in front of them... I decided keep up with them without uttering the slightest thing. I would wait for them to finish their song, and until then I would ask them where I was.  
  
As we walked, I heard Ryoga's footsteps trying to catch up with us. I was about to turn to him and tell him to go back to the pumpkin patch, but instead of it, I did nothing. For Ryoga was so in love with Akane, that he would even follow Death itself blindly with the sole promise that he would see her again... His love for her was almost as intense as the one that I have for Ukyo. Even if I would have scolded him, he would not have returned. It would not have been a wise thing, to quarrel with him in that strange place. I decided to let him be: I would make sure that no eyes would rest on him.  
  
We finally arrived to a small square that was adorned with a monstrous fountain that poured green, smelly water on itself without rest, a huge, dark guillotine, and several houses of bizarre shapes. One of them seemed like the tower of an old castle, which lacked the protection of the fortress, and another one seemed to be a gigantic, metallic sphere floating in the sky, as if it were trying to mimic the moon. Though the town and its inhabitants all had seemed to come out of the strangest nightmare, the freezing wind had actually turned into a warm breeze, that was filled with the enthusiastic singing of the creatures...  
  
Suddenly, a strange scarecrow appeared from out of nowhere. He walked towards the crowd with slow, heavy movements, and with each step it took, the monsters roared happily. And then, all his body burst into flames. I leapt back, as did Ryoga, in shock. He crawled on the ground and struggled to get rid of the fire that engulfed him, and the crowd cheered as they saw this. How could they enjoy the sight of something like that? Those were merciless devils, beyond any doubt. I reluctantly grasped the hilt of my sword and readied myself to unleash a devastating attack, but the monsters suddenly stopped their screaming, while the scarecrow jumped into the fountain of green waters and disappeared in the murky liquid. There was a small pause of silence that was immediately broken with cheers and roars... And from the waters of the fountain, a figure emerged: the scarecrow's true self.  
  
The flames had gnawed the hay suit like hungry rodents and had now uncovered a tall skeleton with a black suit. His bony extremities seemed no more than sticks joined in a thin figure by the force of a spell... And even though this appeared to be the star of the monsters' parade, and their leader, he was not scary at all. His skull was not like the one of a human: it had rather the shape of a ball, with a pair of black, joyful eyeholes, and a happy smile... His merry expression convinced me that he and the other town inhabitants were not evil, but rather playful, silly creatures.  
  
"Wonderful!! That was fantastic!!" suddenly echoed the same voice that I had heard in the middle of the song. I lifted my gaze and finally saw that it belonged to a strange, cone shaped man with a cupped hat on top of his grinning face. He held a megaphone in his hands and yelled in it with happiness. "We thank you all, friends!! This was probably the best Halloween we've ever had!! And, most of all, we thank you, Jack Skellington!!"  
  
As he finished saying this words, the monsters roared and cheered and whistled. I smiled to myself and turned to see Ryoga. He was hiding behind a monstrous statue and had his eyes focused on the tall skeleton. I silently signaled him to come by my side.  
  
"Are you crazy?" he asked, with his lips.  
  
"No!" I answered, without making any sound. "These creatures are harmless. Come by my side, Ryoga. We shall talk to the skeleton together, when all this ends!"  
  
He stood still for a few moments, as he gazed to his surroundings, making sure that nobody saw him. Finally, he left his hiding place and quickly ran by my side.  
  
"Well done." I said to him, and then, we fell silent.  
  
"Okay! I will now give out this year's awards!" the short, cone man said, and the crowd cheered once more. During all this, the tall skeleton stepped away from the fountain and sat in a corner, while he looked at all of his friends with a warm smile.  
  
"It's our chance." Ryoga said.  
  
I nodded and so, the both of us walked silently to the skeleton. It took only a couple of seconds to avoid all of the monsters' glances yet again and to remain hidden by a curtain of shadows. The skeleton suddenly turned to see us, and his smile grew even bigger.  
  
"Hello!" he said, as he stood up... "How are you, my good friends? It's a pleasure to see new visitors in this very special date! Did you see the show?"  
  
"Um... Yeah, we did..." answered Ryoga, with a puzzled voice. I am certain that he did not expect the skeleton to greet us with such joy. "We... we thought it was great. Didn't we, Wilheim?"  
  
"I most certainly agree." I said, calmly, and while returning the smile to what appeared to be our host. "That was quite a nice song, I must say. All sang it with much enthusiasm. It was a great spectacle: worthy of applause."  
  
"Well, I thank you for your compliments!" laughed the skeleton. "What are your names?"  
  
"I'm... Ryoga Hibiki." Replied my friend, even more shocked than before, for he was now shaking the skeleton's hand.  
  
"My name is Wilheim, and Wilheim only." I added. "And who are you, if I may ask?"  
  
"Jack Skellington, my good friend." He answered. "Welcome to Halloween Town. But before I go on, I must ask: where do you come from?"  
  
"I am afraid that we cannot answer that question; not because we do not want to, but simply because we do not know exactly what to answer." I said. I took a deep breath and continued in a low voice. "My friend comes from a small town called Nerima, and I come from the vast, Scottish plains. That is all I know."  
  
"An immense black ball appeared in the sky, and swallowed me..." explained Ryoga. "And the next thing I knew is that I was lying out there, in the pumpkin patch, with Wilheim kneeling next to me."  
  
As we finished speaking, Jack's expression was filled with concern and his black eye holes peered at us with sadness.  
  
"Oh, I see..." he muttered to himself. "That means that you're like the others, and that you have not come on your own free will... What a shame. I thought you'd come to celebrate Halloween with us."  
  
"Others?!" exclaimed Ryoga. He then froze for a second, as his scared eyes glanced at the rest of the monsters... Luckily, they were all very busy in listening to the cone man. "You mean that our friends are here?" he then asked in a whisper.  
  
"Well... I think so." Said Jack, and his face revealed joy again.  
  
"What are their names?" I asked, without much enthusiasm, for some strange feeling of fate told me that the 'others' were not our friends.  
  
"There are four of them..." replied Jack. He then snapped his fingers and added: "Why don't you come with me? After all, my work in this year's Halloween festival is over. I'm sure that the others will be fine without me."  
  
And so, we quietly sneaked by a little road at the monsters' backs. We were very careful not to make any loud noises. We even tried to keep our breaths to ourselves, although that proved to be impossible. As for Ryoga, he was constantly stopping to stare at the creatures some more. I take it that he was still amazed at the sight of them. Countless times I had to pull his arm and drag him with me, so that he would not stay behind. But after a few moments, he would stand still again...  
  
Jack kept on walking without talking to us. However, he was not muted. He constantly kept talking to himself, and, even though I did not mean to, my sharp ears listened to his monologue.  
  
"This was a good year." He said. "The flaming scarecrow always amazes them. But it's beginning to bore me... There must be something else. Maybe I could organize some sort of concert with the strange creatures that have been appearing lately. They don't seem to move at all... But I'm sure that Dr. Finkelstein can come up with some sort of device that will allow them to do so. That's it! What a great idea! If all goes the way I expect it, next Halloween will be a total success! I can't wait for next year's show!"  
  
For a moment, I thought that it was a little ridiculous for him to be thinking about such a distant future. However, I thought again and came to the conclusion that a year was not so much time. Who was I to question its flow, one who has lived for over sixty years? It is not a slow current. The time river's waters are fast, and can overcome any dam or obstacle that we might construct to try to stop it. Maybe he was right. Maybe Jack's growing enthusiasm and brainstorming had come to him at the right time.  
  
Yet, there was one thing that concerned me. What did he mean by those 'strange creatures'? Certainly not us, for we followed him and had talked to him. How was he planning to control them? A device, he had said... What kind of bizarre experiment would he conduct in order to become the creatures' master? I could not tell. And before long, this thoughts were driven off my mind by Ryoga, who came to my side, and said in a low voice:  
  
"What's wrong, Wilheim? Why the long face?"  
  
"You dare ask?" I replied, in a whisper.  
  
"Come on, Wilheim! We may... I mean, I may not be in Nerima anymore, and maybe you're not in those Scottish meadows. But we're in the place where Akane... and Ukyo are. Doesn't that make you happy?" he murmured.  
  
"How can you be so sure that the ones that Jack mentioned are our friends?" I said. He was about to answer, but I kept on talking. "Can you see the sadness in my eyes? If you remember well, when you first met me, you only saw sadness and misery coming out of my glance. When we destroyed Magnus, that misery vanished, along with the sweet sighs of my beloved Ukyo. For I knew that I would spend a mortal, happy life with her. But destiny has betrayed me again, Ryoga, for my glance is once again filled with emptiness. I am still a vampire, and Ukyo is not by my side. Even though I want to defy fate, I see that it still wants to give me battle. Do you think that it would place us the ones that we love in our arms so easily?"  
  
My friend's sudden happiness quickly disappeared with my words, and he fell silent.  
  
Jack guided us to the dark tower that loomed high above the rest of the town. We went up some stairs and entered. It was all pitch - black at first, and all that kept us from tripping was Jack's voice, who told us where to step and where to duck. We ran into more stairs that formed a spiral around a thin, metal pipe that went up and up... And when we finally saw the light again, we could do no more than to sigh in disappointment.  
  
Jack's house was all feverishly adorned with all sorts of Halloween decorations. Pumpkins, skulls, white sheets resembling restless ghosts, spider webs that crawled with arachnids... There was a big library at our backs, filled with endless rows of books. We were surrounded by more than four walls. I did not count them at that time, but I am sure that they were more than seven and less than eleven. All of them had large windows that let us peer into Halloween Town, that was all but quieted from its party. The cone - shaped man, the Mayor, was still giving out awards... But what was most important was that in front of us there were three girls and a man. And none of them were known to us.  
  
Two of them were humans. And the other two were not... One of them was a Werecat. I daresay that just the mere sight of her aroused both me and my friend... Her beautiful, nude body was truly a spectacle to behold, as endless lines of fur covered her with eroticism and sensuality. Her breasts were covered by it, as well as her sex and her back. She had a playful tail hiding behind one of her long legs, and a mesmerizing blue glance, adorned with cat - pupils. Despite all this, her face was filled with innocence, and her ears were the ones of a feline, as were her arms and feet, which resembled a white tiger's paws. Her hair was long and blue, and fell down her back magically.  
  
The other creature was a succubus. She was just as beautiful as the catwoman. Her body was just as desirable, but her hands and feet were the ones of a delicate woman, and not the ones of a fierce predator. Unlike the catwoman, she wore a black shirt over her chest, and a pair of purple thighs that covered her legs. She had green hair and eyes... The most notorious difference between this unearthly creature and the other one were their glances. While the catwoman's glance was filled with innocence and wonder, the succubus's eyes were full of lust and temptation...  
  
The two remaining creatures, the two humans, were a young girl and a man. She had a sensual, slender body and wore a school uniform over it. Her eyes were brown and filled with fear and disappointment. Her childish face revealed no happiness at all, and her short, dark - brown hair fell on her forehead, which was adorned by a white headband. She felt just like my friend and I did: lost and empty... The man was sitting on a chair, and was holding many papers with his right hand. It seemed that he had been working very hard... He was just as tall as I was and wore a black shirt and pants over his strong body. His left hand was not the one of a man: it was rather the metallic claw of a blood thirsty creature. Yet it moved with the same grace that his right hand possessed... He had long, black hair, and his mouth was covered by a red cloak, which fell to his left side. From his face, I could only see his red - ruby eyes, which stared at us with indifference.  
  
Jack immediately knew that these were not the ones that we had been searching for. His smile faded away, and he walked into a corner, while sighing and mumbling to himself. He was disappointed as well... though not as much as us.  
  
There was a deep silence for a long while. The four beings looked at each other, with questioning glances, save for the dark man, who only stared at us without even blinking. I gulped and looked out the window. The night was as dark as it was when I had woken up. It seemed that it was never going to end, and with time's flow, it would extend its veil more and more... After what seemed to be an eternity, the man broke the cold silence, as he asked:  
  
"Who are you two?"  
  
Ryoga looked at me without saying a word, as if he were asking me if whether or not he should answer the man. I nodded my head, and so he turned to him and replied.  
  
"My name's Ryoga Hibiki."  
  
"And I am Wilheim." I said.  
  
"Wilheim, what?" asked the man. "Don't you have a last name?"  
  
"I'm afraid I do not." I answered. "I have been a wanderer for many years and have met many creatures. No one has ever asked me for a last name. It is Wilheim, and Wilheim only. If that is not enough for you, then call me something else. But before you do, tell me your name, stranger, if you indeed have one."  
  
"I didn't mean to offend you." The man said, coldly, but with sincerity in his voice. "I'm Vincent Valentine. I would like to say 'it's a pleasure to meet you', but I'm afraid that I'm not in the mood to do so right now, as you may understand."  
  
"We understand, and share your feelings." I said, dryly, but honestly. "And who might you be, ladies?"  
  
"Hi... I'm Sakura." Said the young girl, with a low, sad voice. "Nice to meet you."  
  
"Do not feel obligated to say such things." I said. "Yet I thank you for your kindness."  
  
"I'm Felicia." The catwoman added. "And what Vincent said."  
  
"Morrigan Aensland." Said the succubus, and her erotic voice filled the air with its sweet scent. "And, unlike my companions, I am very pleased to meet you both."  
  
"T - Thanks..." murmured my friend, as his face turned bright red. "I - We too are... c - charmed..."  
  
"This is quite disappointing..." intervened Jack, at last. "I thought that maybe one of this fellows would be a friend of yours. But I guess I was wrong... I'm sorry."  
  
"It isn't your fault, Jack." I said. "There is nothing to be sorry about. You welcomed us to your town, and that is more than enough to me."  
  
"We have no idea of what is going on." Jack continued. "They too appeared in this town some days ago, and they too saw what you saw right before their world disappeared."  
  
"I would have guessed." I muttered. "Such is the sadness that dwells in this room."  
  
"It seems that all this has to do something with the fact that the stars have been vanishing in the sky." The skeleton explained. "We are not sure of it, but Dr. Finkelstein is looking into it as we speak. I'm sure that he'll find what is going on, and that he'll find a way to get you to your home."  
  
"I see..." Ryoga sighed. "So, in the meantime, we're stuck in here."  
  
"I'm afraid you are." Jack said.  
  
We all stood still and silent for a long while. I walked up to one of the windows and looked at the sky. The night seemed to grow and grow, as if its reign would never end... However, I had to make sure that it would be that way. For if it was not, then I would have to seek shelter. I could not be ambushed by the terrible dawn.  
  
"Is there a sun in this place?" I asked.  
  
"Yes." Jack answered. "But it won't rise for six more hours... It's not that late. And besides, Halloween will last all night long. You can come with us and try to have some fun, if you want to."  
  
"I don't think so." Said Vincent. "But thanks for your offer, Jack. As a matter of fact..." he added, as he got up from his seat and walked up to another window. "I think that we should all get some sleep. I'm sure that... Ryoga and Wilheim are tired and confused." He turned to us and said: "You should get some rest."  
  
"I agree." I said.  
  
"But I'm not sleepy..." Ryoga murmured. "I... I don't feel like sleeping. I... just want to... think about what is going on, and..."  
  
"Don't." Interrupted Vincent. "It's best if you just leave your worries for another day."  
  
"Jack, please show us to our resting site, and I would like you to take us were the sun cannot harm me." I said.  
  
"Harm you?" asked Sakura, as she stood up. "Why can the sun harm you?"  
  
"He is a vampire. Haven't you noticed yet?" said Morrigan.  
  
"A vampire?" muttered the girl. "You... you don't look like one... I mean, I can hardly see your fangs... and..." she then fell silent and spoke no more.  
  
"Let's go, then." Jack said. "You'll sleep at Dr. Finkelstein's house. There are dark rooms in there that will let you rest."  
  
He went down the spiral stairs and out of the house. All of us followed him quietly as he led the way to the gigantic sphere that loomed above the town. Jack knocked on a relatively small, wooden door, and waited. A few seconds passed before we were all greeted by a strange woman... At first, she seemed like a rag doll with each extremity sown to another. The string that held her body together ran through her arms, legs, and face, as it were an endless vein, doomed to decorate her blue skin... However, her face was not scary, and she certainly did not have a hideous body. She had a warm smile on her face, and a big pair of black eyes.  
  
"Hello, Jack." She said, with a sweet voice. "And you too, fellows... Oh, I see that we have two new visitors." She added, as she eyed me and Ryoga.  
  
"Yes, these two boys are Wilheim and Ryoga, Sally." Jack explained.  
  
"Sally? Well, I thank you for letting us in your home." I said.  
  
"It's not mine." She said. "But you're welcome."  
  
"Who is it, Sally?" asked an old voice, from behind the door. Suddenly, a strange creature appeared beside the girl, and looked at us in silence. He seemed to be a mummified body in a wheel chair... He had dark glasses that covered his tiny eyes, and a mouth that could be best described like the peak of a duck. What type of monster was this? "Oh, it's you and your friends, Jack." He said, with a strange smile. "Well, welcome. I see that there are two newcomers. I'll take you to your rooms. Let's go, quickly. I am in the middle of performing some experiments, experiments that will prove most helpful to you..."  
  
"Thanks... I guess." Ryoga said.  
  
"Let's go, Doctor." Jack said, and quickly stepped inside the house. "I too want to help in these experiments. And besides, I've got many ideas for next Halloween! I would be glad to tell them to you and Sally."  
  
"Sure, Jack." The Doctor said. "My name is Dr. Finkelstein, boys. But enough said for tonight. Let's get going."  
  
And so, the three creatures led us to our rooms. As we went inside the building, I noticed that we seemed to be in a vast void with only a round, metallic roof above our heads. There were many candle lights burning brightly, but there were no windows, and therefore, no moonlight or starlight poured into the stance. We went up some stairs and stopped short. Jack and his friends opened a door that led to a dark room, and invited us in.  
  
"You'll sleep here." Said the skeleton. "I hope it fits your needs."  
  
"It does indeed." I said. "Thank you very much. We will see each other tomorrow, I take it. Until then, good night." And with that, I entered into the room, along with Ryoga.  
  
"Thanks for everything." Said my friend. "See you tomorrow..."  
  
"Good - bye." Muttered Sakura in a low voice, as she and the others waved at us.  
  
Vincent, however, quickly followed us and closed the door behind him.  
  
"I'll sleep here as well." He said. "I like dark places."  
  
"Very well." I said.  
  
"Now I can tell that you really are a vampire, Wilheim." Intervened Ryoga.  
  
He was right, for the glow of my violet eyes bathed the room with its spectral light. I shut them and lay in a comfortable bed.  
  
"So... you really don't have any last names?" asked my friend.  
  
"If you truly need a last name..." I replied. "Then it is Schtauffen. But that was the last name of the ones that took care of me and my dearest friend for two years. They were not my parents, for I never knew them. So decide, my friends... If you want a last name, it is either Schtauffen..." I paused for a moment, and then added: "Or Kuonji."  
  
"But, you guys aren't married, and even if you were, she would be the one..." he began to say, but then fell silent for a second. "Oh, I get it." He muttered.  
  
They lay in their beds, and said nothing for a while. I could not sleep. The day lay ahead still, and the night invigorated me to kept my eyes open. Either way, I could not fall asleep. For I knew that only nightmares would haunt me. Because she was not by my side. I longed for her... I wished to see Ukyo. I sighed and thought of the future. Would I ever see her again? Or was I doomed to spend the rest of eternity in solitude?  
  
My thoughts were suddenly broken by Vincent's voice, who muttered in a low, dry voice:  
  
"Don't give up, Wilheim. You'll find whatever it is you're searching for. Have faith."  
  
"You have no idea of what I have gone through." I replied. "Misfortune has followed me time after time. How can I hope to find my beloved? I am cursed by fate. There is nothing that I can do about it."  
  
"You sound so certain." Said Vincent. "And you speak as if you were the unluckiest in the world..."  
  
"You cannot possibly guess what has befallen me."  
  
"Nor can you, what has come to happen to me... And still, though it is very hard, I don't loose hope. Everything... is cool, OK?"  
  
"'Everything is cool?' How can you say that?"  
  
"Try saying it. A friend of mine taught me that phrase... And it has saved me a lot of sadness and trouble."  
  
That was all he needed to say to silence me. He sighed, and added:  
  
"Good night."  
  
* Everything is cool...? * I thought to myself... And those words echoed in my mind for the longest of times, until I fell into a deep sleep. 


	4. Chapter Three: The Newcomers

Chapter Three: The Newcomers  
  
"Hey, sleepyheads! Wake up! It's late already, come on!"  
  
The high pitched, loud voice finally woke me up. I don't know how long I had slept. And I couldn't remember who was the one that was supposed to be awake. At first, I thought that Akane was the one that was yelling. But when I rubbed my eyes and looked at her dormant face, I knew that it wasn't her. And it wasn't Ran - Chan, either. He doesn't have that voice as a woman... I guessed that it could only be Aeris, but I was wrong again. Because when I looked at the door, I saw a girl about our age...  
  
She wore a pair of white shorts and a green T - shirt. She also wore some orange - colored, rubber gloves on her hands... The ones that some fighters use. She had a big grin on her face; it was the annoying grin that one puts on when he or she pulls a prank on someone else. In her case, the joke had been waking us up, I think... She had dark, green eyes and a white headband. Her hair was black and short, but it wasn't anything like Akane's hair... Who could she be?  
  
"Come on!" she kept on saying. "Wake up! Hey!" she walked up to Ranma, who had fallen asleep on the little table (during his watch, I guess), and shook him in a, say, very ungentle manner. "CUCKOO, you lazy bum!!"  
  
"What?! Ah!" exclaimed Ranma, as he tried to shake up the girl's screams from his ears. "Whoa... who the hell are you?" he asked, with a bit of anger. I couldn't blame him. We didn't even know who she was and now she was waking us up like if we were in the army, or something like that.  
  
"Why, you don't know?" she asked, and her smile grew bigger.  
  
"No, we don't." I intervened. "And for the record, we don't usually like that any stranger wakes us up like this. I wouldn't complain if there was a fire or a quake... But the grin on your face tells me that there aren't any dangers nearby."  
  
"Well, you're right." She said. "Either way, my name is Yuffie Kisaragi, the greatest of all ninja warriors from Wutai! Nice to meet you!"  
  
"Uh - huh." Muttered Ran - Chan. "Well... Yuffie... why'd you wake us up?"  
  
"Yeah, we're still tired." Added Akane. "We barely had any sleep."  
  
"Barely?" the girl said. "You call twelve hours 'barely'? What were you doing, anyway? Hibernating?"  
  
"Twelve hours?" I asked. "How much does the night last? I mean, look at the sky!" I got up from my bed and walked up to the window. The sunlight was practically crawling up on the outer walls to come into our room. It shone weakly: it wasn't the white light of the star that poured into our stance, but the pale blue of the nocturne sky that didn't want to die. I could still see the moon, which was vanishing under the glow of the new day. "Give me a break!" I complained. "Twelve hours? Come on, stop joking, OK?"  
  
"Hey, I ain't joking!" Yuffie replied. "You can ask Aeris if you want to. She was the one who told me to wake you guys up. I would have let you sleep for a week, if it were up to me, but..."  
  
"Aeris?" asked Akane. "So... Aeris sent you?"  
  
"Yup." Yuffie said. "I've done my job here. You guys go take a bath and then meet us up in Cid's store, okay? Today, we're gonna go shopping!"  
  
"Shopping?!" I muttered, with both confusion and rage. "Why the hell would we want to go shopping? We wanna know how we're gonna get out of here! This isn't a pleasure cruise!"  
  
"I agree." Interrupted Ran - Chan. "Why don't we do this: we meet you at the store and you tell us all that we want to know. Deal?"  
  
"Whatever." Yuffie giggled. Apparently, the fact that we were all pissed seemed very amusing to her... "Do what you want. But if I were you, I'd buy some really good perfume... 'Cause nobody will want to stay next to you if you wear those clothes all the time."  
  
We looked at ourselves and let out a sigh that attempted to get some patience of the air that was around us.  
  
"Well, see you!" she added, and left.  
  
We stood still and silent for a few moments. I shook my head and sighed, while Ranma let out a long, tired yawn. Akane stood up, stretched herself, and said:  
  
"I guess we'd better clean ourselves. I saw a bathing room down the corridor, beyond the red door."  
  
"What's the use?" Ranma answered. "We're still gonna be wearing the same filthy clothes, right?"  
  
"I agree." I said. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna catch up with Aeris. I want to listen to what she has to say. I bet that there's more to all of this than just what Cid told us yesterday..." and so, I walked up to the door and opened. Before I went out of the room and into the streets of the Second District, I only added: "Let's go. After all, it seems that shopping really is on the 'to do' list."  
  
***  
  
When we all got to Cid's store, we noticed that not only Aeris and Yuffie were waiting for us. There stood Cid, of course, contaminating his lungs yet again with another piece of filth in his mouth. But there was also someone else. He was a tall, young man with an athletic body. He wore a black pants and boots and jacket and gloves, and a white T - shirt. He had long, brown hair, almost as dark as my own, and two intense blue eyes. They were not bright eyes, but his glance was deep and... And yet, his face lacked all emotions. He didn't have a silly grin, like Yuffie, or a caring, warm smile, like Aeris... One could say that he was a really handsome man, but that face without feelings was not at all appealing.  
  
"There they are." Yuffie said. She then turned to Aeris and said: "Tell them! Tell them that you sent me to wake them up, or they'll stay mad at me for the rest of their lives!"  
  
"Don't over do it, Yuffie." I interrupted. "By the way, we haven't been introduced. I'm Ukyo Kuonji, and these are my friends Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo... and you are...?" I asked, and looked at the man with the black jacket.  
  
"Squall... right?" Akane inferred.  
  
"I prefer to be called Leon." He muttered, dryly. "But yeah, that's me."  
  
"Did you guys sleep well?" Aeris asked. "I heard that you got very upset when Yuffie went to wake you up."  
  
"We took watches." Ran - Chan replied.  
  
"Watches?" Cid said. He let out a loud laugh, and added: "You took watches? No comments."  
  
"Please make fun of us later." I said, with a smile. But then I stopped grinning and asked: "What's going on? I know you told us yesterday... But I'd like to hear the full version, and not just the summary."  
  
"Sure." Aeris said, and nodded her head. "Let's go to the café. We can all have some breakfast and we'll tell you all that there is to know."  
  
***  
  
"For what we know, it all began about a year ago." Leon said. "Many worlds have and are still being swallowed by huge, black holes that appear in the sky. And right before this happens, tons of shadowy monsters invade it. The bigger worlds are devoured by more than one black hole."  
  
"Yesterday, I told you boys that the worlds that have vanished still exist, separated by space and joined by it." Cid added. "Some of these worlds are only a part of a big one that was once a whole."  
  
"I see." Murmured Ran - Chan. He paused for a moment, and then asked, as he turned to Aeris: "Are we safe in here? 'Cause yesterday you told us to be wary..."  
  
"I'm afraid that none of us are safe here." She replied. "For the same shadows that you saw right before Nerima disappeared exist here as well. However, that doesn't mean that this world will be destroyed, because it already has been devoured. Most of its inhabitants are now either in another world or are trapped by a dark veil; an inescapable prison. More and more like you get to Traverse Town everyday, and to other places as well, places that we cannot reach."  
  
"So we are still in danger..." I murmured. "What about these shadows? Are they only our dark selves? Or are there more kinds of them? And most important: how threatening are they?"  
  
"Well, first of all, they only appear when the sun is down." Aeris explained. "Though that isn't much of a comfort, for, as you have already guessed, the days are not very long. In fact, there are certain worlds that lack a sun, and this is because of the shadows' doing... They crawl out at night and try to steal the hearts of the people that dwell in the town. That's why they are called the Heartless."  
  
"With every heart that they steal, the nights are longer and the days shorter." Said Leon. "That's why the worlds that don't have a sun also don't have inhabitants."  
  
"How do you guys know all this?" asked Akane. Ranma and I quickly nodded our heads, for we wanted to know the answer to this question as well.  
  
"Because we have seen it." Answered Aeris. "We have traveled throughout many worlds, and we've witnessed the disasters that the creatures have caused... And we've fought against them. Though we are stronger than even the most terrible of them, their armies seem to be endless..." she let out a low sigh, and continued. "We have even seen our planet divided into small worlds. I come from a city called Midgar; Yuffie comes from a place known as Wutai, and Cid comes from Rocket Town. All of these towns were part of a beautiful, immense planet. But now, they only exist as little lands, separated by a black space..."  
  
"You've seen your worlds..." Ranma muttered. "And you didn't stay in them? Why is that?"  
  
"Because we're looking for our friends." Cid replied. "Aeris, Yuffie, and me go back a long time... We met Leon when we landed here. But before that, we traveled in a Gummi ship from place to place, looking for them. We saw our own worlds... but they weren't there. Until one day, our ship broke, and that's how we ended here."  
  
"And here we have been for six months." Yuffie said. "Cid's been trying to get the ship back to work, but there are several pieces missing."  
  
"We were attacked by Heartless' ships." Said Aeris. "And we crashed in Traverse Town."  
  
"The only way we can get back into space is to borrow some pieces from another Gummi ship." Cid added. "But no one has ever come here..." he stood silent for an instant, and then said: "I'm sorry about what I said yesterday. I didn't mean to trick you or to get your hopes up too much, but I simply couldn't... stand seeing you cry like that."  
  
"I... I understand." I muttered.  
  
It was like a nightmare. Here we were, trapped in some strange dream: a dream that we could feel with our hands and feet... It was an illusion that imprisoned us. My Wilheim could be in the other end of the universe... and the space that joined the worlds, the river that could carry our ship to that end, was no use to us, for we had no boat at all. Was there any way to wake up? Or was I doomed to keep on sleeping, as the evil spell that was cast upon me grew stronger and stronger? I felt how all hope that lay in me received a tremendous blow, and I felt dizzy. I let my head rest in my hands, and let out a long, desolated sigh. However, even though my eyes were burning and my chest hurt as if it were being hit by a charging rhinoceros, I didn't cry. There were simply not any tears in my eyes. It was as if all of them had been vaporized by the same fire that tormented my glance. I quickly reached to my pocket and held on to my Wilheim - honey's bandanna. As my breathing quickened, I began to caress it and rub it against my stomach, thinking that it would stop the pain that shot through it...  
  
Akane saw my desperate eyes and my trembling hands and asked to the others (so they wouldn't look at me, I guess):  
  
"Is there anyway to destroy the Heartless?"  
  
"There is a way." Leon said, and nodded his head. "There is a weapon that the Heartless hate and fear. It is a sword with the shape of a key... it is as light as a feather and yet as sharp as a wolf's tooth. It's called the Keyblade.  
  
"The Heartless have gnawed a keyhole in a certain place of each and everyone of the worlds, and through that keyhole, they pour their armies. That's why we can't beat them... for the only way to do so is to seal those locks. And the Keyblade is the only weapon that has the power to do this."  
  
"So the Heartless will disappear once the keyhole is sealed?" asked Ranma.  
  
"Yes." Said Aeris. "There is a keyhole in this very town, but we don't know where it lies... But, even if we did, it would be of no use, for we don't have the Keyblade in our hands... If that lock would be sealed, then the Heartless that cause havoc in here would be defeated for good."  
  
"And that's not all." Added Leon. "If all the existing keyholes are sealed, then the Heartless menace would be over, and everything would go back to normal: You would be in... Nerima once again. As if nothing had ever happened. As if we had never met. As it all had just been a bad dream."  
  
"So there is a way to return..." I muttered, as I felt a warm ray of hope caressing my heart once more. "And where is the Keyblade?"  
  
"There is someone that is destined to have it. Unfortunately, we have no idea of who it can be." Aeris said. "But the one who possess it, is our only hope. When the time comes, the Keyblade will appear in its master's hand, summoned by the very desperation that haunts us all right now..."  
  
"All that we can do right now..." Cid intervened. "Is to wait for one of two things: Either for the Keyblade master to show up, or for a Gummi ship to land here, in Traverse Town. If the first thing happens, then we will have to let him know his fate, and help him. And in the second case, I'll fix the ship and get us all out of here, and keep on looking for our friends. Either way, it's just a matter of being patient, and to keep on waiting."  
  
"Well... patience isn't one of my virtues." I murmured, with a soft sigh. "But I guess I'll have to believe that something good must happen. I mean, something good must come out of life... right?"  
  
As an answer to this question, I got only smiling faces and weak nodding heads. But not even one of them dared to whisper a small 'yes'. Not even my friends patted my shoulder and paid attention to the little hope that I had just recovered. Had they lost all of theirs?  
  
My little question was all it took to end the conversation. Aeris quickly stood up and said:  
  
"Well, I guess it's time to take you boys to do some shopping. After all, you can't stay in those clothes all the time."  
  
"Yeah, I guess so..." mumbled Ranma, and looked at the sky. "It's a good thing that it's still daytime."  
  
"Oh, just a little thing..." Yuffie said. "The Heartless appear everywhere, except in here, the First District. As long as you guys are here, you're safe."  
  
"Then how come we are sleeping in the Second District?" asked Akane.  
  
"They don't come into the hotel." Aeris explained. "We're safe in there as well. But don't let your guards down. Even if you are here or in your rooms... We can't let those things catch us by surprise. One of these days, the lights of these streets will stop holding them back..."  
  
***  
  
After our... 'encouragement session', Aeris and Yuffie took me and Akane to some stores so we could buy some clothes. Ranma was invited to the party as well, but he chose to go along with Cid and Leon to some other stores. They argued that us women took the sweetest of times to choose what to buy, and that anything could cast a spell upon us that would make us stand still, and to stare for hours and hours. Anyhow, I guess that none of them realized that we weren't in the mood for looking at dresses and scarves and earrings. And even if we weren't so depressed, I usually don't waste much of my time on just watching...  
  
But, even so, we did linger a bit in the stores. Not because of the curse that clothes are 'supposed' to cast on us, but because Aeris and I couldn't stop talking to each other. We sat by a lady's dressing room for about an hour just... shooting the breeze.  
  
"So... who are the friends that you're looking for?" I asked.  
  
"There are six of them..." she said. "One is a girl who looks a lot like you, by the way... Her name is Tifa Lockhart. Another could be best described as a reddish panther, Nanaki."  
  
"A reddish panther? Is that some kind of metaphor? Or are you talking about a creature that actually looks like a feline?"  
  
"Yes, and he talks too. His kind lives for a very long time: he is nearly fifty years old, but it turns out that, if he were human, he would only be a teenager."  
  
"Wow!" I exclaimed. "That's amazing... I've never met someone like that before... Anyway, go on."  
  
"Another is a very big, black man." She continued. "He doesn't have a right arm, for he lost it a long time ago. Instead of a hand, he has a high - powered machine gun. His name is Barret Wallace."  
  
"A machine gun? Why is that?"  
  
"He asked for it to be that way. I don't remember the story well, but all I know is that, at that time, he had a lot of anger in him, and wanted to use his bullets to decimate the corporation that cost his limb and the life of his best friend... The corporation was called Shin - Ra. He became the leader of a terrorist team called 'Avalanche', which caused havoc on my hometown, Midgar. He too comes from that city... Either way, we later discovered that Shin - Ra had been responsible for a massive murderer and was also trying to use the energy of our planet to power up their buildings and weapons..."  
  
"I see. So his anger did have a reason. After all, vengeance can be a powerful source of strength."  
  
"Yes..." she paused for a second, and then kept on talking. "Another one is a small cat that controls a large, stuffed toy; Caith Sith."  
  
"Really? That's even weirder than the reddish panther that you mentioned a while ago..." I murmured. "I take it that he talks as well."  
  
"Yes." Giggled Aeris. "Either way... another is a tall, dark man who has a very sad story. One could tell that he has no feelings at all, but a deep desolation and an even greater anger lie in him. But then again, he is a noble person, capable of giving his life for what he believes and for those that are around him. He's Vincent Valentine... And the last one is a..." she stopped and let out a long sigh, and then added: "A mercenary. He belonged to the SOLDIER forces; a sub - organization of Shin - Ra. But he then quit and joined Avalanche... He's a beautiful man, with the most intense, blue eyes you've ever seen... Cloud Strife."  
  
I nodded my head and sighed as well. She talked about him as if she were speaking of an angel that can only be seen when the sun shines brightest and when there are no clouds in the way of its rays. I couldn't help but to think about my Wilheim, who was also a rare creature that wasn't easy to see. Always moving from a place to another, always disappearing in the moon's shadows and the twinkling stars...  
  
"You seem... to be in love with him." I muttered in a low voice.  
  
"Is it that obvious?" she said, with a chuckle. But after a moment, she stopped smiling and murmured: "But I think that he's in love with Tifa... After all, they were childhood friends and... Well, Caith Sith told us that we were the perfect couple, but... I don't know."  
  
"I'm sorry that I brought it up." I quickly said. "I didn't realized that there was so much to it. You don't have to say anything else. It's none of my business."  
  
"Some times it's easier to talk to a stranger than to a life - long friend." Aeris interrupted. "And some times it isn't. But either way, I wouldn't mind telling you about it..." I couldn't help but to smile at her words, and to nod my head in silence. She took a deep breath and asked: "How's Wilheim like?"  
  
"He is the sweetest man you can imagine." I answered. "He... He's actually a vampire; a sixty - eight year old vampire, you could say. But his real age lies in his eyes, body, and heart. He's really a seventeen year old boy... Even though he talks funny, like an artist that is always reciting poesy, he is, in fact, a kid, like me."  
  
"He is?" asked Aeris, with doubt in her voice and eyes. "How can he be as young as you say, if he has lived for so long?"  
  
"I also found it hard to believe, at first." I confessed. "But as soon as he stopped talking... and looked at my in the eyes... I had no doubt. He has had a very sad past. Even though he has gone through many tragedies, he still has hope. Even though he has seen many women, he still gets very nervous when he sees a pretty one..." I let out a giggle and added: "The first time we met, we couldn't stop chuckling and our faces were as red as a pair of tomatoes... He is innocent and tender as a little boy, and passionate, like an everyday teenager. It's like he said to me: He knows much about the world, and its history and mysteries... but he still gets excited when he sees something new, he likes to hang out with those who like to have fun and to laugh and to play... He's wise, and mature, but yet, young and childish."  
  
"He sounds like a very good boy..." Aeris said. "I'm sure that I would like to meet him someday."  
  
"If I'm lucky... maybe you will." I replied, with a smile. Talking about him made the memory of his glance more and more intense. And suddenly, I remembered his oath: He had promised me that he would come back to me, no matter the cost. And as soon as I recalled his promise, I felt a lot better, as I regained more hope. He wouldn't abandon me... Wherever he could be, he would look for me, and that made me feel happy. "Maybe you will." I repeated, in a low, dreamy voice.  
  
"Does that belong to him?" she asked, and pointed at the bandanna that I was holding in my hands. "You haven't stopped playing with it since we were at the café..."  
  
"Yeah, it's his. It's his headband."  
  
"Why does it have that color? It's mostly red, but if you look carefully, you'll notice that there are some parts that have whitened..."  
  
"They haven't whitened." I explained. "It was originally a white bandanna... But every time he cries, he uses it to wipe his tears off... He has cried many times."  
  
"I understand now... Bloody tears." She inquired. "So it is true that vampires cry bloody tears."  
  
"It is. I saw him with my own eyes." I said, and let out a sigh, for the tears that I remembered were the ones that rolled down his cheeks and met with my own, and his promise echoed in my mind for the longest of time.  
  
We kept on talking a while longer, until Yuffie finally came to drag me into another store, and forced me to pick up some clothes. I quickly bought all that I needed, and then headed back to the hotel along with Akane. We both took a bath; I went first and then her. After we were all cleaned up, there was still no sign of Ran - Chan. As we walked into the First District, which was now glowing under the reddish color of the dying sun, we saw him coming out of one of the stores, along with Cid and Leon... He hadn't bathed at all, and had an angry expression on his face. Akane and I couldn't do anything but to let out a long laugh and exclaim:  
  
"That was quick!"  
  
"Yeah, right, very funny." He muttered.  
  
"What went wrong?" asked Akane.  
  
"None of the shirts and pants were... appealing to him." Cid answered. "If I would've known, I would've gone with you, girls."  
  
"Me too." Added Leon. He then turned to Ranma and said: "You're even worse than an old lady."  
  
"Hey, it's not my fault that all stores sell crappy clothing for men." Ran - Chan argued. "If you wanted me to dress like an idiot, I gotta tell you that I'm not into it. So just shut up, and let me be, okay?" and with that being said, he rushed off to the hotel at the Second District.  
  
"How sensitive." Chuckled Akane. "We'll be at the café. If you see him, tell him."  
  
"Yeah, sure, sure." Cid murmured. "We'll be at the store. Come with us if you need anything."  
  
"We'll be fine." I said, and began to walk to the café, along with Akane.  
  
Before long, we were both sitting in an empty table, with almost no one around us. The gentle lights of the candles fused with the sun's glow and illuminated the place in a magical way. They seemed to be just tiny pieces of the immense star, dancing gracefully in front of us. And what a dance it was... truly captivating and beautiful.  
  
We were drinking a cup of coffee when suddenly, Akane said:  
  
"Don't worry, Ukyo. You'll find Wilheim. Sooner or later, you'll find him."  
  
"Yeah... I guess that all that I can do is to have faith, like Cid and Aeris said." I replied. "Either way, I'm sure that he must be looking for me as we speak. All that I can hope is that he finds me... I know he'll be fine. He is twice as strong as Ranma, and has many tricks up his sleeve. But still, I can't help worrying about him."  
  
"Well, that's understandable." She murmured, while nodding her head. "But who I'm really worried about is Ryoga..."  
  
"That's the one who I should be worrying about the most." I agreed. "Poor Ryoga... He can hardly tell the difference between the front door and the bathroom door. I wonder how he's doing?"  
  
"Let's just hope that he's found good company, and can wait for the Keyblade master to show up." She made a small pause and then added: "I also hope that Mousse and Shampoo are okay, even though I'm not... very fond of them."  
  
"That makes two of us. But even so, we can't wish them wrong..." I let out a sigh, and asked: "Who do you think that this Keyblade master will be? Someone we know?"  
  
"Probably not, Ukyo." Giggled Akane. "There are millions of creatures all over these worlds... I guess that we won't know him when we see him."  
  
"Well, do you think that we can tell how the Keyblade looks like? I mean, Leon said it had the shape of a key and was as sharp as a fang... But is that all that there is to describe? I mean, I would obviously recognize certain weapons... Wilheim's sword, for instance."  
  
"Yeah, but I think that just by looking at it we'll know. It's like this: Anybody can tell it's you because of that monster spatula you always carry."  
  
"Well, I can't argue with that." I chuckled... but then froze.  
  
Suddenly, Akane's expression had been filled with confusion and surprise. Her eyes strayed from one side to another, but she uttered no word. I saw a strange reflection on her glance, and noticed that she wasn't looking at me. So, I turned around... and couldn't believe what I saw.  
  
Three strange creatures were walking to Cid's store. One of them was an orange, funny - looking dog. Nothing out of the ordinary... But the other two were truly a sight to behold. One of them was a duck; a white, short duck with a blue jacket filled with zippers and a blue hat. He had a big, yellow beak and two large eyes, which looked at what lay around them with an angry, inpatient stare... And the other one was... I'm still not sure about it, but I think that he was another dog, only that this one walked in two legs, and wore a pair of orange pants, and a green shirt underneath a black jacket. His hands were covered by a pair of white gloves, and he wore an orange hat on top of his head. He had a playful, friendly, funny glance (or just a plain stupid stare), and a big mouth with two teeth coming out of it... They walked almost unnoticed and without being disturbed.  
  
Akane and I stared at them with petrified eyes without saying a word for a long while. When they finally disappeared behind Cid's store's wall, my friend muttered, without breath:  
  
"Tell me that I just saw a duck and a dog walking in two legs, and that I'm not loosing it."  
  
"For sanity's sake..." I said, in a loud voice. "What the hell was that?! I mean... Aeris told me about some strange beings that are her friends... But I wasn't ready to see a humanoid bird and canine walking about right in front of my face!"  
  
"I... I think that we should go tell Leon and Cid..." she murmured. "I... I just don't know. I mean... This is way too weird."  
  
"I'm with you." I said. "Come on, let's go."  
  
We quickly got up and headed to Cid's store. As we were running, most people that we passed by turned to us with confusion in their faces. I guess they must've asked themselves what the heck our problem was. But I really couldn't care less. It was incredible... some months ago, we had been in an underground hideout, full of rotting carcasses, and had faced a monstrous Nosferatu vampire, a hideous creature with his blue eyes deep in his sockets, and with saber - tooth tiger fangs coming out of his mouth. He was an evil image, created by the Devil himself... And now we had been staring at a walking duck and a dog (though I must repeat that I'm not sure if that thing was really a canine), and we couldn't been able to handle that. What was wrong with us...? Maybe it was the fact that the hellish vampire, Magnus, looked more like an old, malevolent human than an animal.  
  
We entered through the green door and found ourselves face to face with both Cid and Leon. When they saw our eyes, they ran to us with worried expressions, and Cid asked:  
  
"What's wrong? Are you girls alright?"  
  
"Yea - Yeah..." I stammered. "Listen... It's probably not that big a deal, but..." I made a small pause, and then added, with a voice filled by dread and confusion: "We just saw a walking duck and a dog."  
  
"And by that, we don't mean your average, everyday animals." Intervened Akane. "These things were unlike anything we've ever seen."  
  
"A walking dog and a duck?" asked Cid. After staying silent for a few moments, he and Leon let out a relieved sigh, and sat down on the sofa. "You're right." He said. "It's not a big deal. Jeez, girls, ease up! You almost gave me a heart attack, or something..."  
  
"We have a bunch of walking, white, cat - like, stuffed, mini creatures with red noses called Moggles working 'round the clock in some weird experiments right above our heads." Leon said. "So believe us: It's nothing out of the ordinary."  
  
"Walking, white, stuffed kittens?" Akane chuckled, nervously. "It sounds like a sick joke..."  
  
Leon only turned his head to see her with a fierce glance. My friend quickly shut her mouth and said no more. We all stood there for a while, without doing anything, as an awkward, cold silence filled the room. But suddenly, Cid's eyes shone with enthusiasm and he patted Leon's leg as he stood up and asked:  
  
"Where did you see them?"  
  
"Outside." I answered. "They passed by the café, and seemed to be headed to the Second District."  
  
"So you didn't see them coming out of the alley?" he asked.  
  
"No..." Akane and I replied at the same time.  
  
"Cid, what are you up to?" asked Leon, and got up from his seat. He walked to his side and added: "What's the difference if they are a duck and a dog or a goose and a wolf?"  
  
"If they didn't come from the alley..." explained Cid. "Then that must mean that they have come here! And the only way to come here without getting sucked by a black hole, is to..."  
  
"Have a Gummi ship!" I inquired. A smile was drawn on my face, as I let out a joyful laugh and hopped happily. There was my chance! Finally, I could get out of there, and look for my Wilheim - honey! "Come on!" I urged. "Let's go look for them! They probably aren't very far by now!"  
  
"Easy, easy, Ukyo..." murmured Cid. "It's just a possibility. Don't get all excited, OK?"  
  
"OK!" I squealed, unable to contain my self.  
  
"Yeah, right." He chuckled. "Let's do this: you girls stay here, just in case these characters come. Leon and I will go look for them. Right Leon?"  
  
"Sure." Leon replied, dryly.  
  
"Oh... Alright." Muttered Akane. I could do nothing but to nod my head rapidly and enthusiastically.  
  
"Let's go!" Cid exclaimed, and so, they both went out of the store and left me and my friend by ourselves.  
  
After both of them were gone, Akane sat down on the couch. She stared at a strange, yet beautiful crystal that stood in the corner of the counter. I saw it too, for the first time. I hadn't noticed it the first time that I had been there, but now I looked at its bizarre, blade - like shape, as it sparkled like a star in the sky. However, I didn't stare at it for long before I let out a quick sigh, and said:  
  
"Okay, see you later, Akane."  
  
"What?" she muttered as soon as she saw me head to the door and put my hand in the knob. "Where are you going, Ukyo?" she asked.  
  
"You know where I'm going." I replied. "I'm going to look for those two things, whatever they are."  
  
"But, Cid and Leon told us to..." she started, but I interrupted her by saying:  
  
"I don't care what they told us. I'm not gonna stay here and wait for them. Besides, the more people looking for them, the better, and the sooner they'll appear. Hence, the sooner we'll know where they're from and whether or not they can be of some help. You can stay here, if you want to. I'll be back in half an hour, or less, if I do find them. In the mean time, wait for me, and if Cid or Leon come back, tell them that I went to look for those things, OK?" and so, without even waiting for my friend to answer, I opened the door and headed out of the store.  
  
I ran to the little plaza and began to look for the duck and the dogs. I started my search at the café. It was empty, save for a quiet couple. I then began to look for them at the many stores. They were all practically deserted, and with every second that passed, more and more people walked away from them. The sun had gone down completely and night had fallen over Traverse Town. Not even the reddish glow of the star could be seen in the horizon. It had completely died...  
  
I was about to cross a huge, wooden gate that lead to what I hadn't seen before, the Third District, when I suddenly saw one of them. It was the dog: The orange, funny - looking dog... He was passing by Cid's store, sniffing the ground as he walked. I decided to go near it, and walked to it slowly. I didn't want to scare him by running like a madwoman. As I got closer, it stopped and turned its head to me. I froze for a second, but then smiled as I saw how the panting dog seemed to be actually smiling at me. So, I kneeled by its side and put my fist under its mouth. He licked my hand, and I patted its head with gentleness.  
  
"Good boy..." I said. "Who are you, sugar?" I then noticed the collar and plate around the dog's neck. I took a quick look at it and muttered: "Pluto? Well, hello there, Pluto."  
  
As an answer to my greeting, Pluto wagged its tail and licked my face. I must admit that I'm pretty good when it comes to handling animals... Especially after having thought that Wilheim was a wolf. But suddenly, he started to bark, and ran to the alley.  
  
"Hey! Wait for me, Pluto!" I yelled, and followed him.  
  
He didn't stop until he reached a pile of boxes. I noticed that he was sniffing something... And then saw a pair of legs. Two small legs, with big, yellow shoes and a pair of red shorts. They seemed so delicate... and yet so strong... I approached to them and saw an unconscious boy, lying on the ground. He had a black jacket over a red shirt, and wore a pair of white gloves. He had a spiky hairdo... That's the only way I can describe it, for his brown hair looked like a bunch of blades pointing to the sky and to his sides. His eyes were hidden under his eyelids, and he breathed slowly and peacefully, as if he was having a pleasant dream. But I knew that he wasn't dreaming... I knew that he had come to land in this place just like us, and that he was sleeping because of the spell of the dark hole that had surely devoured him...  
  
Pluto sniffed his hand and then licked his face. He shivered and slowly opened his eyes. He had blue irises, as clear as the Caribbean seas. His pupils looked first at Pluto and then at me. He let out a soft laugh, and murmured to himself, with a weak voice:  
  
"What a dream." Then, he closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep yet again.  
  
I was about to shake him, but Pluto quickly pounced on him, and woke him up completely.  
  
"Whoa!" he exclaimed. "This isn't a dream!"  
  
"No... I'm afraid it isn't." I said, with gentleness. After all, I was now the one who would have to explain him what had been explained to me... And I didn't know how that boy would react to the tragedy that had befallen him.  
  
"Uh... Who are you? Where am I?" he asked, as he rubbed the back of his head, and stood up.  
  
"I'm..." I started to answer, and then was muted by Pluto's sudden dash out of the alley. "Hey, Pluto!" I yelled. Even though he wasn't a very fast runner, I didn't bother to go after him. After all, this kid needed help; I couldn't just leave him alone. I let out a sigh, and turned to him. "Well, he's gone."  
  
"Yeah, looks like it." He said. "Why don't you go after him?"  
  
"Because you're my priority right now." I replied. "Listen carefully, kid... My name is Ukyo Kuonji. And right now, you're not at your home. You're in a place called Traverse Town."  
  
"Huh? Where?" he said. "Traverse Town? But... where's my home? Where is Destiny Island? And where are... Riku... and Kairi?"  
  
* I now know what Cid meant when he said that it's hard to reveal what's going on. * I thought to myself. "What's your name?"  
  
"S - Sora..." he stammered. "Where are my friends?"  
  
"Come with me." I said, tenderly. "I'll tell you everything I know... Come on, I'll buy you a hot chocolate, or whatever."  
  
I helped Sora to get up and headed to the café with him. He looked at all that was around us with confused eyes, and shivered, as if the town itself frightened him with its mere buildings. We sat at on an empty table and said nothing for a while. I had no idea of how I was going to tell him what was the matter. I wanted to be warm, and gentle, and I wanted to choose all the right words, so I wouldn't blurt out some stupidity like Cid. I decided that, in order to choose the appropriate words, I had to know who I was dealing with... I just had to ask one question, and then it would all go well.  
  
"How old are you?" I asked.  
  
"Fourteen..." Sora answered. "And you?"  
  
"Seventeen. Almost eighteen." I replied. And so, I let out a sigh and added: "Listen carefully, Sora... It may not be easy to understand at first, but I know that you'll catch up. This is what's going on..."  
  
I explained all that there was to explain, and revealed all that there was to reveal. I talked for the longest of times and he just sat there, listening to every word that I spoke. He paid close attention and didn't stop me even once to clear something up. At long last, when I fell silent, he nodded his head and asked:  
  
"So, Riku and Kairi aren't here."  
  
"I don't think so." I said. "In the meantime, you'll have to stay here. Me and some other friends will look after you, OK?"  
  
"Okay, I guess." He murmured. Then, he stood up and looked at the moon. "I wonder if they're okay..."  
  
"You know..." I started to say, but then was muted by the sight of something that I didn't expect to see...  
  
Slowly, and from the very corner of the café, a shadow emerged. Just like the one that had popped out of the floor in my restaurant, and had acquired Ranma's shape... Only that this one actually looked like a little bug with two antennae and round, yellow eyes. It wasn't very menacing, but the darkness that engulfed its body still made it terrible and frightening... And just as I stood up and got ready to attack, another of those creatures appeared. And then another, and another... and many more, until Sora and I couldn't stay inside of the café. He quickly backed off, and I made my stand in front of him, and took out my giant spatula. I swung it fiercely and from the tip of it, a strong gale hit each and everyone of those creatures. But even as my attacks drew them away from us and knocked them off their feet, they still got up and came crawling after us, like a swarm of scarabs that cared about nothing but devouring us... I growled and decided to let loose all my power in order to smote them and to finish them once and for all. But, to my surprise, Sora leapt by my side and unsheathed a weapon of his own... And what a bizarre weapon it was.  
  
It was a gigantic key, that shone with the moon's rays and with the twinkling of the stars... I could tell that its edge was as sharp as a sword that is only known from knight's tales and legends... Perhaps it wasn't as deadly as Renamark, my Wilheim - honey's weapon, but it was still beautiful and fatal. And what was most important, its shape and size fitted to Leon's description of the Keyblade: the sword that would restore all...  
  
He lost no time and threw himself against the shadows with a battle cry... I guess that I can say that he was no expert in martial arts, but what he lacked in grace and speed, he made up with extraordinary strength. I stopped staring at him in awe, and began to attack as well. The people that were walking about the plaza quickly left the place while screaming and calling for help. But Sora and I needed no help. We had complete control of the battle just by ourselves. With every swing of my spatula, at least one of those small shadows fell to the ground without a head, and vanished after a quick flash. Sora was doing fine on his own; he often dashed to the creatures that were closer to him and stabbed them hard. Sometimes it took more than just one blow to kill them, but once the Keyblade had touched the shadows' body, it was certain that it would do it again, and the monsters couldn't escape. The creatures disappeared almost as quickly as they had come, and we achieved victory. I was untouched, but Sora had a few scratches on his arms. Nothing really bad, though.  
  
"Those things were on Destiny's Island, and after I finished them, that huge black hole appeared... The one that swallowed me." Sora muttered. "They were all after me. And here they are again."  
  
"I think I can guess why." I said. Without loosing more time, I grabbed his hand and took off to Cid's shop. We quickly went in, and were almost hit by Akane's fist, who was hiding behind the door, and had launched a powerful attack on us both. But as soon as she recognized me, she stopped short and took a few steps back.  
  
"Ukyo?!" she exclaimed. "Are you OK?" she asked. "I heard many screams... I thought I'd be safe here, but I also wanted to see if you and the others were okay."  
  
"I don't know about the others." I answered. "But I'm fine. We're fine." I added, as I gave a quick glance at Sora. "Sora, this is Akane Tendo."  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Akane said. "Are you alright? What happened?"  
  
"We were... attacked by these weird creatures." Sora answered. "But I think we're fine, now. Ukyo and I wasted them all."  
  
"Akane, we've gotta go back to the hotel." I urged. "Along with Sora. And we also need to find Ranma and the others."  
  
"But, what about the ones that we saw?" she asked.  
  
"Right now it doesn't matter." I replied. "Come on, let's get moving, before these shadows pop out of the ground again. They're weak, but they're many, and I don't think that we'll be able to hold them forever."  
  
***  
  
"Here you are, girls! I was beginning to worry about you two." Ran - Chan said to us as soon as he saw us cross the door that lead to the room. He put on a puzzled look when he noticed Sora with us, and asked: "And you are...?"  
  
"Sora." He replied. "Nice to meet you."  
  
"Yeah... Ranma Saotome." Ranma said, dryly. He turned to us and added: "Where were you? I just fought a bunch of little, bug - like, shadows by myself..."  
  
"So did we." I interrupted. "But the interesting part of it was that we were in the First District."  
  
"What?" Ranma exclaimed. "I thought that those things only came out in here and on the Third District. At least that's what the guys told us."  
  
"I don't think they'd lie to us, Ranma." Intervened Akane. "And that just leaves one question..."  
  
"Why are they appearing there?" Ran - Chan inquired.  
  
"I think I have the answer." I announced. I turned to Sora and said: "I think that they're after him. Because, as far as I can tell, the Keyblade master has just paid us a little visit."  
  
"The Keyblade master?!" exclaimed the three of them, in shock. Akane and Ranma gave a quick glance at Sora, who immediately asked:  
  
"What the heck is that? What am I, again?"  
  
"The Keyblade master." I repeated.  
  
And before I could say another word, Leon and Yuffie stormed into the room, while yelling:  
  
"The Heartless are after us! A whole army of them! Get out!!"  
  
That's all they got to say before all the lights of the room were dimmed by the bodies and the eyes of the many monsters that invaded the stance. Ranma, Akane, Leon, and Yuffie made their way to the balcony and jumped into a large alley, while I took Sora by his hand and jumped out of the window and into the same place. As soon as we hit the ground, the shadows of the dark street turned into hundreds of Heartless, all of them with a hungry stare in their evil eyes. And this time, there weren't just little, weak bugs, but there were also bigger shadows, clad in a dark, blue suit with the emblem of a shattered heart on their chests. They wore steel helmets on their heads, and from them, only their yellow eyes could be seen... Slowly, all that shone, all that had a light of its own, was darkened by the bodies of the monsters. Even the sky was covered by a black veil. They were all over us... but we were all strong enough to take them out.  
  
Once again, I took out my spatula, while Sora unsheathed the Keyblade. Leon held a bizarre sword in his hands, one that had the hilt of a gun... It was the weirdest... bayonet - gun I'd ever seen. As for Yuffie, she had taken out a huge shuriken of four blades. Ranma and Akane fought with bare fists, but their strength is, and will always be, something to be feared.  
  
I swung my weapon from side to side, up and down, and slayed many monsters with each slash. Only a few times I had to hold my spatula up to avoid being hit by a flying kick that came from one of the armored Heartless. But when the attacks were over, I once again became an invincible twister with nothing in mind, except the sole thought of bringing light to the darkened street.  
  
Ranma and Akane fought fiercely, but soon became tired, for the monsters took many hits before falling to them. Akane was the one who was having more trouble, for she wasn't as strong as Ranma, who constantly had to abandon a duel to run by her side, and protect her from a horde of merciless Heartless. However, not once did they pulled back their fists, and their punches and kicks were terrible and deadly.  
  
Leon and Yuffie were having no trouble at all. Like me, they relied on a heavy weapon that was capable of taking down at least three foes with just one blow. From time to time, Leon raised his hand and from his palm, shot out a fireball that destroyed every Heartless in its path. Yuffie was as agile as a wolverine, and constantly kept leaping and bouncing on the walls. At one second, she was at least teen feet away from her opponent, and in the next, she was right by its side, with its life taken by her hands.  
  
Sora was the one who had most trouble. He was both blessed and cursed with the Keyblade: The weapon itself gave him amazing strength and speed, and he fought bravely and without rest, but the Heartless saw him as their main prey, and kept on throwing themselves at him. I tried my best to keep the creatures off his back, but from time to time, Leon or Yuffie had to give me a hand, for he alone could not hope to destroy them all. He quickly dispatched the little, insect shadows, but fought a fierce fight with the armored monsters, for they were more agile, and their attacks, although slower, packed more power.  
  
None of us gave up, and after what seemed to be an eternity, all the monsters vanished into thin air, after letting out a low yelp of pain. Yet there was no time to celebrate our victory, because as soon as the battle was over and all the darkness of the street had vanished, Leon cried:  
  
"To the Third District! Aeris and Cid need our help!"  
  
We all ran into the plaza of the Second District and made our way into yet another small alley, that lead to the Third District, the one that was still unknown to me and Akane, at least. Sora was very tired, and could barely keep up with us. As much as I would've liked to let him rest, I knew that that wasn't an option. If we stood still, even for a second, the Heartless would surely attack us in full force again. I couldn't risk to let Sora alone stand against all of them...  
  
We crossed a wooden door at the end of the alley, and found ourselves in the Third District. This was the smallest of all three Districts, but was the one that had more lights, or at least that's what it felt, for the walls were all painted with a light blue color. For a moment, I felt that I was staring at a bay, that was being bathed by the daylight, but the hard surface of the brick that lay beside me told me that it wasn't so. The floor's color was light gray, and reflected many yellow dots of light to our eyes. There was a small square right below us, in which a battle was taking place...  
  
In one corner, there lay Cid and Aeris. She was holding his head, and muttered something in a very low voice. Her hands shone with a green glow, and her hair waved with the stroke of an unfelt wind. I noticed that Cid's eyes were closed, and that a stream of blood flowed from his forehead... And in the center of the place, there was an evil armor, floating and moving restlessly. It was almost as big as a mammoth, and twice as tough. The steel of the armor was purple, and was worn by nobody. The clawed gloves merely floated beside the huge, hollow torso, which had the Heartless emblem carved on it, and this floated above a pair of boots, and all of this was adorned by an empty helmet, similar to the ones that the Heartless knights which we had encountered earlier, were wearing. And the only ones that were fighting this abomination were none other than the dog and the duck.  
  
"Aeris!!" Yuffie yelled, as she ran by her friend's side. "What happened?"  
  
"Cid got hurt." Aeris replied. "I've cured his wound, but he's still unconscious. We've got to get him out of here."  
  
"And what about that armor?" I asked, while kneeling by Cid's side.  
  
"There's no choice: We've got to destroy it." Aeris said. "But we also have to save Cid."  
  
"Then get going! I'll take it out!!" exclaimed Sora, and leapt to the battle head on.  
  
"WHAT?!" I yelled. "Sora, wait!!" I quickly ran after him and soon found myself fighting alongside him, the duck, the dog, and Ranma. Akane, Leon, Yuffie, and Aeris all stayed by Cid's side, forming a human wall that was not allowed to fall.  
  
To my astonishment and relief, the duck and the dog were actually very fierce warriors. The first one was an experienced magician who used all sorts of magic. If he wished it so, he could let a ray of lightning fall on his foe, or a let a merciless blizzard freeze his enemy. And the dog fought with a heavy shield, and each and everyone of his blows turned out to be even more brutal than the swing of a scimitar.  
  
But the battle was all but easy this time, for the Heartless we were facing was nothing but steel. Every time he swung his hand at me, I had to cover myself with my spatula, and he would send me flying high in the air, only to try to hit me again, or to try to stomp me with his gigantic boots. Many times I managed to dodge it, and many others I was saved by the dog and the duck, who hit it with a quick blow, or who stopped it with a fireball. Either way, it wasn't going very well at all. Even Ranma couldn't score a good hit... Not even when he gathered all of his strength, and let loose the Chestnuts' attack. His speedy arms didn't even make a dent on the heavy armor. But he was agile enough to escape the monsters grasp, and every time the clawed gloves tried to swipe him off his feet, he jumped high into the air, and kicked the Heartless' head with great strength. I was more concerned about Sora, who seemed to be about to collapse into the ground after every attack that he gave. However, not even once did he falter. As a matter of fact, his weapon seemed to be the only one that actually damaged the creature, for after every hit that he scored, the Heartless let out a long, pain - filled growl, and tried to slay him in anger. I had to protect him many times, in order for him to survive the brutal fists of the beast.  
  
As the battle went on, all of us got weaker and weaker, including the Heartless itself, who was now attacking much more quickly, but with less strength than before. We were very lucky, however, to have a magician duck at our side. When we couldn't get up and fight anymore, a strange, invigorating wind blew on our bodies, and gave us the strength that we so desperately needed. Of course, this wasn't only the duck's doing, for Aeris, who was also a mage herself, cast many spells on us as well. More than once was I engulfed by a protecting wind which drew back the claws of the merciless beast... And the Heartless grew weaker and weaker.  
  
With a cry of rage, I let my spatula fall on one of the monster's boots, and when I did, its limb blew up into thousands of tiny pieces that quickly vanished into thin air... The Heartless let out a long wail of pain and tried to capture me with his claws. I jumped back and avoided him. The dog saw this and took advantage of the creature's anger, as he charged at its gloves with his shield, and destroyed one of them. The Heartless was very weak at this point and had a hard time defending itself. The tide had turned and we were now about to beat him, for the duck had just cast a powerful spell that had destroyed his other boot, and Ranma had fired a 'Tiger's Hurricane' blast, and had blown the monster's other glove to smithereens... or at least that's what all of us thought.  
  
Since he had no arms or legs to protect it, the Heartless' torso and head were now two easy, large targets. But to our surprise and discontent, these new targets had become tougher than ever, and every blow that we dished out did nothing but tickles in the creature's body. I, however, wasn't at all discouraged, for I knew that the Heartless wasn't invincible, and he now possessed no means to attack us. But again, I was wrong. Because when we least expected it, his torso began to spin like a tornado, which dragged us all into its powerful current of air, and wounded us many times. We fell to the ground and tried to get up, but our legs were practically rocks attached to our bodies. At this point, Aeris cast her most powerful spell in all of us, and gave us back some of our strength, and Leon and Akane entered the fight as well... The two new warriors were most welcome by us, for their blows packed much more power than our tired fists.  
  
However, the Heartless wasn't going to fall that easily. He kept on transforming his body into a merciless tornado, and soon, even Akane and Leon found themselves laying on the ground. Yet the creature was very weak, and I could tell because I saw many dents in its armor, and because I could hear him huffing and puffing...  
  
Once again, the Heartless dished out its powerful attack, and this time, he meant to kill us all. I wasn't going to let that happen. As I saw him get closer to us, I thought about Wilheim, and thought about all he had gone through to see me alive... I couldn't die now. I wouldn't die. And so, I stood up and gathered the little strength that I had left, and swung my spatula with anger at the monster's torso. My weapon cut through the metal like a hot knife cuts through butter, and the creature let out a terrifying shriek of agony. However, he wasn't defeated yet, for his armor still shone with hatred. I fell to the ground, unable to make another move, and waited for the worst...  
  
But to my amazement, a quick flash blinded me for a moment, and then, I only saw how the monster began to disappear. From the emblem on his chest, a glowing heart emerged, and floated over him for a few seconds, and then vanished, along with the Heartless itself. And when all was clear, I saw Sora, who fell to the ground unconscious, while holding the Keyblade with both of his hands...  
  
I quickly ran by his side, and pressed my ear against his chest. His heart was pumping steadily. I sighed in relief, and murmured:  
  
"Thank God..."  
  
"Gwarsh!" the dog exclaimed, as he let himself fall on his butt. "That was very close! I thought that we'd almost lost the Keyblade master!"  
  
"Yeah, that was close." Added the duck. "Well, at least we're OK, and he's OK. Now we can find the king!"  
  
"The king?" Ranma asked, breathlessly. He rolled his eyes and murmured: "You know what? No more talk for tonight. I think I'm gonna go to sleep now..."  
  
"The Heartless have lost their leader, no doubt." Aeris intervened. "It'll be sometime before they even dare to come near us now. For now, we can all rest easy."  
  
"How's Cid?" Akane asked.  
  
"He's still out, but he's doing fine." Aeris replied. She then looked at the dog and the duck, and gasped. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't get a chance to introduce you, boys. These are Donald and Goofy, and they're here because of that little boy." She added, as she pointed to Sora.  
  
"Him? Why?" I asked.  
  
"Well, king's orders." The dog, Goofy, that is, replied. "Uh, if you'd like to, we'll tell you more in the mornin'. Right now, I think it would be better if we'd just rest up."  
  
"Rest?!" exclaimed the duck, with anger. "What do you mean rest? We have to get outta here, Goofy! It's just like you said! KING'S orders!"  
  
"You need to rest." Said Leon, firmly. "Come with me, I'll show you where you can get some sleep."  
  
Goofy quickly followed him as he walked away from us. Donald waited for a few moments, and then he only crossed his arms and went after them, while grumbling to himself.  
  
"So... he's the Keyblade master?" asked Akane, as she kneeled by my side.  
  
"Yeah." I answered. "I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. Right now, we all need to get some rest. Especially Sora. That battle was exhausting..." I stopped to wave at Leon, who was saying good - bye to us. I turned to look at Ranma, Aeris, and Yuffie, who were all by Cid's side. He was beginning to wake up, and as he opened his eyes, he blurted out like a hundred bad words, some of them which were actually unknown to me. "Akane..." I whispered, in an excited voice. "I have the feeling that we'll leave Traverse Town very soon!" 


	5. Chapter Four: New Allies

Chapter Four: New Allies  
  
I woke up from my deep sleep as I felt how a gentle hand caressed my cheek. Its touch was as cold as a morning drizzle, but it was filled with eroticism and lust... I froze as it went down my neck, and crawled on my chest, and as it slowly slipped to my stomach, and then it went lower, and lower... and when it was about to reach my sex, I whispered in a low, excited voice:  
  
"Ukyo?"  
  
"I'm afraid not." Replied a lust - filled, feminine voice. "But I'm sure that I can entertain you more than any other woman you've rested your eyes on."  
  
I instantly recognized Morrigan's breath and jumped to my feet. There was the succubus, staring at me with a sensual smile drawn on her splendid lips... Her soft skin, her freezing touch still ran down my body, arousing me, possessing me, dominating me, and bending me to her lustful will... I blushed and let out a little gasp from my excited mouth. I am not very smart when it comes to women, and not brave at all. And this aggressive one, in particular, terrified me, for her indiscrete hand tempted me even when it was not touching me.  
  
But I had faced a succubus before. And the one I knew was as beautiful as her. A lady of eroticism, a mistress of sensuality, and lust, she was. When we first met, she quickly put me under her spell, and did not intend to release me. But the love that I had for a mortal girl, an undying, eternal and pure love, was all that it took to save me, and to conquer her. The love and devotion that I had for Ukyo would never succumb to anyone... Though, I must admit, that I faltered more than once when I felt her piercing, tempting eyes on me.  
  
But I could not let any vain wish destroy my undying thirst for her. I shook my head repeatedly, and stammered:  
  
"You - You are very beautiful, my - my lady... But, even t - though I would like to, I - I cannot..."  
  
"Why not?" she asked, as she rose to her feet and walked up to me. She held me in her arms, and I could not break free from her grasp. I could smell her breath... I could even taste her lips. "Why not, Wilheim? We are both creatures of the darkness. Wouldn't it be great if we could just meld in a frenzy of passion? Don't you desire to become one with me?"  
  
"Is this a dream?" I asked. Not because of the fact that I could not believe that this beautiful woman was throwing herself at me (for she was a lust - filled temptress of fate), but because of the fact that I know that the succubus feed on their preys when they sleep soundly and undisturbed. And if this really was a dream, then I was in grave danger...  
  
"No, it isn't." She answered, to my relief and content. "Don't you desire me?" she repeated, and her voice was even more tempting than before.  
  
"I cannot deny that my body does." I admitted, as I struggled against my own excitement, and gently pushed her away. "But my heart belongs only to a mortal girl."  
  
"She will never now, dear." Insisted Morrigan. "Lie down." She commanded, and for a moment, I almost did, but I resisted.  
  
"Maybe you are right." I replied. "But I will. And that is a betrayal as great as there can be. My soul belongs to no man, but to God, and my heart belongs to my dearest Ukyo." I let out a sigh, and my excitement vanished. "I am sorry, but I cannot do this. My only plea is that you do not do this again... I cannot betray her."  
  
"My, my." Morrigan murmured, while the lust in her face disappeared and was replaced by disappointment. "You two boys have shown quite a resilience... Even though I do not want to hold sway of your soul."  
  
"Yes." I said. After all, she was right: she had not tried to devour our spirits, and that was quite encouraging... "I know that you did not threatened us. And for that, I thank you."  
  
"I'm not stupid." She replied, dryly. "There are others here. A cold body wouldn't speak very well of me, would it?" and with that being said, she turned her back to me and left the room.  
  
When she disappeared, I let myself fall to my knees and sighed in relief.  
  
"I cannot believe this." I whispered to myself. "Of all the places, I come to the one where a merciless succubus dwells. Not even the queen of Urthalien had such cold blood running through her veins. I wish you were here, my dear Camille. To have a companion such as yourself, a defender that does not yield, would be very nice."  
  
I rose to my feet and left the dark room.  
  
***  
  
Halloween Town was very quiet. There were hardly any monsters wandering about it, and those that walked its streets barely talked at all. The great celebration had lasted all night long, and the town's inhabitants were still tired. Indeed, it would have been something amazing to witness, but the sadness that dwelt in us at that time would have impeded us to enjoy it. But rest had revived what little hope I had left and at that moment, all misery had left me. I took a deep breath and savored the smell of the moon and the stars, and began to walk about the town.  
  
I looked for Jack Skellington and Ryoga, but they were nowhere to be seen. I suppose that our host was still within his house, or at Dr. Finkelstein's laboratory. As for Ryoga, what can I say? I did not even bother to look for him, for I now that that mortal cannot be found at all, save by fortune. Still, I knew that he could not be far. I presumed that he could not be as stupid as to leave town without knowing what lies in the murky horizon...  
  
"Hey...! Wilheim!" I suddenly heard.  
  
I turned to my right side and saw Sakura, who was calling me. I waved at her and ran by her side.  
  
"Hello, Sakura." I said.  
  
"Hi..." she muttered. It seemed to me that rest had done marvels for her as well, for her face was filled with enthusiasm, and there was not sadness in her eyes. "Did you sleep well?" she asked.  
  
"I always do." I replied. "We vampires are sleep very soundly. It is rare thing, when we cannot close our eyes. Even when sadness and desperation reign on everyone's faces."  
  
"Oh, about that..." she murmured. "I'm sorry about being so cold last night. It's just that, when I saw you and your friend, I thought that maybe you were someone else... When I saw that your friend was wearing a headband, I thought that he was... him."  
  
"I understand."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"You do not have to be. I must confess that Jack told us that there were others like us in Halloween Town, and for a moment, I thought that maybe one of you could be my dearest Ukyo. But unlucky I am, and for that, I knew that you could not be her. And when I saw you, it only proved my believes, and desperation filled me. For that, I too, apologize."  
  
"It's okay." She paused for a moment, and then asked: "How old are you?"  
  
"That depends." I answered. "I have lived for sixty - eight years, but my body and heart are seventeen years old."  
  
"Oh... It's just that... I was curious, 'cause you talk... strange."  
  
I let out a laugh, and said:  
  
"I talk funny. Yes, that is what Ukyo tells me."  
  
"But don't take it the wrong way." She added. "I like it. It's a good feature you've got..."  
  
I giggled, as did she, and we both kept silent for a while. I must say that I was flattered by Sakura's words... and disturbed, as well. For she was blushing, and I when a woman's face turns red, mine does too. I decided that it was time to talk about something else.  
  
"Who is he?" I asked.  
  
"What?"  
  
"The one that you seek. What is his name?"  
  
"Oh... He's called..." and when she muttered the name, her eyes shinned with joy and wonder (and this was much relieving, I dare say)... "Ryu. He's the strongest man in the world... And the cutest as well."  
  
"What does he look like?"  
  
"He's almost as tall as you are... But he's much bigger. You know... He looks much stronger. He always wears a white Karate gi, and a red headband. He has brown hair and eyes... and a beautiful, manly face. God, he's gorgeous..." she chuckled, and sat down on the edge of a tranquil fountain, and I joined her. "He's a street fighter, and travels around the world, seeking opponents. He doesn't fight because he's angry: he just does it because he wants to become stronger, and because he wants to find the true meaning of the word 'warrior'. The way I see it, he fights to gain knowledge"  
  
"A philosopher, I take it." I intervened. "He has a very original method, I must say... Yet he seeks an answer to a question that few ask themselves. Worthy of admiration."  
  
"Exactly!" Sakura exclaimed, with a laugh. "Oh, and even though he's a lone wolf, most of the times that I've seen him, he's with his best friend: Ken Masters. He's really cute too, but he's more of a flamboyant, showoff type of guy. He's cool, but..." she fell silent, and sighed as a dreamy smile was drawn on her lips.  
  
"I understand." I said. "That is the same way that I feel when Ukyo is by my side."  
  
"What does she look like? Come on, it's your turn."  
  
"She is truly a sight to behold. To see her is to look at Venus herself. When my eyes rest on her, I'm blinded by her divine glow, but still I stare at her. I do not care if I do not see anything else... She a bit taller than yourself. Her hair is as brown as yours, but it is long, and falls down her back as a waterfall made out of the fairest trunks of the most beautiful forests. Her skin is white as snow, but its full of life, and it is as soft as cotton. Her eyes are terrifying... Every time she looks at me with her blue stare, my heart stops beating, and I die. But I succumb happily..." I stopped talking for a few moments, and then decided that it was time to know my friend's whereabouts. "Sakura, do you know where Ryoga is?"  
  
"I think he's with Jack, Vincent, and Felicia." She replied. "They're all in Jack's house... I talked to him earlier. He was both upset and worried."  
  
"Why is that?"  
  
"Morrigan tried to..." she paused, and found no words.  
  
"Don't say more." I interrupted. "She tempted me as well."  
  
"You too? God, that woman's uncontrollable. Ever since I got here, she's done nothing but to harass Vincent. And now, it seems that she's going to do that to you guys as well."  
  
"She is a succubus: you cannot blame her for that. It is the same as despising a vampire because he or she drinks blood..." I paused for a second, and then confessed: "Which reminds me that my inhuman thirst is beginning to weaken me. Though I am quite reluctant about it, I must feed."  
  
"Oh..." Sakura murmured. "Why don't we go with them? Perhaps Vincent will know what to do."  
  
"I do not think so. He is not a vampire. The only way he could help, is if he would bare his throat to me. But I will not ask him that, of course."  
  
"Would you kill him?"  
  
"Not at all. I have found a way to drink from my preys without killing them... I usually catch them by surprise, and feed from them so quickly, that their eyes cannot rest on me. Be that as it may, I only need a few drinks. The more powerful the being, the better I will feel."  
  
"Well, let's go, then. If Vincent doesn't volunteer, maybe Felicia will... Or maybe I will. But as long as you promise that it won't hurt much, OK?"  
  
"It will not. You can count on it." I assured, with a mischievous smile.  
  
***  
  
As Sakura had guessed, my friend, our host, the catwoman, and the dark man where all inside of the skeleton's house. Ryoga was staring out of the window, while Felicia, Vincent, and Jack where all talking amongst themselves, while the last one was holding some planes in his bony hands. Felicia herself looked very excited, and I saw that, in my friend's face, hope and happiness reigned. This was all it took to make me even more curious than I was before, and so I walked up to him and asked:  
  
"What news from our companions, Ryoga?"  
  
"Oh, Wilheim!" he exclaimed. "There you are! I was looking for you from the window. I went to search for you in town a while ago, but I couldn't find you anywhere. Well, at least you're here now."  
  
"Yes, I am." I said. I turned to Jack, Felicia, and Vincent, who where all staring at me, and greeted them. "Hello, fellows. I see that rest has indeed invigorated us much more than I had expected; everyone is filled with enthusiasm, and that puts me at ease. Yet, I must ask, why is everyone so happy? Have you found a way to find those who we long for?"  
  
"Well, not exactly, my dear Wilheim." Jack answered, and put the planes on the wooden table that was in front of him. "However, Dr. Finkelstein and I found a way to put you in the air, and in space! You see, we have managed to come up with a device that is capable of harnessing the energy that is released from a blast of nitroglycerine. Therefore, we have invented a propeller that will work even in the darkness of space!"  
  
"That is quite impressive, I must say, but I am afraid that we want not to visit the cosmos, but to find the ones that we have lost." I said.  
  
"Oh, right, you don't know..." Ryoga intervened. "They just explained me a moment ago. Here's the deal, Wilheim: Dr. Finkelstein has found out that new stars have been appearing in the sky, and these new stars are other worlds that can be reached very quickly with a... 'Gummi' ship."  
  
"Alright, now I'm interested." I murmured, and a sudden excitement grew inside of me. "Keep talking."  
  
"But the thing is that we don't have a Gummi ship." Interrupted Felicia. "The Doc has found out that there are plenty of those ships wandering about the skies of Halloween Town. Since not even one has landed, the Doc and Jack have been trying to come up with a Gummi ship of their own design, so that they can get us out of here, get it?"  
  
"I do." I replied. "And it seems that the moment of leaving is drawing near, isn't that right?"  
  
"Yeah, it is." Said Vincent, yet I noticed sarcasm in his breath. "We've got a turbine, but we lack the most important part of a ship: the ship itself. I wonder if it can be built..." he added, as he gave a quick glance at Jack.  
  
"Of course it can!" he assured. "If Dr. Finkelstein could construct undead, flying reindeers that pulled a coffin and me airborne last year, I doubt that this should prove much more of a challenge."  
  
"Oh, you guys hadn't told me anything about all this!" Sakura exclaimed, and jumped happily up and down. "Yeah! We'll soon leave! I can't wait!"  
  
"Don't get too excited, Sakura." Vincent said. "As I've said, we're still a long way. Besides, we've got to arm the ship with something that will keep enemies at bay."  
  
"Why do you say that?" the girl asked.  
  
"Because I doubt that the ships that fly in the skies are friendly at all." The dark man answered. After a moment of silence, a gloomy smile spread on his lips, and he added: "Let's just say that I have a 'hunch' about these sorts of things. It simply can't be that easy."  
  
"Don't be such a spoiler, Vincent." Felicia whined. "Instead of bringing us down when we're up, why don't you try to encourage us a bit?"  
  
"I'm sorry." Vincent said. "I'm not very good, when it comes to encouraging. And I must take it that Wilheim thinks the same way about it. Isn't it right, Wilheim?"  
  
As he spoke these words, they all turned to look at me, with a questioning gaze. I closed my eyes, crossed my arms, and replied:  
  
"I woke up with new hopes running through my veins. I simply cannot share your opinion. We must not lose hope, or all that you and Jack and Dr. Finkelstein have been doing, has been in vain." I paused for a moment, and then added, with a smirk: "'Everything is cool'... Remember? Or have you forgotten your own words, your own advice? For if that is the case, then how do you expect me to trust in fate's intentions, when you do not even listen to your own breath?"  
  
"Yeah, right. Everything is cool." He barely muttered, and grabbed some planes, and studied them in silence. Not another word came from his cold mouth.  
  
This cold silence passed from being a mere pause to an awkward moment. Everyone eyed Vincent and me, expecting one of us to say something else. But all had been said. I could only let the somber man study what he wished to. As for myself, I was a bit angry at him. How could he had said such things to me the night before, when there was not any hope in his heart? It was the same as if he were a priest that talks about God when he does not believe in Heaven... His words from the night before, which had made a small ray of hope shine on my tormented soul, turned into a bitter poison that infuriated me, and made my thirst increase. And when my longing for blood grew bigger, Ryoga finally broke the silence, as he asked me:  
  
"Are you feeling okay, Wilheim? You look terrible..."  
  
I turned to face him and knew what he meant. The glow of my eyes had become more fierce than the fire of a torch, and the veins that ran under my skin could easily be seen, and my fangs had doubled their size. I shook my head, and answered:  
  
"I am fine. Though I am thirsty. It is something that I do not wish to do, by all means... But even so, I must feed."  
  
Jack, Felicia, Sakura, and Ryoga looked at each other, while Vincent kept his eyes nailed to the planes. After some time, Jack said:  
  
"Well, I guess that you can hunt some of our fellows. Give them a good scare, that will encourage them: our vampires always do so. But don't hurt them, alright?"  
  
I chuckled as I heard him. Indeed, I had seen the vampires that dwelt in Halloween Town the night before. But they were unlike any other child of Cain that I had ever seen. The had the appearance of a young Nosferatu, yet they were not as hideous, and did not have such big fangs. These facts made me wonder that if feeding on the monsters that walked about the place would be a safe thing, and not a suicide.  
  
"I appreciate your concern, mister Skellington." I replied. "But I am afraid that I need not the monster of a blood running through my veins: it could be fatal." I explained, though I was not completely sure of what I was saying.  
  
"Oh, that's a shame." Said the skeleton. "Well... I take it that you don't kill your preys, do you?"  
  
"Not at all." I answered. "It has been twenty years, perhaps a bit more, since I extinguished the life of one of my victims. Yet I must say, that the more powerful and the older the throat - bearer, the sweeter the taste of his or her blood, the more energy that I will recover, and the fewer drops that I will be needing."  
  
"In that case, you should ask Morrigan." Vincent intervened, with a cold voice. "She is both old and strong. I'm sure that her blood will prove to be... quite appealing."  
  
"I don't think that that's such a good idea." Sakura murmured.  
  
"Yeah, I can tell." Felicia added.  
  
"Then let him drink from you." Jack suggested. "You are both quite powerful, and I don't think that he'll do you any harm."  
  
"None whatsoever." I assured. "Yet, I need your permission. I swear to you that you will only feel a slight pinch... but then, you will feel nothing." I added, and this last statement was a lie... I could not hold back any words from them, and so I said, with a nervous breath: "Save for an unstoppable, immense pleasure."  
  
"What?" Felicia asked, and her eyes were filled with confusion. "Do I detect some flirting in all of this? Or did I miss something?"  
  
I was about to explain, but before I could say another word, the Mayor of Halloween Town appeared behind us, as he ran up the spiral stairs and into the room. His face was nothing like the night before: its pink color had vanished into a spectral white; his eyes had been filled by a yellow of desperation, and his mouth depicted both fright and sadness.  
  
"Jack!! Jack!!" he yelled. "You've gotta help us!! Oogie Boogie has sent more of his monsters to Town! It's those damn gargoyles, Jack!! Please, they're destroying the statues and the lights! If nobody stops them, there won't be Halloween Town to celebrate next Halloween!!"  
  
"Oh, Oogie Boogie!" exclaimed Jack to himself, and his black, empty eyes were filled with rage. "Lead the way, Mayor! I'll stop these creatures!"  
  
"I'll help you out, Jack." Said Vincent, and got up from his seat. He reached for his waist and pulled out a silver gun. Even though I do not fear weapons that breathe fire, I sensed that this special one could let loose some sort of dark magic that ran through the man's veins... "Felicia, give us a hand, please. The rest of you, stay here. It's not safe to go outside. Come on. Let's go get Morrigan." And with that being said, the skeleton, the catwoman, and Vincent left along with the Mayor.  
  
I stared at the empty chair in which Vincent had sat, while Ryoga and Sakura ran to the windows and looked for the fighters. After a few moments, I walked to the stairs, and unsheathed my sword. Ryoga noticed this, and asked, as he ran to my side:  
  
"What are you doing? Vincent told us to stay here."  
  
"That is because he does not want any harm to befall us." I replied. "That is why I will go: for no harm can be done to my unearthly body."  
  
And as I said these words, the magical sword that I held, the mystery - blade that is Renamark, began to glow. The steel, that has the look of the body of a mythic wasp, shone as if it were a dark rock being devoured by a merciless fire. Ryoga and Sakura's eyes were filled by wonder, and they both took a few steps back. The blade began to growl, for it had been summoned by my hand... and now it thirsted for blood, just like me. My violet eyes shone even more fiercely and terrifyingly than before, and so I spoke again.  
  
"Let us go. We must aid them. Ryoga, I know that a great power sleeps in your body, for I have seen it loose before. And Sakura, I am aware that you also possess great strength... unleash it now." And so, I went down the stairs and out of Jack's house, with my two friends following me. They kept up with me, but tried not to walk too closely to me... I assume that the sudden change in my face had confused them deeply, and that they did not wish to see it any longer.  
  
We quickly ran to the main plaza (Guillotine Square), where the monsters were destroying and harming all that stood in their way. As the Mayor had said, they were gargoyles: purple, winged demons, with sharp claws, and yellow, menacing eyes glowing on their hideous face. They had a strange crest on their chest, and whether they wore any leather or not, I could not tell. It had the shape of a heart, only that it was a shattered one, and its color was the one of the abysses that dwell in the universe... Yet, these monsters did not scare me. I had seen more terrifying and menacing eyes than those, and I also wielded Renamark, a sword of terrible power, which made my own eyes glow even more fiercely than those of the creatures.  
  
It did not take us long to see our companions. They were all fighting with great speed and power... I was quite impressed when I saw Jack's long, skinny legs stretch themselves into unimaginable shapes to slay his enemies. When he put himself on guard, he looked horrifying and menacing, like a spider that is about to pounce on its hapless prey. A gargoyle tried to attack him from behind, but he merely jumped over it, and when his eyes rested on it, he fired a flaming ball from the palm of his hand, and incinerated the creature. When one of those monsters died, it vanished into thin air, as its soul (or at least that is what that strange gleam of white light appeared to be) left its body, never to be seen again...  
  
* What a shame. * I thought to myself. * And to think that I could have quenched my thirst with these evil beings, rather than to ask the ladies to bare their throats. *  
  
I lost no time and ran to meet my foes. As I did this, I noticed Felicia, Morrigan, and Vincent, who fought against the gargoyles without mercy on their movements. The catwoman was the quickest of the three; she could hop from one place to another in an instant, and slash her victims with her sharp claws, which glowed with a red, furious color. Not even the greatest of tigers could match her strength and lightness; she was simply a deadly opponent. For her part, the succubus barely moved, for her dark wings could turn as hard as steel, and protect her from any blow, or they could turn into a hundred needles that would quickly run through every fool that dared come near her. As for Vincent, he made use of his mighty gun. The bullets that it shot were filled with magic, and every of foe that took one, fell dead instantly. He was very accurate, and could shoot a rain of projectiles in less than a second; no creature could come near him and fly away.  
  
Even though the four warriors were nearly invincible, the army of gargoyles was quite large. Our companions would emerge victorious, no doubt... But I supposed that helping them would come to no harm. I smiled to myself, and my sword shone the brightest.  
  
"What are you doing?!" Vincent yelled. "I told you boys to stay in Jack's house!! Get out of here, it's dangerous!!"  
  
I did not even care to turn to him. I simply spun my sword around my body, and cut three gargoyles in half. They let out a shrill scream, and disappeared. I then swung Renamark again, and a fierce gale came from its tip. All the creatures in front of me felt my strike, and fell to the ground. It was then that I turned to Vincent, and said, with a laugh:  
  
"The one and only danger is the one that my blade represents! Keep on fighting, and we will defeat them in no time at all!"  
  
Ryoga and Sakura could say the same thing as well, for their speed and strength were no match for the monsters. My friend's punches were as powerful as the swipes of a black bear, and he could also fire a flaming blast from his hands whenever he wished to. A fierce yell came from his throat, and while the words 'Shishi - Hokoudan' echoed on the walls of the plaza, a ray of energy ran through all of his foes...  
  
Even though Sakura was not as strong as the rest of us, she could handle her opponents without much trouble at all. She was also capable of firing blue bursts of energy from her hands, but when she did this, she was weakened for a short time, and so one of us had to protect her. When her knees touched the ground, and her breathing sped up, I turned into mist, escaped from the monsters that fought against me, and went to her aid. It took only a few slashes to get rid of all the gargoyles that wished to harm her: Renamark can strike down any foe by just touching them. It is that powerful. When she rose to her feet again, I returned to my other enemies and smote them in a matter of seconds. After all, I could not leave them waiting for a taste of my blade, could I?  
  
After merely ten minutes of relentless and merciless slashing, what was left of the evil cloud of gargoyles flew away and into the night. It had been an easy victory. I sheathed my sword, and let out a sigh.  
  
"Such weaklings. What chance did they think that they stood against us?" I muttered, with a chuckle.  
  
"Why did you come here?" asked Vincent's voice. I noticed that he walked toward me and that there was anger in his eyes. "I told you to stay in Jack's house. Why didn't you listen? Someone could've gotten hurt!"  
  
"Did it happen?" I asked, and my question became a challenge. "No one is hurt. Besides, why do you worry about me? Do not you see that I cannot be touched by some pitiful gargoyles? I could have killed them all by myself. I possess the power of Renamark, the sword of the children of Cain."  
  
"We could have done it without your help." He replied. It was at that moment that our eyes met, and my violet, spectral glance endured a fight with his red, mysterious irises. "I don't care if you hold that sword. I see no difference in a scythe. Next time, you'll listen to me, and you won't put yourself in danger, understood?"  
  
"Are you commanding me?" I answered. I was now quite mad... "Who are you, to talk to a Vampyr in such way? Do not be foolish, and keep your tongue behind your lips. I am much older than you; it is I who should be angry at you, for you were the one who was putting himself in danger."  
  
"You may be older, in age. But at heart and brains, you're still a child. And a stubborn one at that; if you were really old and wise, you would've listened to me."  
  
I could not deny that he was right. It was perhaps this that made me even more angry than before.  
  
"Child or no child..." I growled. "I am much more powerful than you."  
  
"Really? Try me." Said Vincent, and his eyes glowed in a strange way.  
  
"My pleasure." I replied, and his face was illuminated by my violet, raging glance.  
  
"Stop it, you two!" yelled Felicia. She quickly ran to our side, and put her strong paws on our chests. "Stop fighting amongst yourselves! We won, OK? That's enough!" she then turned to Vincent, and said: "Nothing happened. They were helpful; you know that they aren't kids that need to be protected." She paused for a second, and then faced me, and added: "And you should try not to be so rude. If he told you guys to stay put, it was because he worries about you."  
  
The catwoman's words touched my heart and made my anger vanish. I could do nothing more than to lower my head in shame. However, Vincent walked away from us, and said:  
  
"I was just trying to look after you. Next time, I'll tell you nothing, if that's what makes you happy."  
  
I just stood there, while the blowing wind caressed my face with its chill, and while the monsters of Halloween Town returned to Guillotine Square with fright and confusion in their faces. Jack and the others lost no time and headed back to Dr. Finkelstein's house... but not without giving me a quick glance. Felicia stayed by my side, and waited for me to finally look up again. She was very patient, for I did not move for a long while. At long last, the whistling of the wind became no different than the sound of an out - of - tune flute. I had to escape from that cacophony, and so, I raised my head and began to walk. Only that I did not go to Dr. Finkelstein's house: I did not wish to see the eyes of my companions resting on me with disapproval... I was fortunate enough to have Felicia following me.  
  
When Guillotine Square was out of sight, and the streets were empty from all beings, save for the occasional bats that flew through them, the catwoman asked:  
  
"Are you okay?"  
  
"Why should I be?" I replied. "I have just been angry, and at the one who was only trying to protect me. Protecting me from no harm at all, he was, for those foul creatures could not even scratch my skin, and even if they did, the wound would quickly heal... but still, he was looking after me. I feel like a fool."  
  
"Well... you should." Felicia said. "But that's not a bad thing. At least, you know that what you did was wrong."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Besides, no sword, as beautiful as it may be, can make you stronger. There is no such steel."  
  
I giggled when I heard her. I brandished Renamark, and said:  
  
"You are wrong. Touch it, and learn what the essence of the sword is."  
  
She shrugged and put her hand on the hilt. But when she did, her eyes were filled with wonder... Her mouth opened, as if she was going to say something, but no sound came from her at all. After a few moments, she pulled her hand back to her body, and muttered:  
  
"Wow... that was amazing."  
  
"Yes." I chuckled. I paused for an instant, and then added, in a serious tone. "Yet the strength that it confers is just brute force. It does not give me anymore intelligence or wit." I sheathed Renamark, and sighed. "I know what I must do. But it is hard to do it."  
  
"Yeah; apologizing hasn't and will never be easy." Felicia agreed. "Hey, look at it on the bright side: you're still alive. Besides, Vincent should apologize to you too... He underestimated you."  
  
"That is true..."  
  
"It isn't easy. Specially when all the guys will be looking at you. But don't you worry: I won't let them say anything bad about you. After all, what are friends for?"  
  
"Friends?" I asked, as I turned to her, with a warm smile on my face. "Thank you, I must say. That is very encouraging... my friend."  
  
"Yeah, yeah..." she giggled. "You don't have to say anything. Oh! By the way, how are you doing? I mean, on the blood issue..."  
  
"I had forgotten about it. But now that you speak of it, I feel the urge to feed once again."  
  
"If I let you drink from me, do you promise that you won't hurt me?"  
  
"I swear..." I answered, and as she spoke these words, and looked at me with her feline, magical eyes, and as she walked toward me with her beautiful, mythic body, I became very excited. I gulped, and my face turned bright red, as I stammered: "I... I am afraid t - that I cannot ask s - such thing of you..."  
  
"Knock it off!" Felicia laughed. "Come on... I know you won't hurt me... But don't you try anything else, okay? 'Cause what you said before just keeps ringing in my ears..."  
  
"I would not dare. Besides, I cannot betray my darling Ukyo."  
  
"Oh, you have a girlfriend?" she asked. "I didn't know..." she stopped speaking for a second, and then smiled, and added: "Well, that's a relief. Now I know that you won't do anything... weird."  
  
"No! Not at all!" I exclaimed.  
  
The catwoman lost no more time, and threw her head and hair back. Her white, furred, gorgeous neck lay still and waiting for my fangs... I could not refuse such invitation. Gently, I held Felicia in my arms, and bit her. She made no sound at all, and did not shudder. In all my existence, I had only encountered two beings that did not feel my bite... Not even Ukyo had been unaware of my hungry fangs. I was very surprised to see that the catwoman had not even gasped... I gently sucked her blood. The more I drank, the more her and I fell into the arms of ecstasy, and the more her strong hands pressed me against her. She tried not to moan, but after a few moments, a yelp of pleasure escaped her lips...  
  
I did not wish to stop. It had been a long while since I had tasted such sweet blood. A delicious wine it was to me, but it was not the elixir that ran through my Ukyo's veins. I shivered in pleasure, as if a gentle drizzle were striking my body. For a moment, all lights went black, and the blowing of the wind turned into a hot flame that devoured me with its lustful hunger.  
  
I stopped as soon as I felt how a drop of sweat ran down my forehead. Felicia's head dropped on my shoulders, as she gasped for breath, and tried not to faint. I was as strong as ever: her blood had been a very invigorating drink, and I needed no more. I looked at her in the eyes, and smiled.  
  
"So fair." I whispered. "I regret to have put you through this. I am sorry. I will not ask it of you again."  
  
"It's okay..." she replied. "I actually enjoyed that... But we have to be careful about it. I wouldn't want you to think that you're cheating on your girlfriend, or something. Besides, I don't want to get too used to it. Right now, I'm not feeling very well."  
  
"Then let me take you to where you can rest." I offered. "And don't you worry; your blood may be in my veins, but the memory of my Ukyo is in my heart. Either way, I do not think that I shall do this very often... I am quite terrified of doing it to such beautiful women... especially those that are not the one that I love!" I said, with a laugh.  
  
She chuckled, and nodded her head. I later helped her to get to her room in Dr. Finkelstein's house...  
  
***  
  
Seven days, in which the sun was unseen by my eyes, passed by quickly, and only their nights kept me alive, until at long last, Jack and Dr. Finkelstein completed their ghastly experiment, the one which would take us far from Halloween Town and into the unknown confines of space...  
  
During that time, I had the opportunity to know my new companions, and so did Ryoga. Eventually, Vincent and I apologized to each other. It was very hard for us both to do so: when I told him that I was sorry for all that had happened, I did not, for one second, stopped moving my nervous feet, and for his part, he had much trouble in looking at me in the eyes. However, when this awkward episode ended, we both became much more closer (in other words, he spoke to me with a less chilling voice than before, and with Vincent, that is saying a lot), and that was encouraging.  
  
Sakura and Felicia proved to be extraordinary friends, and when the night came and darkened everything with its shadows, they were always waiting for me, along with Ryoga, in Guillotine Square. The four of us sat down and talked for hours and hours. Actually, it was they who talked, for most of the times, I only listened to their mortal conversations. Everything they talked about proved to be quite irrelevant, yet their words were quite delicious; it was indeed a great way to ignore the tragedy that had befallen us. Most of the times, their words became gastronomical discussions... I wish I could have joined them in their chats, but the only thing that could taste at that time was blood, and that was the only flavor that I could remember. I could comment on some alcoholic drinks, however, for some of my former victims had drunk too much before they fell to my fangs... Either way, they were the ones who talked, but did not forget about me at all, for they were always asking me how I was doing, and if I needed to feed, and some times, they even asked for my opinion regarding certain issues, though few were the times in which I could answer their questions. Mortal chit - chat has not been my specialty for a very long time...  
  
As for Morrigan, she usually kept her distance from the rest of us, and most of the times, kept her words for herself. She did not tempt me or Ryoga ever again, and did not even bother to cross words with us... at least for a while.  
  
During the first three nights, I fed only on Felicia's blood. She was powerful enough to ease my inhuman thirst with just a few drops of herself. Quite a delicious drink, it was, and when the time of the night came, I felt excited and happy... although not as joyful as when Ukyo convinced me to drink from her. Be that as it may, feeding stopped being an agonizing time in the hollowness of the night, and became a formidable experience. But, during the reign of the fourth night, something happened that I did not expect...  
  
Felicia was nowhere to be found. I asked Jack for her whereabouts, and he told me that the last time that he had seen her, she had gone off to the graveyard, seeking solitude. I decided to let her be, and walked about the plaza, with no more company than the nocturne wind, and the fading glow of the stars.  
  
Suddenly, I stopped. Morrigan was standing in front of me, with a dry expression on her face. Apparently, she too was walking without being bothered by any whisper... I had not talked to her since the night in which she had tempted me. My mind could only utter a near - inaudible:  
  
"Hello..."  
  
"Hello, Wilheim." She replied, with a chilling breath. "Now, if you would be so kind as to step aside... I wish to keep on walking, if that's alright with you."  
  
"Of course... yet, I was wondering if I could join you in your walk." I said.  
  
"Sure, why not? The streets are full of all sorts of beings, and many of them walk together, even though they don't know each other. You can walk beside me, but do not think that I will initiate a conversation with you. I don't wish to do so, if you take my meaning."  
  
"Yes, I do."  
  
With that being said, she kept on walking, with me by her side. We passed by many monsters' side, and all of them greeted us with smiling faces. I greeted them back, but Morrigan kept silent...  
  
We did not stop walking, and she led us past Guillotine Square and out of all living being's sight. After a while, we stopped at the foot of the dark, mythical mount, Moonlight Hill. She froze, and closed her eyes. This worried me, and I wondered that, if by coming with her to this desolated place, I had not made a fatal mistake. I even tried to read her mind; it is a dark ability that I can use whenever I feel like it, but that I only use when my life is threatened... But her thoughts were unknown to me. At long last, she spoke:  
  
"What do you want?" she asked. She turned to me, and I noticed that her eyes were filled by lust. "Have you reconsidered my offer?"  
  
I was about to answer 'no', and to turn tail and run away from her. But I was lucky enough to come up with a brilliant plan, which would make things easier for her, and for me...  
  
"In a way, I have." I replied, with a smile. I must confess that deep inside, I was terrified by her, but I could not falter now, for if I did, God only knows what might have happened... "Yes, I have."  
  
"That's good to hear." She murmured, and a lust - filled grin was drawn on her lips. Slowly, she walked to me, while moving her hips from one side to another, tempting me with every step that she took. She put her arms around me and drew her lips close to mine... "I'm glad that you have decided to succumb to pleasure."  
  
"I have." I said, and quickly put my hand in her mouth. "But not in the way that you think."  
  
"What do you mean?" she asked, with a confused look in her eyes.  
  
I decided that I should be swift and cunning in my plan, or else, it would fail. And so, without answering her question, I quickly opened my mouth and drove my fangs into her skin. She let out a startled cry and tried to push me back, and nearly succeeded in releasing herself from my grasp, for she was much more powerful than me...  
  
But I could not let that happen. I quickly began to suck the succubus' blood, and filled her with the ecstasy that she longed for. Her struggling hands quickly stopped fighting me, and then embraced me... She knew that I would not kill her. I could feel her lustful smile, and I heard her moans and gasps. I could not be happier myself, for the taste of Morrigan's blood was far more delicious than the one of Felicia, but it was not as good as the one of my beloved's. A sweet, burning ale it was, and it ran through my veins with great speed, satisfying me and quenching my thirst. We broke into a hot sweat, as our bodies contrasted themselves in inhuman forms, forms that can only be achieved by us, children of the night. Her moans filled the air around me, and with every lust - filled yelp that escaped her lips, I drank more vigorously. Finally, I felt we both reached what could be best described as the Elysium, and I let go of her. Surprisingly, it was I who fell to the ground, without strength, while she let out a final shiver of pleasure run down her back. She then looked at me, and said:  
  
"Trickster. I would've never imagined it. That was quite a trap you set. Yet I liked it very much..." she knelt down, and grasped my face with her hands. I closed my eyes, as her hot breath went into my mouth, and thought about the mistake that I had done: I had let myself at her mercy. Yet all that she did was to lick my ear, and then whisper in it: "I look forward for tomorrow night, when thirst will attack you again. You have satisfied me completely, my naive vampire... and for this favor, I will spare your lips. But don't forget that, tomorrow night, my blood must flow in your veins again."  
  
She got up and walked away, leaving me alone. I laid there for a long time, breathing rapidly and waiting for my strength to come back to me. When it finally did, I sat down, and muttered to myself:  
  
"I must stop enjoying this. I feel that now I need more blood, even though I have recovered my lost power. I long for Ukyo's, soft neck..." I realized what I was saying, and shook my head. "Curse my lust. I do not want to betray her in anyway. But I cannot fast forever... I ask for your forgiveness, my love, wherever you are... Thank God that Morrigan pitied me, and did not have me. Her blood and Felicia's may be flowing in my veins, but so is hers. My heart beats only for her, and my lips can only taste hers."  
  
I raised myself to my feet, and ran to Dr. Finkelstein's house.  
  
***  
  
"EUREKA!!" screamed Jack, and his yell was followed by his own mad laughter.  
  
"IT LIVES!! IT LIVES, YESSS!!" hissed Dr. Finkelstein, and laughed along with the skeleton.  
  
Sakura, Vincent, Felicia, Ryoga, Morrigan, and I quickly ran to where the screams and the laughs came, to the laboratory. When we crossed the doors to it, we noticed that our time had finally come: the ship had finally been built.  
  
The dark metal glowed like the light of a candle in a somber room. It had the shape of the gigantic head of a vulture; a pair of bird - like wings stretched to its sides, and flapped up and down in a spectral way, while the burning turbines roared in the back of its head. A pair of yellow eyes looked at what was in front of them without moving, and illuminated the room with its shining glance. It was our Gummi ship, a machine come to life from the minds of Jack and Dr. Finkelstein: a metallic, living entity, waiting to be used, waiting to fly away into the depths of space...  
  
"Yes!!" Jack chuckled. "It's finished! There you are, my friends! Just like we promised! Next time, I trust that you'll have more confidence in our words!" he added, as he looked at Vincent.  
  
"I will certainly do." He answered, and actually smiled. "I see it, yet I can't believe it..."  
  
"Oh, yeah!" exclaimed Sakura, as she leapt into the air. "Finally, we'll find Ryu!"  
  
"And Akane!" added Ryoga, with an excited giggle.  
  
"And Ukyo..." I murmured, to myself, and then said: "Finally, hope has ceased to be a mere dream. I think that none of us can than you enough, friends."  
  
"Oh, don't mention it!" Jack replied. "It will be fine! But you can't part just yet..."  
  
"That's right. We'll have to spend the next two days checking for failures... Though I daresay that I think that it will most likely be a waste of time, for this machine is constructed to utter perfection." Said Dr. Finkelstein, with a laugh.  
  
"Two more days cannot harm us." I said. "Thank you, friends. You have our eternal gratitude..."  
  
***  
  
We were all very excited, for we knew that we would soon leave. It was our last night in Halloween Town, and all of my companions had decided to go to bed early, so they could start the day with energy. But the darkness that dwelt above me was still young, and I could not go to sleep, even though Morrigan's blood had already fed my body...  
  
I was looking at the starless sky from Guillotine Square, wondering if Ukyo would be doing the same thing as well... I could do nothing but to think of her.  
  
"My dearest..." I murmured. "Where are you? I wonder if your fair eyes are set on me right now... I wonder if your sweet breath is headed this way. I whish it were that way, so that it could fill me with its pureness. Which way does the wind blow from where you stand? Does it make your hair wave with gentleness? I can imagine how it floats above the ground, in a way that only the words of the Angels can describe. I can imagine it stroking your skin, soft and cold as snow, snow that my hands want to caress with tenderness... Each time that I sink my fangs in the succubus' neck, I can only think of you. Yet, I have stopped thinking about your blood, sweet Ukyo. Every time that I gulp down a drop of it, I picture myself next to you, holding you with my arms; I imagine your erotic smile and your sensual touch. I feel your lips touching mine, and I smell your perfume... The hot air becomes your body, which enslaves me to your will. When, I wonder, will all of this stop being just a mere dream? I wish that I could hear your echoing words, your comforting laughter in my head... It will all happen soon enough, my love. Soon enough..."  
  
My soliloquy was suddenly interrupted by a shy voice, that came from my back:  
  
"Wilheim? Could I speak to you?"  
  
I turned to face the voice, and saw Sally standing behind me.  
  
"Sally?" I uttered. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I need to ask something of you..." she answered.  
  
"Tell me then. You and your friends have helped me, and I shall not deny my help. I listen to your request."  
  
"Thank you, but not here..." she whispered.  
  
She quickly grabbed my arm and dragged me away from Guillotine Square. We made our way into a ghastly graveyard; it was not a very big cemetery, but it was riddled with graves of all shapes and sizes. All of them had the same grayish, sad color, save for a few of them which radiated a strange green tone. Still, the place did not cease to be a cheerless, obscure one, just like it ought to be.  
  
"I need to ask you a favor." Sally said.  
  
"I know. You have said it before, and I have told you that I shall aid you. But what is it that you want?" I asked.  
  
"It's about Jack and Dr. Finkelstein's other experiments..." she murmured.  
  
"You mean the ones with the strange creatures?" I inquired, and remembered Jack's words to himself when we first met.  
  
"Yes." Sally replied. "You see, these creatures have the same crest on their chests as the gargoyles that you fought some days ago. Did you notice that strange, heart - shaped marking on them?"  
  
"I did."  
  
"Well, I'm sure that it's the same one. I've told Jack about this, but he claims that he can find a way to control them to his will. He plans to build some weird device, with Dr. Finkelstein's help. And all because he wants to see them dance next Halloween!"  
  
"What? That is ridiculous! I will talk to him..."  
  
"No, you don't understand." She interrupted. "Jack is very stubborn when it comes to these things, and will not listen to anyone, not even me. Last year, he insisted on celebrating Christmas, and even assumed Santa Clause's roll... It was a disaster! He nearly got himself killed! I thought that all of that was over, but he is too enthusiastic to let an idea go so easily. He won't stop; I know he won't."  
  
"Then what is it that you want me to do?"  
  
"I want you and your friends to return here; if you can find a way to get rid of all these monsters, I want you to come back and help us. The gargoyles that you fought are returning here more frequently than before, and in greater numbers. Jack and some other monsters can dispatch them without problems... But I fear that he will unleash something even greater."  
  
"Then why do not you destroy these creatures?" I suggested. "After all, they are empty puppets that cannot move. They are not even animated by the night's glow."  
  
"I don't know where he's keeping them." She answered. She paused for a moment, and then said: "I've heard your friends when they talk about you. They think that you're young and impulsive, but they also respect you and hold you as a wise being. It seems that the little incident with Vincent proved nothing, but your might... And besides, you're the only one whom I've seen talking with Morrigan, and that's saying a lot. Please, convince them to return if you ever find the way. While you're gone, I will do what I can to sabotage Jack's plans without him noticing it. But I won't be able to hold him off forever..."  
  
"I understand." I murmured. I stayed silent for a moment, and then said, firmly: "I swear that, if we ever find the way to destroy these beings, I will make them return here. You have helped me much, and I shall not let you astray."  
  
"Thank you..." Sally said, and smiled sweetly.  
  
***  
  
We were all ready to leave Halloween Town. The vulture's head was about to swallow us to then fly into the sky. Jack, Sally, and Dr. Finkelstein waved at us from this last one's laboratory. We said good - bye to them and thanked them for their help... And as the mouth of our ship closed, I looked at Sally in the eyes and whispered in her mind:  
  
"I will not fail you."  
  
The hatch closed, and moments later, Vincent, who was the only one who had been taught how to pilot the ship, took us into the dark depths of space. The ship was gigantic: the skeleton and the mad scientist had done their work well. It had two large bedrooms; one for us, men, and one for the women. On the sides of the outer case, there were two heavy laser - like weapons, ready to fire their heat blasts at Vincent's command. Three other rooms could be found: the cockpit, a bathroom (I truly have no idea of how they managed to put it in there, but either way, I could not care less, for I have no use for it), and a little chatting room in which all of us could sat around a small table, and talked. Jack and Dr. Finkelstein had stocked the ship with plenty of food and water, enough to keep my friends at ease for a whole year. I did not pay heed to these supplies, for I needed only Morrigan or Felicia's blood to stay alive...  
  
We had traveled for three days, and had landed nowhere. I was sitting in the small, chatting room by myself, while reading a book. The rest of my friends were in the cockpit... or so I thought. For suddenly, Ryoga sat by my side, and looked at the pages of my book.  
  
"Hello, Ryoga." I greeted him.  
  
"'The Fellowship of the Ring'." He murmured. "I've heard great things about this book. Maybe someday I'll read it."  
  
"It is quite good. I have read master Tolkien's work before, in the forms of 'The Hobbit' and 'The Silmarillion'. I know that this is his masterpiece, and so I decided that it was time to take a look at it. A change is what I need, for lately I had read nothing but Anne Rice's stories."  
  
"She writes about vampires, doesn't she?"  
  
"Among other dark beings, yes, she does. That is why I like her tales so much." I giggled.  
  
"Wilheim, why is it that you say that you're unlucky, and that misery follows you? I mean, I'm a bit negative myself, but you're the most pessimistic person I've ever known... no offense."  
  
"Non taken." I replied. "Yet do not forget that I have regained some lost hope."  
  
"Yeah, sure, sure, but... Why is it that, before, at least, you couldn't just think that it would all turn out fine?" he asked, with eagerness.  
  
I looked at him with steady eyes, while staying silent for a few moments.  
  
"Do you really want to know?" I finally asked.  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
"Fine, then." I said. "In all of my letters, I told Ukyo a bit of what I lived through before I met her, and asked her not to share that with anyone. But since you are very curious about it, I shall tell you a bit of myself, for I know that I am much of a mystery... It all began, as it should always begin, in the year of my birth, 1933..." 


	6. Chapter Five: Leaving Traverse Town

Chapter Five: Leaving Traverse Town  
  
I woke up with a terrible backache as I felt how someone gently tapped my shoulder. I rubbed my eyes and looked at Sora, who was now wide awake, and was lying in his bed with a smirk on his face.  
  
"Hi there, Ukyo." He said.  
  
"Hi, Sora..." I replied, as I let out a yawn, and got to my feet. I had been sitting all night by his side, and it seemed like I had dozed off. "How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?"  
  
"No, not really." He said. "It's strange. When I was fighting that battle, I felt as if I was going to die... But now, I feel as if nothing ever happened. If I wanted to, I could run for miles without getting tired."  
  
"Don't try to impress me." I chuckled. "Since Aeris was out of strength, she used some potions to cure you." I made a small pause, and then said: "It's wonderful. Yesterday, you looked as if you would crumble away with even the smallest gale, like a dry pile of sand in the desert. Now you look as if no fist had ever touched your skin. I guess that Aeris did a good job. Aside from that, you have a lot of strength within you, Sora. I'm impressed."  
  
"Thanks, I suppose... Did we beat him?"  
  
"You should know better, genius. You were the one that destroyed that cursed tin - man. Besides, we're still alive, right? If we had lost, we wouldn't be speaking right now. It's that simple."  
  
"Yeah, I guess you're right." He giggled. "Hey, how are your friends? Did all of them make it?"  
  
"Yes, they did. Yet, it was a very close call." I let out a sigh, and then said: "Fortunately, Aeris thinks that no more monsters will come here for a while. She believes that we defeated their leader."  
  
"Was Aeris the girl in the pink dress?" Sora asked.  
  
"Yeah. Oh, that's right! You didn't get a chance to meet them, did you?"  
  
"Not really. I kind of only know them by name... Except for that duck and that... what the heck was that other thing?"  
  
"A dog, I think." I said, with a laugh. "Either way, their help couldn't have come at a better moment. Besides, I believe that they got here on a Gummi ship..."  
  
"So that means that we get to leave this place and go look for Riku and Kairi?" the boy asked, with an excited smile in his face. He quickly jumped out of the bed, and looked at me with eyes filled with hope.  
  
"Yeah, I think that we can." I chuckled. "We'll have to ask them, however... You've been out for a whole day, and I got to know them a bit. The dog - Goofy - is OK... he's a bit stupid, but he's Ok. But Donald is a really sour duck. A very bad tempered man... Uh, I mean... creature... whatever." I stammered.  
  
"That's not very good news!" he exclaimed, and laughed joyfully. It seemed that his heart beat with happiness, for he felt that the time to leave was now, and that he wouldn't spend another minute in this town, which was, even though it was beautiful, a prison that kept us all from going to the ones that we loved. "Wow..." he muttered, and sat down on the bed. He looked at me, and asked: "Did you ever think that such things could exist?"  
  
"What are you talking about? The Heartless? Or Donald and Goofy?"  
  
"Both."  
  
"Yeah, I guess I believe that it isn't so weird..." I said. "You see, it's because of my boyfriend, Wilheim... He's a vampire."  
  
"Wow! A vampire! Where is he?" he asked, with a surprised glance. I could see in his face that he wished to meet him and all sorts of wonderful creatures... Those that we know only by tales and by dreams. And for an instant, he seemed like a traveler that only wants to see all that he hasn't seen.  
  
I smiled weakly, and answered:  
  
"I don't know. He could be where your friends are... Anyway, he's not here."  
  
"Oh, I see..." Sora murmured. "So he's lost as well."  
  
"Yes..."  
  
"Ukyo..." he said, and I noticed in his voice that he wished to talk about something else. I knew that he felt my sadness... "Could you tell me more about myself? I mean, about the Keyblade master. What does that mean? What is this weapon that I have? I mean, before my world disappeared, it only materialized itself in my hands... Why?"  
  
"I really can't tell you that, sugar." I replied. "I only know that you're the one who has the power to stop the Heartless." I stopped talking for an instant, and then, I snapped my fingers and said: "I remember that Leon... or Aeris said something about the Keyblade... they said that it would go to the chosen one when the time came. But the time to what? To end with the Heartless, I suppose. Either way, they're the ones who can answer our questions. Come on, let's go meet them... Oh, but first, I would recommend that you take a shower, 'cause you sort of smell."  
  
"Ouch, that's not a nice thing to hear, specially when it comes from a girl." Sora muttered, while his face turned bright red.  
  
"Well, better to hear it from only one than from all those who are around you, right?" I giggled. "Aeris took the liberty to wash the clothes you were wearing that day..."  
  
"What?!" he exclaimed, as he looked at his pajamas. "Then who dressed me?! And who undressed me?!"  
  
"No girl dressed or undressed you, so relax! And the one who did, didn't take off your underwear." I said, with a loud laugh. "Come on, hurry up. We have to talk to Aeris, Leon, and Cid about the Keyblade, but most importantly, we have to talk to Donald and Goofy. I wouldn't want them to leave without us!"  
  
***  
  
After Sora took a shower, we both headed to Cid's store, where all the guys were waiting for us. Before we could even enter, the shop - owner himself went out of it, while muttering a hundred of bad words, yet again. I still cannot understand how a single man can learn so many curses... and in so many languages, for he didn't only say them in English. We ran to him, and I asked him:  
  
"What's wrong, Cid? What's with that pirate - mouth of yours, now?" I let out a giggle, but quickly shut my mouth when he gave me a cold glance. There was silence for a few moments, and then he replied:  
  
"Have you seen these guys' Gummi Ship?"  
  
"What do you mean by that?" I asked. I trembled at the mere thought that there was no ship to get us out of Traverse Town, and that all that I had hoped for had been but in vain.  
  
"It's huge!" Cid exclaimed, to my relief and Sora's, for we knew that his tone was not a sarcastic one. "I mean, it's almost as big as my aircraft, the Highwind, and that's saying a lot. Their ship's called 'Kingdom', and from what I've seen, all of us can travel in it comfortably, it has great - high, powered engines that can take us to wherever we want in no time, and it's armed with heavy - artillery cannons. Hell, I can even improve the damn thing: I can add some more engines, and lasers, and..."  
  
"Okay, okay, I get the picture." I interrupted. "But if this ship's so great, then why are you cursing?"  
  
"Because of the stupid duck!!" he exclaimed, full of rage. "He says that he won't let us go with them!"  
  
"What?!" yelled Sora and me.  
  
"He says that in order to..." he began to say, but before he could speak another word, me and Sora quickly entered the shop.  
  
Inside of it were all my friends, along with the three newcomers: Goofy, Pluto, and Donald. The first two had an embarrassed look on their faces, as if they were carrying a great guilt that was not theirs carry, while Donald stared at us with a stern expression. I didn't even bother to say hello to all of them, of course. The mere face of the duck filled me with anger. He was looking at me as if I were some kind of heavy box that has to be delivered to a far - away place, and that I couldn't tolerate. As soon as Cid crossed the door and came into the store, I said, with a voice that demanded an answer:  
  
"Why aren't you taking us with you?"  
  
"Oh, here we go again..." muttered Donald. He rolled his eyes, and then replied: "Because we can't! We have to protect the world order! King's orders!"  
  
"Listen, it's not that we don't want to take you with us..." said a gentle voice from apparently nowhere. I looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, and finally found, to my amazement, a tiny cricket that could fit in the palm of my hand. He had a black jacket and a round, green face with black eyes. He wore white gloves and a blue - cupped hat... After a small pause, he added: "The problem is that we cannot interfere with the world order, you see. We can't take you with us because that would be meddling with that which we can't resolve."  
  
"What's your name?" I asked.  
  
"Jiminy Cricket, madam." He replied, and politely took off his hat.  
  
"OK, Jiminy..." I said, with a soft, calm voice, for this new character was being kind to me. "It's as simple as this: I think that I speak for all of my friends when I say that none of us wish to stay here."  
  
"And besides, you wouldn't be meddling with anything." Added Yuffie. "We don't belong here; this isn't our world."  
  
"I don't care!" growled Donald. "We can't take you to where you want, because we don't have the time to do so! We're on a very important mission and we don't need any more problems! Right, Goofy?"  
  
"Umm... Well, you're right with that, Donald, but..." Goofy stammered. He gulped, and then muttered to himself: "Gwarsh..."  
  
"We need to find our king and ruler." Explained Jiminy. "He'll know what to do, and he'll restore things back to the way they were before all of this happened. But we have to find him, and we cannot let anything interfere with our mission. I'm sorry, but I believe that what all you wish for is to find your homes, and we can't waste time by searching them in a sky with thousands of stars..."  
  
"You're wrong." I interrupted. "We don't want to find our homes. At least I don't, but most of us are only interested in finding our friends."  
  
"I don't care!" insisted Donald. "I won't take all of them on the ship! We'll just take him, and we'll be on our way!" he added, as he pointed to Sora.  
  
"Me?" the boy asked. "Why only me?"  
  
"Because you're the one who has the key, you big palooka!" said Donald. "The king told us to find the key, and since you're the only one who can carry it, then you'll have to come with us. Only you can help us find our king."  
  
"Excuse me..." intervened Aeris. Her sweet tone was suddenly filled with anger and her eyes shone fiercely. "I know that this will sound selfish, but at this point, I really don't give a damn about it: I do not want to stay here. And that's final." There was a cold silence after her words. Even Donald's angry eyes became frightened by Aeris' wrath. At long last, she calmed herself down, and let out a low sigh. "Listen, if you want things the way they were, you'll need to lock each and every one of the keyholes in the worlds. Your king obviously knew that the only weapon capable of doing this was the Keyblade. If you do find your king in your journey, he'll tell you the exact same thing. Only Sora can do this. That's why you must take him. But the three of you don't stand a chance against the army of the Heartless by yourselves. By taking us, not only will you do us a favor, but you'll also be helping yourselves."  
  
"That's right." Ranma said. "You saw us the other night. We're very strong, and you can't say otherwise. And don't give my that sanctimonious crap about meddling with the 'world order'. Right now, all of the worlds out there don't have a 'world order'."  
  
As Ran - Chan said this, Jiminy, Goofy, and even Pluto looked at each other with a puzzled look on their faces, as if they had finally understood that Ranma, whose 'intelligent moments' are quite rare, was absolutely right, and that the 'world order' that they spoke about was nothing but pretty words.  
  
Besides, even if this was our hometown, would we be disrupting the 'world order' by leaving it? I don't think so. Maybe it was something that their king told them, a rule of their own land... but whatever the case could be, we didn't care if there was a code to follow, or anything. We only wanted to find our friends, and we wouldn't let a neurotic duck stand in our way. Not even if he was a magician. I didn't care if he could summon Thor's hammer to smote us, or if he could set loose the wrath of Poseidon's sea: I would find my Wilheim no matter what... Either way, I couldn't let Sora go alone on this quest. I had become fond of him, and I didn't wish to see him hurt. I then understood that the 'time' that Aeris and Leon talked about was the time of grave desperation and pain. The Keyblade had appeared in the hand of its master because the time had come to strike down evil. But, though he had a pure heart and an undying will, his body was not as strong as the one of Ranma, or Leon. He needed our help.  
  
I was now calm, as I felt that the newcomers had understood the situation. It was clear that the more help they got, the faster the mess would be cleaned up, the sooner I would get to be with my Wilheim - honey again, and the quicker this famous 'world order' would be restored. But Donald was the most stubborn creature I had ever known, and he wouldn't budge.  
  
"No way!" he exclaimed. "I don't care! We can take the Heartless by ourselves! We don't need any help from strangers! We have orders!"  
  
"That's it, I'm strangling this duck!!" I exploded, and, with the speed of lightning, I ran to Donald and put my hands around his neck. No one tried to stop me. "You listen, and you listen good!!" I roared. "You'll take us with you! You'll help us, and we'll help you, because if you don't, I swear that I'll turn you into a coat!!"  
  
Donald's face turned red, then blue, and then purple. Even though the change on his feathers was very amusing, I didn't laugh. I hadn't felt so angry in my whole life. He kicked, and twirled, but I didn't release him. Finally, he let out a 'quack' that seemed to speak more of a 'yes' than a 'no'. I let him go, he hit the ground, and gasped for air again and again.  
  
"Okay, okay..." he groaned. "We'll take you with us." He raised his head, and gave me a sweet, nervous smile. "Maybe you'll be helpful after all."  
  
"Thank you." I said, dryly, and grinned mischievously. I turned to face the other three, and asked: "Is that OK with you?"  
  
"Sure!" Goofy replied, and let out the most hilarious laugh I'd ever heard. All it took to tame my anger was that stupid giggle of his. I chuckled along with him, and then he continued speaking. "We could really use some company. Besides, Cid's told us that he's a great engineer, and that he'll make much improvements to our ship."  
  
"That's right." Cid said. "Just show it to me, and I'll get to work on it right now."  
  
"OK, here it is." Goofy said.  
  
He held out his hand and showed us what appeared to be a red - block with a pair of yellow wings at its sides.  
  
"What?!" Ran - Chan, Akane, Sora, and I exclaimed. Sora turned to Cid, and asked: "Is this a joke?"  
  
"No, it's OK." He replied. "You'll see... Right now, you'll all have to excuse me. I gotta make some changes to this baby. It'll be just like piloting the Highwind in no time at all. See you!" he exclaimed, as he happily rushed out the door and headed to the Second District.  
  
"Well, since all of you will be helping us now, I would like to now what your names are..." Jiminy said. "I would very much like to include this little episode in my journal. Some day, this all will come to be the greatest of stories: an adventure that many will live without putting themselves in danger."  
  
"That's cute!" Akane chuckled.  
  
I let out a relieved sigh, as all of us gave our names to Jiminy. The hour was nigh... I was very excited.  
  
* Soon we'll be together again, baby. * I thought to myself. * Yeah... Wait for me, Wilheim. I'm coming. *  
  
***  
  
"Hey, Ukyo! Come here, and have a seat, will you?" exclaimed Yuffie, from a table in the small café. "Come on, girl. Let's drink to your health. Yup, let's have a cup of coffee in your honor: to the one that made the duck change his stupid mind!" she added, while chuckling.  
  
"Yeah..." I giggled, as I sat down. "Well, what can I say? I was very mad. I won't just stay here when there's a chance to leave..." I paused, and then murmured: "What I don't understand is this deal about the Gummi ship. It's so small... What's up with that, huh? Does it have some sort of button that, when pressed, will make it grow big? Or is there some kind of spell involved? Or does the ship itself bewitch us so we can grow small enough to fit in it?"  
  
"There are some places in each and everyone of the worlds that have some sort of magical energy that will allow the ship to grow big. And believe me, Cid knows a lot about these things. If he says that the ship is big, then it isn't big: its ENORMOUS. Emphasis on ENORMOUS..." she answered.  
  
"I see... And do you guys know where these places are? Or do we have to look for them, relying only in our luck? Which, by the way, hasn't been very good lately..."  
  
"Oh, no. We have to look for them, but they're easy to find. When we get close to one of these spots, the ship itself starts to glow like a torch, or something similar."  
  
"I get it... And how long do you think that Cid will take to put the things together, huh? An hour? An hour and a half? Two hours, three...?"  
  
"Okay, okay, cut it out." Yuffie said. "I get your point. But even so, I don't know for sure. It could take him from ten minutes to eight hours straight."  
  
"Wow." I said. "That's a lot of time. But why can it take so long, or why can he do it so quickly, eh?"  
  
"It has something to do with him being so perfectionist, I think. It all has to do with a certain incident that befell on him when we hadn't even met. I think that it was when he was finally going to go into space for the first time, and his blast - off got aborted because some scientist was still in the engine rooms. She said that she was checking on the oxygen tanks, and that she believed that one of them didn't work. Cid hated her for ruining his trip, and she loved him for saving her life. After some time, we met him... It's a long story, so I'll just tell you what really matters: we got to ride his rocket along with him, and it turned out that there was an oxygen tank that was actually malfunctioning. He forgave the girl for what she had done, and has been very careful with everything that he does ever since... With machines, of course."  
  
"Yeah, I can say. He doesn't know how to say things very gently... Unless he really puts his heart into it. Either way, it's kind of nice to know that our engineer won't let anything go wrong. I don't care if it takes him the whole week; I just want to be sure that the engines won't explode, or that the cockpit won't accidentally eject us into space, or something."  
  
"Yup, I hear that." She chuckled.  
  
We then stopped talking, and smiled at Goofy, who was walking to us with a silly grin on his face. He sat down next to us, and said:  
  
"Hey, girls. How're you doing?"  
  
"Fine, I guess." I replied. "What brings you here, Goofy?"  
  
"I've got nowhere to go." He answered. "I guess that I felt like talking to somebody, other than Jiminy or Donald."  
  
"Speaking of that duck, what's up with him?" Yuffie asked. I smiled shyly, and covered my face with my hands, as she added: "Is he crazy, or something? Why haven't you guys locked him up in the 'nut house'?"  
  
"Oh, I guess I should apologize to you for that..." Goofy muttered, and let out one of his characteristic giggles, which always made me laugh along with him. They're hilarious! "The thing is that neither one of us - Donald, Pluto, Jiminy and me - were aware of what is going on, because, somehow, our world has survived the tragedy, and there are no Heartless in it. But king Mickey found out that there were many stars disappearing and then he himself disappeared. He left a letter behind, in which he told us that he was going to check things for himself, and that he would need our help if there was something wrong. He told us that we should find the one who held the key, and we found Sora... Anyway, Donald didn't want to come in the first place, because he had to leave his girlfriend, Daisy. But the king's orders are the king's orders. That's why he's so upset, because he doesn't want to lose her. Besides, Donald has never been a sugar dumpling, if you know what I mean!" he ended, and chuckled yet again.  
  
"I understand..." I said, with a giggle. "Well, that certainly explains a lot. But even so, he's a very, very neurotic fellow. Hasn't his girlfriend told him that he has to work on his temper?"  
  
"Yup. All the time." He answered. "But I guess that you can't just expect to change a person just like that. You either accept them, or you don't. That's just what I think."  
  
* What do you know? * I thought to myself. * The dog isn't as stupid as I thought. * "You're right with that." I said. "If that's the case, I guess that he'll just have to get used to us. Though, I would like to know what's the best way to get along with him... Could you enlighten us, Goofy? You have obviously known him for some time know, right?"  
  
"Well, you shouldn't worry much about that, Ukyo. I think that he's afraid of you, and that he won't be teasing you any longer."  
  
"Really?" Yuffie intervened. "Hmm... Who knows? Maybe I should try strangling him as well..."  
  
"Yuffie!" I exclaimed. "That's not a right thing to do. I myself am feeling a little bad about it right now. I lost my temper... I mean, he was impeding us to get out of this place... He wasn't letting me go into the stars in the night to look for my Wilheim - honey. Either way, I kind of overreacted. I should've tried to talk to him a little more, instead of hurting him like that."  
  
"Okay, I'll buy that." She said. She turned to Goofy, and asked: "What about you? Didn't you leave a lucky lady back home?"  
  
"Gwarsh..." he chuckled. "No..."  
  
"Well, I've got to go and find him." I announced, as I got up from my seat. "At least I have to apologize."  
  
"To Donald?" Yuffie asked. "Whatever... It's your choice."  
  
"Indeed." I said, and left them alone.  
  
***  
  
"Sora?" I said, as I noticed that he was standing all alone in the Second District's plaza, with his eyes looking at the stars, as if he were looking for a sparkle that would tell him what to do next. He turned to me, and I added: "What's up with you? Why are you here by yourself?"  
  
"Oh... I was just thinking." He answered. "I wonder what Riku would think if he knew that I'm the Keyblade master... That it is I who that has the power to return things to normal. Where could he be? And Kairi... I wonder what she'd say?" He sighed, and continued speaking. "We all wandered if there were worlds besides the one in which we lived. I guess that now we all know the answer. But we aren't together... And we can't share our thoughts... I miss them. I hope that they're alright."  
  
"Believe that they are, and they will be." I assured. "And even if you're not with them, if you just close you're eyes and stop feeling the wind, and you stop listening to the glimmer of the night, you'll be able to hear what they're saying."  
  
"Really?" he asked. "How do you know?"  
  
"Because I can listen to my Wilheim's words."  
  
"And what does he say?"  
  
I stood silent for a moment. I obviously couldn't listen to my beloved's words ringing in my ears... But I could hear them beating in my heart. For it is the memory of the ones we love that lives forever, and it is the one that will always remain with us. Like a sigh that travels down the path that you walk, always following you, always echoing in your soul... Sometimes you hear it, and sometimes you don't. But it's always there, waiting for you to listen to it, waiting to shine in your heart, and to bring it hope and joy... And so I thought of what Wilheim would say if he were standing next to me. It was an easy thing to do, since in each and every one of his letters, he always told me how beautiful I am, and how much he wanted to see me. He always said that, even though he dreamed about me every night, that not even the most perfect picture could depict the spectacular glow that came from my body... He really knew how to make me smile.  
  
"He says: 'Can you listen to the night's words? Many things they tell... But I will pay no heed to them. I would rather hear the beating of your heart, I would rather hear your breath. I care not if the stars reveal the secrets of the cosmos with their glow. I care only about what you speak, even if it is a giggle. For no voice can mesmerize me as much as yours, my love... Let me stroke your cascading hair, let me breath your lovely perfume, and stare at your angel eyes, for all else are mere ashes that are carried away by the undying wind.'"  
  
"Wow..." Sora muttered. "He sounds cool..."  
  
"Yeah, he is." I chuckled. "And what about your friends? What do they say?"  
  
He giggled, and shook his head. He knew what I wanted to do... I got quite happy when he decided to play ball.  
  
"Riku says: 'I really don't care if you're the Keyblade master; I can still wipe your butt. I'm faster than you, I'm stronger than you, and so on, and so on. Anyway, at least we made it off the Island. I told you, Sora. I told you that there would be other worlds to see. Next time, have a little faith in my words, man.'... And Kairi says: 'The Keyblade master? Yeah, right. A lazy bum, like you? You can't even build a raft, Sora. Now that I think of it, it didn't do much good, did it? We didn't need it at all. Now we're in other worlds... It's a shame that we can't be together. I wish that the three of us could be together again, so we could build another raft, and... go home.'" He kept silence, and let out a sigh.  
  
"We'll find them. All of them." I assured, and rubbed his back with gentleness. "You'll see. All we have to do is to be patient."  
  
"Yeah, I guess we don't have much of a choice." He giggled, and smiled at me. "Thanks, Ukyo. For everything... For taking care of me... and for getting us on that Gummi ship."  
  
"Don't mention it." I replied. "Oh, about that issue..." I murmured, as I noticed that Donald was walking about the plaza, without looking at us. I don't know whether he knew or not that we were there... Either way, I decided that it was time to apologize to him. "Hold on a second." I said to Sora, and walked to the duck. "Hi, Donald."  
  
"Oh! Hi!" he said, with a trembling voice and a terrified smile. I felt bad when I looked at him. I'm not the type of person that likes to be feared... "How... how are you do - doing?" he stammered.  
  
"Okay, I think... Hey, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry." I quickly said. "I kind of lost it back there... I don't want you to think that I'm a raging murderer, or something like that. It's just that I really want to find my boyfriend, and I couldn't stand the thought of staying here for another minute. I'm really sorry that I hurt you... And I promise that I won't do it again. Okay?"  
  
He stared at me with wonder for a few moments. Finally, his fearful smile turned into a relieved grin, and he said:  
  
"Okay. Apology accepted."  
  
"Are we cool, then?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Hey, guys." Sora said, as he walked to us. "So, is everything good now?"  
  
"Yeah, it is." I said.  
  
We said nothing for a while. We just stood there, without even moving, like three statues that attempted to adorn the plaza with their coolness. The silence became awkward, and so, I spoke.  
  
"So... It seems that the Heartless are gone. But I believe that they'll come back, if what Aeris said to me is right. She and Leon said that each and every world has a Keyhole that must be sealed in order to vanquish the Heartless. If we want things back the way they were, we have to lock them all. I assume that this Town has a keyhole. Why don't we try to look for it?"  
  
"Sure, why not?" Sora giggled. "But how do we lock them?"  
  
"You have a key, so I suppose that it won't be that hard to figure it out." I said. "Let's start. Want to come with us, Donald?"  
  
"Yeah, okay." The duck agreed.  
  
I didn't know what size this Keyhole was. It could be as small as a fly or as big as the buildings that surrounded us. What if it was invisible? Where could we look for it? There had to be someone in town who knew about it. First, we tried looking all throughout the Second District, and found nothing. We then tried the Third District, and then the First District. We looked inside the stores and on the walls. I even tried to look under each and every table of the café. I could assume but one thing: that the keyhole was right in front of us, but it hid under a dark veil, and tried to escape our sight. Wherever it could be, it achieved its goal, for we never found it. Not even the slightest glimpse of it. We asked several people if they knew something about the keyhole, but they all shook their heads, or shrugged their shoulders...  
  
"Don't you think that the Keyblade may react in some way if the keyhole is near?" Sora asked.  
  
"We've searched all town, and that stupid thing hasn't done anything out of the ordinary, has it?" Donald grumbled. "We need to find that thing. Doesn't anyone of your friends know where it might be?"  
  
"If they knew, they would have told us already." Sora said. "We have no choice but to keep looking. Right, Ukyo?"  
  
"If we want to get rid of the Heartless, then yes." I said.  
  
"Isn't there another way? If we keep on like this, we'll never find it. There has to be someone in this place that knows where the Keyhole is." Donald insisted.  
  
"We've asked the whole town." Sora said, and I noticed that he was getting a little angry at Donald's stubbornness. "There's no one that knows about the Keyhole. They don't even know what the Keyblade is."  
  
"Well, if we don't get any clues or anything, then I suggest that we stop looking." The duck said. "I don't want to keep searching for something that won't ever appear. I'd rather spend time next to Cid: I want to see what improvements he's doing on our ship. I don't want him to go on breaking anything. This ship's very important."  
  
"If you want to do that, then suit yourself." I said, calmly, and meant it. I wouldn't like to keep on looking for what we possibly would never find with a maddened Donald behind my back.  
  
"Yeah, so just stop..." Sora started to say, but then kept silent as he saw how Pluto ran right in front of us and headed to the alley. "Hey, how about if we take him? Maybe he could be of some help."  
  
"No, he won't." Donald said. "We don't know what the Keyhole smells like, do we?"  
  
"Maybe he'll know, if it smells like the Keyblade." I murmured. "Come on, at least we have to give it a try."  
  
And so, we ran after Pluto, and to our amazement, found him sniffing an unconscious man.  
  
"Another one?" Sora muttered. "Man, all the worlds are falling apart... This is actually more serious than I thought."  
  
"Is he alive?" Donald asked.  
  
"Yeah..." I said, in a whisper, as I felt the pulse on his wrist.  
  
Well... even though my Wilheim - honey is the most beautiful being of them all, I can't help but to look at the other dishes in the menu. And this one was quite handsome. He seemed like a warrior of some distant land... He wore a green tunic over his tall, manly body, a pair of white pants over his muscular legs, and two brown boots. Even though he lay still in front of us, he never ceased to be powerful and magical. To me, he seemed like a sleeping giant: he only had to wake up so that he could let loose his enormous strength... His yellow hair fell to the floor like a stream of molten gold. He had big, pointy ears, with blue earrings on them, and his sleeping face was as beautiful as the one of an elf. For a second, I thought that he could be a mythic creature who only lives on great stories... Even though his eyes were closed, I was sure that they were bright, clear eyes, that emitted a powerful glow.. A green hood lay by his side, as well as an arsenal of different weapons: a sword, a shield, a boomerang, a bow and a quiver full of arrows, a strange device with a hook at the end of it, and a mysterious mirror.  
  
I gently shook him, but he wouldn't wake up. Donald then tried to slap him a few times, but even then, he lay unconscious.  
  
"He's out cold." Sora whispered. "What do we do?"  
  
"We should take him with Aeris. Maybe she'll know how to wake him up... Hey! Donald, you're a magician! Why don't you wake him up?" I asked, and turned to face him.  
  
"I don't know how to wake him up." Donald said. "I know how to put him asleep... But that won't help much, would it? Anyway, he looks OK to me. No bruises or blood, and he's breathing normally. We should just wait until he wakes up."  
  
"Well, I guess you're right..." I said. "Let's call Leon or Cid. I'm not carrying all of this..."  
  
"Me neither." Donald said. He let out a small sigh, and added: "Well, I suppose that we have yet another passenger on our ship."  
  
"You'll take him too?" Sora asked. "He's coming with us?"  
  
"Yeah. He looks like he could be of some help."  
  
"Okay... let's go, then." I said. And as we all got up, and glanced at the man one last time, before leaving him and Pluto alone, I couldn't help but to think about Wilheim. I wonder what would he have said if he would have looked at me? Even though I know Wilheim like the palm of my hand, the fact that whether is he jealous or not still remains a mystery to me. I giggled at the thought of his maddened eyes, and whispered to myself:  
  
"Don't worry, Wilheim - honey. You're still much cuter than he is."  
  
***  
  
"Okay, guys, it's all set!" Cid exclaimed. "It's time to go, now. How's the new bud hanging there?" He asked Aeris, who had been taking care of the stranger since Leon had carried him back to the hotel.  
  
"He's doing fine." She replied. "Come on, Cid, get on with it."  
  
"Let's get onboard, shall we?" Ranma said. "I can't wait to say good - bye to this town."  
  
"Me too." Akane added.  
  
I nodded my head, but I said nothing. I still wasn't too happy about the fact that we never found the Keyhole. The Heartless would surely come back, and without us, Traverse Town would find itself in a lot of trouble. We were its defenders, and now we were abandoning it... I almost suggested that at least one of us should stay and guard it while the others went away. Then again, me, and perhaps most of my family would have gotten insulted if I would have spoken. Besides, I was certain that none of us wished to stay there. All the fingers would've undoubtedly pointed at me, for it would've been my idea. So I decided to keep silent, and hoped that Traverse Town would wait for our return...  
  
Cid put the ship on the outsides of Traverse Town, and waited. Suddenly, the little block that was the ship began to grow into a gigantic aircraft. My jaw dropped wide open as I silently gazed at the magnificent ship that now lay in front of us. Not even the spaceships of the many movies that I had seen could come close to this remarkable thing. It may sound stupid, but I felt as if I were looking at Star Wars' Millenary Falcon. Thanks to the many modifications that Cid had made, our bird had many rooms for us to rest on, as well as many pantries filled with food and water. Also, the red ship with yellow wings and black turbines had many weapons. Gun turrets, laser guns... It was a powerhouse, just resting on the ground, waiting to fly across the sky, like a sleeping tiger shark that suddenly opens its jaws to devour any fish that lurks nearby. I was amazed by its greatness, and so were the rest of us.  
  
"Well, Cid..." Yuffie murmured. "I can't say otherwise. You have exceeded yourself this time."  
  
"I know." Cid said, with a chuckle. "Well, I may not be good at many things... But when it comes to ships, I'm the best that there is."  
  
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Ranma said. "Come on, let's get in!" he added, and quickly climbed onboard.  
  
The rest of us followed him without hesitation. Cid and Leon quickly went into the cockpit, while the rest of us sat on a little room, and waited for the bird to fly with grace and speed. The roaring of the turbines was soon heard, and with an abrupt burst of fire and energy, the ship sailed onto the space, with much speed, but without grace...  
  
"We're finally out of there!" Ranma exclaimed. "Yeah, did I need to breathe some free air!"  
  
"You're breathing the air of the ship, you dummy." Aeris said, with a giggle. "Either way, I get your point. Yet, remember that we will have to return, for the Keyhole still remains unsealed."  
  
"Yeah, but in the meantime... it's happy hour!"  
  
"'Leaving... on an jetplane... I don't know when I'll be back again...'" Yuffie sang in a low voice. I take it that she wasn't very fond of flying, for her face had acquired a pale color, and her eyes were nailed to the floor that her feet nervously banged.  
  
"Well, it seems that we're all going on an adventure." Goofy said. "I wonder how many worlds there are out there?"  
  
"A lot of them, I reckon..." I murmured, as I remembered the unconscious stranger, that was laying on a dark room. "A lot..." I repeated, and wondered what kind of warrior he was. But most of all, I wondered if Aeris and I hadn't made a big mistake by bringing him along. Donald had agreed to it in the first place, because he was still scared of me, and Sora didn't say anything, because he trusted me. But the others had told us not to do it. Still, we wouldn't listen. For Aeris and I were convinced that someone so beautiful could not be mean. And I could see in her eyes that, when she looked at him, she thought of Cloud, the same guy that she was in love with... Still, I could not help but to think that not all that is pretty is rightful... But again, I decided to keep my mouth shut, and to wait for the strange man to regain consciousness... 


	7. Chapter Six: Burning Sands

Chapter Six: Burning Sands 

"What news, Vincent? Any sight of a world to land on yet?" I asked.

"No, not yet, I'm afraid." He replied. "There's still nothing new. Only the emptiness of space that has been following ever since we left Halloween Town. It seems endless. And I couldn't be more tired than I am. I've been piloting this ship for a week now, and there's still no sight of anything new."

"Oh, man!" I whined. "I can't believe it! I'm tired of spending every stupid minute inside this Gummi ship! I want fresh air! I wanna run like crazy! Like if it where enough movement for me to go from here to my room... Come on, I want to do something new!"

"Well, I cannot do anything about it." Vincent replied. "I don't mean to sound rude, but, if you feel so bored, why don't you go with Wilheim, and let him drink from you?"

"That sounded rude, Vincent, whether you like it or not." I grumbled. "I should've never told you what it felt to have your blood sucked by a vampire." I paused for a second, and then added: "Besides, he doesn't drink from me anymore. Only from Morrigan... Hey! I've got an idea! Why don't you let me take over?"

"Can I trust that you won't lead us into the arms of death, Felicia?"

"Yeah, yeah, you've taught me all I need to know. I've piloted it before, remember?"

"Alright. If there's anything you need, just call me. But don't hesitate to do so: remember that our lives are at stake here."

"You sound so dramatic." I giggled. "Come on, go get some sleep. That way, we'll both have what we need: you'll get some rest, and I'll get to mess with my mind a bit."

"Okay." He said, got up from his seat, and headed to his room.

Finally! For the past three days, I had done nothing but to read Wilheim's books. Not that I don't like to read, but hey, I needed to start moving... at least my hands, that is. I just can't keep still. And even though I wasn't running a marathon, this was much less boring than just sitting in my butt, and doing nothing. Sure, it was nice to talk to my friends. But most of them had sank in the blackness of space, and now, they hardly ever said a word. I think that the ones who were unaffected by the isolation of the universe were Ryoga, Sakura, and I. Even so, the other guys' negative energy eventually got to us. What was with them, anyway? Couldn't just a few of us be positive about the trip?

And, speaking about Ryoga and Sakura, both of them suddenly came into the cockpit, and sat next to me.

"Well, I see that you're having some fun, aren't you?" Sakura said, with a grin. "At least someone is doing something that they like to do."

"What makes you think that I'm crazy about doing this?" I asked. "It's the same thing as driving a car. If I could just fly this baby... like... like an X – Wing from Star Wars... or like an Arwing, from Star Fox... But no. I have to drive this van smoothly." I sighed, and crossed my arms. "See? I don't even need to touch the damn thing. I only have to keep it on a steady course."

"If you're so bored with this, why don't you read something?" Ryoga suggested.

"Because I've read all of Wilheim's books, and I'm sick and tired of staring at letters all day long. I'm no philosopher, I'm afraid. Besides, this is all that there is to do."

"So what you want to do is fight some bad guys?" Sakura asked.

"Yes!" I exclaimed. Well... I was on the verge of losing my mind. "I need action! We haven't encountered a single enemy ship since we left Halloween Town. God, am I desperate."

"I can tell..." Ryoga said. He nailed his eyes in the blackness of our never – ending road, and let out a little sigh. "Oh well... At least space isn't as bad as a freeway. It's much more beautiful."

"You're right with that..." I murmured. "This isn't all boring. It's just that this is the most fun thing to do at the time. Besides, Vincent seemed very tired..."

Suddenly, I was muted. There was something that seemed to be heading our way. At first glance, it looked like a swarm of wasps. But they were very far away. Which meant that those things could only be ships... And from one of them, a strange, greenish ray came. It past right in front of us, and our own ship trembled at the sight of it.

"Wow!" Ryoga exclaimed. "What was that?"

"A shot! We're being attacked!" Sakura yelled.

I can't explain what came over me at that moment. I mean, this was no videogame. If our ship went down, all of us would die in an explosion of fire and ashes. We would be just a bunch of floating dead bodies; a cold mass waiting to fly into the sight of another ship, like a rocky asteroid, or something like that... It wasn't a very cheerful thought. A clinically sane person would start to scream in horror, and would turn the ship around, and would try to flee from those foes. But at that moment... I wasn't exactly sane.

"Vincent!" I screamed. "Tell the rest of the guys to hang on! We're gonna go for a little ride!"

"What are you doing!" Ryoga shrieked. "We can still run away from them! Turn the ship around! Are you out of your mind!"

"We can take them." I said. "Besides, they're lighter than us. They'll catch up with us if we turn tail and flee." I added, thought this wasn't exactly true, for the turbines on our ship were more powerful than the ones that they had.

Luckily, it turned out that I was a very good pilot. A rain of lasers began to fall on us. Ryoga and Sakura tried to scream, but their yells were caught in their throats as they felt how I pulled up to avoid the shots. The green, deadly glows didn't even scrape the outer casket. The visor of our ship ceased to see the dark emptiness of space, and noticed many ships that flew above us. And that is when I began to shoot them down like a madwoman. One by one they burst into tiny pieces, and disappeared from our sight. Still, they wouldn't stoop shooting at us. I barrel – rolled, and spun in the air like you wouldn't believe it. Sakura and Ryoga couldn't help but to keep on trying to scream in horror as the shots nearly hit us. But I laughed and cheered to myself with every new ship that I destroyed.

It wasn't long before Vincent stormed into the cockpit, and screamed in a maddened voice:

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Kicking some butts! Is that so hard to see?" I replied, without even turning to him.

I dove into what would be the bottom of space, and then pulled back up, making Vincent to fall on his back and our enemies to lose sight of us. With a crazy maneuver, I flew over them, and ended up right behind them. Most of them tried to do the same thing... But they weren't quick enough to escape me. Without hesitation, I started to fire all of our arsenal at them, and blew most of them into nothingness. However, there were a few that actually managed to get around me. The hunter became the hunted... But they wouldn't get me. I saw their rays trying to hit us by the side of the visor, as I turned from left to right, and from right to left. They didn't hit us. Not even once. Nevertheless, they were still behind us, and I couldn't shoot them, unless we had some sort of gun installed in our rear, which I doubted very much. I then had an idea. I used the whole power of the turbines to outrun them... They were stupid enough to try to follow us. And so, they fell into my trap, as I shut down all the power for an instant... and the idiots passed us. Of course that this turned out to be a kamikaze maneuver, for our enemies nearly crashed with us. We all heard the roar of their turbines as they flew past us. And when they were within my sight range once again, I shot them all down... And space was ours again.

"Yeah!" I exclaimed, triumphantly, and jumped up from my seat. "Take that, you worthless wimps! You can't beat the almighty Felicia!"

"Are you done!" Vincent interrupted. I turned to look at him, and stopped smiling. He was pissed off. Even more pissed than when he and Wilheim had that fight... I gulped and waited for him to destroy me with his scolds. "Felicia, what the heck were you thinking about! You could've killed us all! And all because of an idiotic game of yours! Remember that in the void that we travel there is no life!"

"I know, I know..." I murmured in a tiny voice. I felt how my stomach grew smaller as Ryoga and Sakura looked at me with a both angry and puzzled expression, and as Morrigan and Wilheim came into the room. "Listen... I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

"I'll make sure of that." Vincent said, and calmed down. "From now on, I'll be the one piloting the ship. No one else will as much as touch the controls without my consent. Is that clear?"

I nodded my head, and said nothing. I couldn't look at any of them. Gosh, I was so stupid! And to think that all of this little spectacle had been caused by a moment of pure boredom. I sighed, and tried to walk out of the cockpit, but stopped when I heard Morrigan say:

"What is that?"

They all got together and peered into space. They kept silent for a few moments, and finally, Vincent muttered:

"I'm not sure. I can't tell..." he turned to me, and said: "Felicia, you have the sharpest eyes. What can you see?"

I ran by their side, and squinted hard...

It was a planet. Finally, a place to land! For what I could see, it looked like there was a small town surrounding a great, majestic palace. Its white towers ended in golden peaks, and its wooden doors were shut, and let no one pass. There were lots of tiny houses, most of them built with humble, white bricks, and with curtains instead of doors. Many stores were at the foot of the buildings... A huge marketplace, it seemed to be. But I couldn't tell for sure... Either way, I was certain that that was a planet, and that the time to land the ship had come.

"It's another world!" I exclaimed. "We've come to another world."

"That's amazing..." Morrigan said. "Well, at least our _Bastet's _stupidity lead us into a new place." She added, much to my discontent... (Oh, _Bastet_ means 'werecat', by the way). "Yes, indeed. It was a good thing that you decided to let your adventurous spirit control your body for that instant."

"Yes, it was a fortune." Wilheim said. "It seems to me that luck is on our side today. Let us use this to our advantage. Quick, Vincent. Lose no more time, and land the ship. The time has come to look for those that await us. Let us only hope that our fortune will not vanish, like the stars that dwell around us now. The sickening monotony of the black cosmos has finally come to an end! At least for now..."

Vincent lost no time and grasped the ship's controls. He then started to descend into the planet... And as we got nearer, and nearer, a thought ran through my mind.

"Hey, there wasn't a sun in the space when we left Halloween Town, was there?"

"Not that I remember." Vincent replied. "I believe that the sun is an illusion of the worlds. Yet, it is real to us from those worlds, for its rays warmed us. And then, when we leave the planets and ride with the death winds of space, they vanish. Why do you ask?"

"Because, if what you say is true, then we don't know if it's daytime or nighttime in this world." I said.

"So?"

"So, we have a vampire with us, you genius!"

"I had forgotten about it!" Wilheim exclaimed. "If indeed there is a sun shining in the sky, I will be burnt to a cinder, and my ashes will travel along with the undying wind. I will become no more than a bitter memory... Thank God that you thought of this, my good Felicia!" He quickly left us, and locked himself in his room. "Tell me if it is safe for me to come out!"

"Damn..." Ryoga muttered. "Just when we need to be together."

"He's very strong... I hate to go on without him." Sakura said. "Shouldn't we wait for night to come, in case that it's daytime down there?"

"We could." Said Vincent. "But I believe that it will be best if we begin our search. If you are so concerned about him, then stay with him. I'm sure that he'll appreciate that."

"Don't bother." Morrigan intervened. "I'll stay with him, and keep him company. The warm rays of the lethal sun won't touch his skin as long as I'm here to look after him."

"Yeah, right." I said. "All you want to do is to..."

"Stop it." Vincent interrupted. He turned to Morrigan, and asked: "May we trust that you won't try to tempt him?"

"You all know me so little." She said. I noticed some resentment on her voice... "Unlike you, dark man, I care for some people. Not one of you has tried to speak to me, save for him. He is a child of darkness, like me. You cannot understand our somber nature, pitiful mortals." She turned her back to us, and went into the dark room, and joined Wilheim.

"Yeah, right. She only likes him because she feels good when..." Sakura started, but luckily, Ryoga interrupted. I didn't want to get involved in that statement as well...

"Okay, quit it." He said. The essence of the new world engulfed us, and the blackness of space turned into a bright, blue sky, with a yellow sun shining brightly on the land, heating it with every second that passed. "Okay, it's daytime." Ryoga said. "I guess that we'll just have to leave without them."

"Yes, there's no choice." Vincent added. "Yet, I assume that they don't know that Gummi ships become small once they have landed. I'll have to look for someplace that is hidden in the shadows, if we want him to survive."

"What if there isn't such place?" I asked.

"Then we'll have no choice but to keep on flying until the day dies..." he stopped speaking for a second, and then said, with a weird sparkle in his eyes: "There's the place that we're looking for. An old, abandoned storage room... The perfect place to leave these two... 'children of darkness' alone."

"How do you know that you can land in there?" asked Ryoga.

"You'll see. These ships are living, magical entities. Some places on the worlds release magic of their own. Once these two mysterious waves meet, the ship will shrink."

"And how do you know all of this?" Sakura asked.

"Halloween Town is not where I woke up. There are many things that you yet don't know about me."

"The dry heat of this wretched world is bound to finish me, even if the rays of the sun cannot pierce the old wood and the crumbling bricks that surround us." Wilheim growled. "Yet, I suppose that to withstand this infernal heat is better than to burn in the light of this unearthly star. I can only hope that the merciful night will smote the brightness of the day soon."

"Well, until that happens, wait for us here, and don't move." Ryoga said to our friend, and to Morrigan.

"We aren't stupid." The succubus replied. "We will only open the door when you call our names. Now go, and see if you can find anything of interest."

" '_Sí, su alteza serenísima_'." I said, with a sarcastic voice, and even vowed. "Come on, guys. Let's get out of here. Let's see what kind of world I got us to... I hope that my suicidal act was worth the trip."

With that being said, Vincent, Ryoga, Sakura, and I went out of the storage room and left Wilheim and Morrigan alone. Boy, was I getting sick of her! I can't understand how Wilheim, a gentleman and a noble warrior, could get along with her. I'm positive that she only liked him because of the fact that he pleased her when he sucked her blood... but nothing more. Well... who knows? Maybe I was wrong, and maybe Morrigan did care for him. After all, she had a point: they two where the only immortal creatures among us. Even so, Wilheim acted more like a teenager than an old vampire...

Well, I couldn't think much more about that at the moment. The goddam heat was about to melt all of us like if we were wax figures. And no wonder. As I felt the hot sand on the soils of my feet, I realized that we were standing in the middle of a city that had been built on the desert itself! There were a few palm trees growing here and there, but the shadows that they cast were already sheltering some fellows... All of them seemed to be human.

The streets were all but quiet. I guess that, to Wilheim's misfortune, the day was just starting. Like I had guessed from the ship, there was a marketplace, and a busy one at that. There were hundreds of costumers buying (and some stealing) all sorts of stuff: beautiful diamonds and pearls, fancy clothes, and fishes, apples, and watermelons. One could listen to the many screams of the costumers and of the salesmen... Shops and people. That's all that we could see. I can guess that my friends didn't feel much different than me... And I felt that I was standing still in a foreign anthill.

"Okay..." I murmured. "OK. Where do we start looking for? But most importantly, what are we looking for?"

"Our friends." Ryoga replied. "You remember, don't you? I want to know where Akane is."

"And I want to find Ryu." Sakura added.

"If we want put an end to this quickly, we should split up." Vincent suggested. "Me and Sakura will go and check out the eastern part of this town. You two search on the western part of the town. If you see someone that may look like the ones we're searching for, don't you dare lose sight of him or her. Got it?"

"We won't let that happen, Vincent, so just be cool about it, deal?" I said, with a smile. "OK, Ryoga. Let's get moving. I can tell you something... I'm not gonna last very long with this dreadful heat and this fur coat on me."

And with that being said, Sakura and Vincent walked away from us, and quickly disappeared among the crowd. Ryoga and I stood still for a moment, and then dove in with the rest of the townsfolk. You wouldn't believe how hard it was for him and me to even take three steps. The place was very crowded, and, even though we asked the people to let us pass, they wouldn't even step aside. Well, I can understand that most of them didn't have anywhere to move... We kept on walking until, at long last, the streets were somewhat emptied.

"Thank God!" I exclaimed. "I really needed a breather."

"So did I." Said Ryoga.

We noticed that the part of the market in which we stood was the... jewelry section. There were many people in it... but it wasn't the sea of persons that we had encountered some moments earlier. I assumed that there weren't many people there because not many of them were into fancy pearls and emeralds. Be that as it may, Ryoga and I walked once again, and carefully studied our surroundings. This part of the town was no different than the other, except maybe for some pots that were placed behind some of the counters, and for the Persian rugs that hung out of the windows.

"Hey, Felicia... are you looking for someone?" Ryoga suddenly asked.

"You might say that. I'm looking for a werewolf. His name is Jon Talbain."

"A werewolf? You?"

"Yeah. It may sound strange, but there's a reason to it. See, not long ago, I was fighting a battle against some strange – looking robots... I don't know what they wanted with me, but their strength was far greater than mine. I took down one or two out of five... When they trapped me, and were getting ready to kill me, he pounced on them, and saved my life..." I stopped speaking for a moment, as I wiped the sweat off my forehead. "I never got a chance to thank him. That's why I'm looking for him."

"Oh..." Ryoga muttered. "So that's... it?"

"Yeah. I never had many friends. The people get scared at me when they see me... I mean, look at the townsfolk. They can't stop staring at me. But it's not as if they were staring at some Nicole Kidman, or some Elizabeth Hurley... Their eyes are full of fright. And I've known those eyes ever since I was a little girl."

The boy sighed along with me, and weakly nodded his head. He understood, and he knew that I was right. I couldn't stand it. If I as much as took a step to one of the stores, the owner of it would raise his arms in alarm. What harm could I cause?

"If it means any comfort to you... I don't think that you're a monster." Ryoga said. "In fact... I think that you're very pretty. And believe me: Wilheim agrees with me."

"Really?" I giggled. "That's very sweet of you! Well, thank you. It does comfort me, I must say..."

"And just for the record, I know what it's like when people stare at you as if you were some kind of freak."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh... did I say that out loud?" he asked in a tiny voice. His face turned white, and his mouth turned into a shameful smile. "Oh... never mind..."

"Come on, tell me. I promise that I won't laugh." I insisted, as we finally found a shadowed, empty alley. There was not a single soul in it.

"Well..." he whispered. I could clearly notice that this was a huge secret, for he didn't want even the wind to hear about it. "It's just that..." he began to say, but let out a shriek as he felt a cold splash of water on his back.

I quickly turned my head up, and saw a little kid that was staring at us with an empty bucket. His face reflected shame, and a bit of sadness.

"Oh, no..." he muttered, to himself. "I... I slipped, and now the water is gone... Oh, what will my mother say?" he then ran out of my sight.

"Bummer..." I said. "Poor kid... Well, at least he cooled... hey!" I screamed, as I saw that Ryoga wasn't standing in front of me.

How could he have disappeared? I don't mean to sound cocky, but I'm a werecat. If he would've taken even a single step, I would've heard him. Had he vanished into thin air? The answer was very simple. He was still standing in front of me... For I heard a little squeal and looked at the ground. All of Ryoga's clothes were on the sand, and coming out of his yellow shirt, was a little black pig, which wore the boy's bandanna.

"What the...?" I began. "Where in the...? How...? Okay, okay, time out..." I took a deep breath, and knelt down. I saw the little pig's brown eyes, and stared hard at them. Even though Ryoga had changed, the sparkle in his irises wasn't different. I couldn't help but to smile and let out a chuckle, as he looked at me with a concerned expression. "So it is you!" I exclaimed. "You're so cute, Ryoga!"

He squealed again, and I noticed a bit of anger and much relief in his... voice.

"Don't be mad, young man." I giggled. "I see... so this is what you were talking about. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone... Does somebody else know this?"

The little pig's eyes were filled with rage, and he nodded his head.

"Take it easy! It seems that the one who knows about this has something to do with it... right?"

Again he nodded, this time more rapidly than before.

"Is it Wilheim?"

Ryoga shook his head, and the anger in his glance was gone.

"Oh... But he knows, right?" I asked, and he nodded yet again. "I've heard of this before... I could guess that this has something to do with the Jusenkyo cursed ponds... Am I right? After all, you changed when you were splashed by that cold water. I know about those ponds. A pain in the neck, I suppose."

He squealed and nodded once more.

"Oh, well... I guess I'd better carry you around. We've gotta find some hot water soon, before one of these merchants wants to turn you into pork chops. Come on." I said, and stretched my arms out. Without hesitation, he climbed into them, and stood still as I picked up his clothes and his steel umbrella (man, was that thing heavy). Once there was nothing left on the ground, we went out of the alley, and continued our search.

I kept on walking, with Ryoga in my arms, without stopping. We both turned to see what was on our right and on our left side. But there was no sign of anybody that so much as resembled the appearance of the people that we were looking for. All of the guys had told me about the ones they wanted to find so many times that I knew their descriptions by heart. Even so, there was surely no one there. But, just to make sure, I discretely raised Ryoga to my face, and whispered in his ear:

"If you see or hear about someone that you know, just tap my arm, okay?"

The little black pig nodded and squealed what appeared to be a 'yes'...

As I went from one street to another, I noticed that these became more and more empty. I figured that it was because the jewel's prices of the merchants just went up and up... Until at long last, the marketplace disappeared from our sight. We found ourselves in an empty street, in what appeared to be the poor part of the town. The windows of the many white houses were but clothes that danced with the air's flow, and the doors were... not there at all. We could see what was inside of the houses. Most of them had the same things, that is, a couple of rugs, a wooden table, and nothing more. Very few of them had a bed, and a terribly uncomfortable one, it seemed to me.

"God... This is awful." I murmured. "And to think that many of these people live and die every day, without us even caring about it."

Ryoga nodded his head, and said nothing (of course).

I tried to go through this street as quickly as I could, but suddenly, I froze...

Voices. I could hear voices coming from a dark alley that was on my left. I carefully walked to it, and saw three figures standing side by side. I hid my body behind the wall, and only listened, without taking my eyes off them...

One of them was a dark, sinister man who wore a black tunic and cape over his skinny body, and carried a golden staff with the shape of a deadly snake. He had a black turban with a red feather on his head, a stern expression on his face, and a pointy, black beard. The other one was a woman who also wore a black tunic, and also held a staff, only that hers was dark, and had a green ball on its end. Her evil, greenish face was very skinny. She had menacing, yellow eyes, and... two dragon – like horns coming out of her head... And the third one was a young boy, who wore blue pants and a yellow shirt. He was the only one that didn't quite fit in the picture, for he didn't look like he was a bad guy. He had long, silvery hair, and a strong body. His gaze was blue and beautiful, but there was something strange in it... It looked fierce and unyielding to evil, but at the same time, cold and without emotions...

"Tell me, Jaffar..." said the woman. "What have the Heartless found? Any sign of the Keyhole yet?"

"No, not yet." The man said, in a grave voice.

"And what about the princess Jasmine? Has she been caught? Or is she still wandering these very streets as we talk?"

"I'm afraid that our servants have not been able to get a hold of her." He replied. "She is much more difficult to find than we thought."

"Well, I trust that you will resolve this problem soon enough." The woman said, and her voice turned into a mock. "For I cannot believe that one little girl can become so much trouble. Remember, Jaffar, that it is vital for our plan that all the seven princesses of heart are together when the final preparations begin. We must also guard the Keyhole as well, so that it will not be sealed."

"Your worries are unfounded." Jaffar answered, with a somber chuckle. "We will find princess Jasmine soon enough. And the Keyhole as well. If the Heartless are unable to find it in time, the little trinket that I will have tonight will be able to answer all of our questions in just a few seconds."

"So, will you send the boy tonight to find it?"

"Of course."

"Whatever..." intervened the boy. "I wanna know what the hell it is that you're talking about. My friend is still lost, isn't she? I want to find her right away. Besides, I want to go and talk to Sora about..."

"My dear Riku..." interrupted the dark woman. "Have you forgotten? Sora has found new friends now. He doesn't care about you anymore. To him, you are now just another leaf that has flown into nothingness. He forgot about you, and he now has new friends. You, and your friend Kairi, are a mere, vain memory in his mind now."

The boy kept silent for a few moments. During that time, I turned to Ryoga, and whispered in his ear:

"These people are mean. It seems to me that they're trying to trick that boy. Man, if we could just talk to him... And I definitely don't like the sound of the Heartless, or the fact that these guys are trying to find a princess... What in the world are they up to?"

"But you have not forgotten about your friend Kairi, haven't you?" the woman said. "She awaits you in an unknown world, embraced by darkness. But we won't know where she is, until we find all of the princesses. Only when that is done, the way that will lead to the merry encounter of you and your friend will be opened. You have only to be patient, my dear Riku... Just be patient."

"How do I know that you're telling the truth, Maleficent?" the boy asked. "What guarantee do I have that you're not lying?"

"I can offer you nothing, except the certainty that I only wish for your happiness." She replied, and gently caressed his cheek with her evil hand. "You are precious to me. Believe me, Riku... We will find Kairi."

"Okay..." Riku murmured. His eyes shone with a strange light for an instant, and so he asked: "What about Sora? I don't want him to forget about me. I know that it isn't his fault... I know that it isn't his choice. Is there something that we can do?"

"Why, maybe there is." Intervened Jaffar. "You see, your friend is with very bad company. This girl... this Ukyo is misleading the boy, for she is a witch, and has cast a powerful spell on him."

As soon as he heard this last name, Ryoga quickly tapped my arm with his leg, and squealed in a low voice. I dropped my jaw, but I was unable say anything... Until at last, I looked at my friend, and murmured:

"Ukyo is Wilheim's girlfriend, right?"

Ryoga nodded frantically, and then looked at these three characters once more.

"Now I know that they're truly evil... Let's keep quiet, Ryoga. Maybe they'll reveal to us where to find her."

"As for the other ones, they are also her friends. The curse that she has put on your friend grows stronger with their presence." Jaffar continued. "It is all because of her, and because of the Keyblade. As long as he wields it, he will be under a veil of darkness. If you want to get your friend back... you will have to get rid of the girl, and her friends, and you will have to claim the Keyblade. The spell of the weapon makes him think that he is the rightful master of it. But in your hands, things will be different."

"What do you mean?" Riku asked.

"You have a stronger heart than him." The evil man explained. "If you take it, its curse will have no effect on you, and you will be very powerful... Maybe even powerful enough to find your friend."

The boy nodded his head, and smiled weakly. I could see that he wasn't buying all of Jaffar's story, and that very encouraging. As for Maleficent, she seemed both amused and surprised by the dark man's words. She obviously never had the intention of coming up with a scheme as ridiculous as that one... But now that Jaffar had spoken, there was no turning back.

"As for now, you must help us." She said to Riku. "If you find the princess, I promise you that I'll do whatever I can to find Kairi."

"You really mean that?" Riku asked, and his eyes glittered with happiness and hope.

"Of course I do." The woman answered, with the most macabre and terrifying smile I had ever had the 'pleasure' to see.

"I think we've heard enough." I whispered to Ryoga. "Let's get out of here... Besides, we've gotta find some hot water to turn you back to normal..." I made a small pause, and then muttered to myself: "Boy, is Wilheim going to be pissed with these news..."

It didn't take us long to find a bucket of hot water. All we had to do was to borrow one from a sluggish merchant. The sun was so hot that even the water had lost all of its cool by that time. We found another empty alley, and so I poured the water on Ryoga's body, and quickly turned my back to him while he got dressed. After all, he would've killed me if I would've seen him naked...

We kept on wandering through the town, and as the day went by, the streets got more and more empty. Even then, to find Vincent and Sakura had become a near impossible task. Also, we were trying to look for Ukyo... Since they had talked about her, I had the strong feeling that she was somewhere near. But we never saw her or any of her friends...

When we finally found Vincent and Sakura, the sun was falling behind the enormous palace. I was a little relieved, for we would soon be able to count with Wilheim and Morrigan's strength...

"Any luck?" Sakura asked us.

"Not much." Ryoga replied. "How about you, guys? Did you find anything?"

"Nothing, save for a blasted headache under the merciless rays of the sun..." Vincent replied. "Thank God that the night is about to smother the day. I couldn't have stood that heat for a moment longer..."

"Boys, we've got news." I said. "Ryoga and I heard a man, a woman, and a boy talking about something that concerned us..."

"Hold on, Felicia." Ryoga interrupted. "I suggest that we go to where we left Wilheim and Morrigan. These news are very important for all of us... Though, I think that it would be best if..."

"Even for Wilheim and Morrigan?" Vincent intervened, with a weak chuckle. "Even for the 'children of the night'?"

"Well, I don't know about her, but they're important especially for Wilheim." I answered. Their faces were filled with concern, and so I added: "Come on, guys, let's go. We've got to find them quickly... 'Cause I think that we completely lost our way with the marketplace, and all..." I stopped talking for an instant, and remember that Jaffar had said something about sending someone to do something that very night... And so, I said, with a firm voice: "And we can't waste a single minute."

'Yes, your royal highness.'


	8. Chapter Seven: Awakening Warriors

Chapter Seven: Awakening Warriors  
  
I woke up in a soft bed, with silky blankets covering my body. I was not wearing my green tunic, or my white shirt or my boots; I only had my pants on. There was a dim light coming from my right side. It was the light of a lamp, which was on top of a little night table, and above it, was a small, round window. I looked outside of it... and gasped in wonder.  
  
I was travelling through the night. It was as if I were riding the very winds that come from Farore's breath... Yet, I knew that this work could not be the one of the goddesses, for I was cold. The divine breeze that they blow is warm and soft... And that gale did not touch my body, nor any other. As I looked at the blackness of the night, I felt as if I could reach out and touch the stars. Many times had I seen the nocturne sky, but the tiny darts that always adorned it never seemed reachable. Now it appeared as if I could run my finger through them, as they rapidly moved past my sight...  
  
But now was not the time to lay back and do nothing. I had to find out where I was... for the walls of the room that closed around me where nothing like I had ever seen before. No emblems or scriptures were painted or carved on their metallic surface... They were as empty as the wood and the stone that keeps houses and castles on foot. What kind of fortress was this? Was this an evil dungeon? A jail that has a lock on the other side of the door, and that causes the thought of freedom to vanish into a decaying memory...? No, it could not be. For the door that was in front of me was half open.  
  
I leapt out of the bed, and slowly walked to it. I could hear many voices coming not from behind it, but from many other rooms... I put my hand on the knob and gently pulled. There was a small corridor that lead to a big room, full of comfortable chairs, where some of the voices came. I realized that most of them were women's voices, for they were soft, and melodic... But not all of them were ladies.  
  
I was unharmed. I did not have my sword or my shield with me. Where, in Nayru's name, could they be? Had these people hidden them? Where they allied with the King of Evil, who only wished to keep me locked in their bizarre dungeon until my foe's plan had succeeded?  
  
I shook my head, and tried to think of some other explanation. But before any thought ran through my mind, a woman's voice that came from the other side of the cozy room, greeted me.  
  
"Oh... You're awake already." She said.  
  
I turned to her, and saw a beautiful woman with an intense, emerald gaze. Her long, light brown hair was tied into a lovely plaid, and her skin was white as the one of a holy phantom. For a moment, I thought that I was facing none other than Din herself... But the essence of the goddesses was not running through her body.  
  
"It's... good to see that you've woken up." She continued. "Are you feeling alright? We were concerned about you... I conjured every healing spell that I have learned, and still you wouldn't wake up. For a moment there, I thought that you might have died..."  
  
"Well... I have not." I answered. "I am still alive, it seems... And thanks to you, I reckon. What is your name?"  
  
"Aeris Gainsborough." She replied. "And what about you?"  
  
"I... I am Link." I said. I stood still and silent for an instant, and then asked, as I looked around me: "What... what happened? Where is the dark castle that stood before me? Where is the somber lava pit? Where are the few good things that were left in the vast world of Hyrule? What is happening?"  
  
"Calm down..." she said. "Listen, I think that it will be better if I give you your clothes, and we just sit down with the rest of the guys. We'll tell you what is going on..."  
  
"...Yes..." I muttered, as I realized that I had no other choice.  
  
***  
  
"The same thing happened to me." Said the boy named Sora. "I just woke up in a dark alley. All I remember was that a huge, black thing swallowed me up, just like it happened to you. We found you in the same place, and decided to bring you with us."  
  
"I see." I said weakly, as all of these fellows stared at me without saying a word. "But why has this tragedy come to pass?"  
  
"We don't know for sure." The boy said. "But it seems that it has something to do with some evil beings, called the Heartless."  
  
"A strange darkness breaks the worlds apart." A man, Cid, intervened. "The space that engulfs us now is the very thing that separates them and unites them at the same time. It's a little complicated... But the big picture here is, that your world has been consumed by darkness, and all of the people there that don't have enough strength to withstand the power of the Heartless, have vanished."  
  
"You mean that this has nothing to do with a dark man that hails from the West?" I asked. "An evil being, a terrible tyrant of the Gerudo... Does that mean that the abomination that is Ganondorf has not worked up an evil spell to conquer the worlds and bend them to his will?"  
  
"I couldn't tell you." Aeris said. "It could be him... or any other evil, and powerful man... or it could be thousands of other villains that we have never heard of. But what's most important is that we know how to stop it. And this little boy is our only hope."  
  
"He's the wielder of the Keyblade." Said a strange being, by the name of Goofy. "He's the only one who can lock the Keyholes that lead to the hearts of the worlds. When all of the Keyholes are sealed, our quest will be complete, and everything will go back to normal... Hopefully."  
  
"It will." Assured a strange duck, Donald. "But we need to hurry, 'cause the Heartless are growing stronger by the minute. That means that we need you to help us to find these Keyholes, and then to lock them. Understand?"  
  
"Yes, I do." I answered. "Yet, I need to find my dear princess. I cannot stop worrying about her, for the last time that I set eyes on her, her face was twisted by fright and agony. I can only hope that all of this was not Ganondorf's doing, and that she is somewhere safe, unseen by the eyes of my enemy."  
  
"So you wanna find someone too, right?" A girl, Yuffie, inquired. "That's OK. We are not only looking for a way to bring the worlds back together, but we also want to find some of our friends."  
  
"So, will you join us?" asked another girl, Akane.  
  
"I most certainly will." I replied, and nodded my head. "Yet I am afraid that I will not do much good in the field of battle, lest I have the Master Sword, my Mirror Shield and the rest of my equipment on my back."  
  
"We're keeping them safe..." said a third girl, named Ukyo. "You... you don't have to worry about it." She then stammered.  
  
Everyone turned to her, and she quickly stood up, and went into a corner of the room. Akane and a young man, Ranma, followed her, and began to whisper amongst themselves. I can guess that no one else heard them speaking... But my ears are sharp, and, in the days of old, it was rumored that with them, us Hylians could listen to the words of the goddesses...  
  
"What's wrong, Ukyo?" Ranma asked. "Why did you run off like that? Are you feeling OK?"  
  
"It's okay, I'm fine..." she replied. "It's just that..."  
  
"What?" Akane asked.  
  
"He looks a lot like him, save for his golden hair, and the lack of a breathtaking glance in his eyes... He reminds me very much of my Wilheim - honey. He even talks like him...." Ukyo replied, with a weak voice.  
  
"What's with her?" Yuffie asked. "Why did she run off so suddenly? Is she sick, or something?"  
  
"I doubt that." Said Leon, the last man that had yet to speak. "Either way, if our friend Cid is right, we will be landing in a new world in less than an hour. So better get ready guys." He turned to me, and added: "Come on, Link. I'll give you your stuff."  
  
"Thank you." I replied.  
  
We quickly left the room, as the rest my new companions went to Ukyo's side, and began to whisper amongst themselves. Leon showed me to a small door, in which all of my equipment was being kept. I smiled to myself, and put my sword, and shield on my back, as I packed my other items, my bow, arrows, Hookshot, Magic Mirror, and my boomerang. Indeed, they were many things, but I am used to burden such weight.  
  
Aeris came after us, and grabbed Leon by his arm. He looked at her, and asked in a low voice:  
  
"How is she doing?"  
  
"She's fine, just a bit confused." She answered. "It seems that..." she paused, and said to me: "You remind her of her boyfriend a lot."  
  
"I do?" I said. "And do I remind her of someone that has ceased to exist? Or of an undying love that was broken by fate?"  
  
"No, of a one that is lost." Leon replied. "They all look for their friends, and for people that they care, just like you, Link."  
  
"They do?" I asked. "And what about you? Have you no one to look for? Or are you a lone wolf?" I put my hood on, and heard no answer from him. "Then, I suppose that you must have a home. Are you searching for it? Or have you no memory of the place that guarded you from the wind at night?" He sighed, and opened his mouth to answer, but before he could say anything, I murmured: "I shall ask no more. I wish not to anger or sadden you with such questions. For now, let us get ready to disembark. I am eager to see this... new world."  
  
***  
  
"There is no floor to stand on..." Ukyo muttered, as she looked a the deep hole that was right below us. "What should we do? Should we get back to the ship and head to another world?"  
  
"It's pitch black..." Akane added. "Maybe it would be best if we just get out of here, and find some other place to land on..."  
  
"No, not yet." Cid said. "Let's see if this thing has a bottom, which I think it has... I'm not sitting on my butt for another week if there's a choice. It's time to stretch my legs..."  
  
And with that being said, he grabbed a coin from one of his pockets, and tossed it into the hole. We all stood silent, and waited for it to hit the ground. In a matter of seconds, the small coin touched the bottom of the pit. I smiled to myself, turned to the rest of them, and said:  
  
"It is not so deep. We can go down."  
  
"What do you mean? It hasn't touched the bottom yet... So stay quiet!" Donald growled, and he and the rest of my companions waited for something that had already ended.  
  
I shook my head, understanding that they would never hear the coin again. Without losing any more time, I leapt into the hole.  
  
"Link, don't!" Aeris yelled, but I was already falling through it.  
  
Suddenly, something happened that I did not expect. I understand that, when a body falls into space, its speed grows bigger with the flow of time... But what was happening to me was different, for it seemed that a magic wind was blowing from the bottom of the pit, and was slowing my fall... And then, the hole ceased to be a mere, black tunnel. There were many bizarre paintings on its walls, and clocks... and what was more, there was furniture floating around me. What sorcery was this? For me, it seemed like a strange dream, a nightmare that haunted me even though I did not sleep. And that was what horrified me the most, for I thought that dreams could not attack an awake being...  
  
However, it all ended soon enough. I reached the bottom, and sighed in relief. I looked up, and found the same blackness that we had seen in what appeared to be an endless abyss. But there I stood, unharmed, and waiting for the rest of my companions to join me.  
  
"Link! Link, are you there?" Aeris yelled.  
  
"Are you alive?" Cid added.  
  
"Yes, I am here!!" I yelled back. "And I am fine! Take a leap of faith; trust my words, for there is nothing to worry about!"  
  
"So you're alright?!" Yuffie screamed.  
  
"Yes!" I insisted. "Come!"  
  
"O... OK!" Akane stammered.  
  
I could do nothing more but to wait, and to keep staring at the darkness. Akane, Ukyo, and Sora were the firsts to land by my side, and were followed by Donald, Goofy, and Yuffie. Leon, Cid, Aeris, and Ranma were the last ones to reach us. Jiminy, a tiny cricket, came with them as well. Yet he did not talk much, for all I saw him do was to write on a small journal... I wondered what stories or poems or chronicles were in that little book for a second... But I then decided to keep my thoughts to myself, and said:  
  
"There is a corridor in here. See? A wooden door lies at its end." I unbranded my sword, and grasped my shield, and added: "I suggest that we all stay on guard. I do not trust this place... I feel that its very walls and its ground are alive, and that they are watching us, and only wait for us to fall into some devilish trap of theirs..."  
  
"Isn't that a little paranoid?" asked Yuffie.  
  
"Maybe it is." I agreed. "But either way, I feel safe by holding on to my weapons... And besides..."  
  
"I'm late!!" a voice interrupted. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!! The Queen will have my head! Make haste, must make haste! I'm late, she'll have my head!!"  
  
We all turned to that little voice, and, to our amazement and surprise, found a furry, white rabbit who ran past us, and went into the door that was in front of us... I was truly terrified. Even by that innocent rodent. I had not seen such things ever... Not even in my most bizarre nightmares.  
  
"What in the..." Ukyo began. She paused, and then said, with a shrug: "I don't know why I keep getting surprised. I mean... If I lived through Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy, why do I still get scared?"  
  
"What do you mean by that?" asked Donald, with a little anger in his voice.  
  
"Nothing personal, sugar." She replied.  
  
"Let's follow him, and see where he takes us." Leon suggested. "Maybe the walls and the floor won't... attack us if we're behind him."  
  
"Think what you will." I said. "But I still believe that this very corridor has a life of its own, and I can even listen to its soft murmurs... I can do nothing but to think that we are not welcome in this land of strange dreams."  
  
We walked down the corridor, and reached the wooden door. I took a deep breath, and put my hand on the knob. Perhaps Yuffie and Leon were right, and I was getting scared of thoughts and nightmares that would never come alive. But even then, I could not help to think that the world itself was cursed, and that its very grounds cackled at our futile attempt to find something that cannot be found...  
  
I opened the door, and found myself staring at another, smaller door.  
  
"What?" I muttered.  
  
"Gwarsh..." Goofy said. "It looks like its some kind of practical joke... I guess that some one here has a sense of humor, don't you think so?"  
  
"Perhaps, and what a twisted sense of humor it is." I said. "This is nothing to laugh at... Be wary."  
  
I opened the new door, only to discover a third one.  
  
"This isn't scary. This is irritating." Ranma grumbled.  
  
Indeed it was irritating. I decided that it was time to end with this little game, and so I kicked the last door and broke it. At long last, there was a small opening in the wall, which lead to the next room. We had to crawl to get through it, and found ourselves in a small, white room. It had a small bed in one corner, and a little table in the very center. There were two lamps hanging in the walls, waiting to be lit. The color of the walls was white, and there was a small red - bricked fire place on our right side. A small, comfortable room, presumably the one of a small child.  
  
"Where'd that thing go?" asked Yuffie. She looked around the room, for there was no visible door or window that might had served as an escape route for the little rabbit. "How did he... Oh, no way!" she exclaimed, as we all saw a minuscule door that lay closed in front of us.  
  
"How could he get through there?" I asked. "He was a furry rodent, and a small one at that, but he was not that small."  
  
"Oh, it's not a matter of being small, it's just that you're simply to big." Answered a strange voice.  
  
With amazement and confusion, we all glanced at the little door. It had been the knob who had spoken. A golden face he had, and a friendly glance in his small eyes.  
  
"What...?" Cid began, but the Knob interrupted.  
  
"There is a way for you to shrink." It said. "Simply drink from the bottle that lies in the table. That way, you'll be able to go through me."  
  
"A bottle?" asked Sora, and saw, with puzzled eyes, how something appeared on top of the table. "Oh... that bottle." He murmured.  
  
"OK..." Akane said. With a deep sigh, she grasped the bottle, and drank its liquid. "Here, your turn." She said, as she handed the small item to Aeris, who mimicked the girl, and then passed down the bottle to Cid.  
  
We all drank from it, and began to feel a strange sensation in our bodies. A tingling shiver that ran down our spines, and reached our legs... Suddenly, everything seemed to be engulfed in a thick mist... And we fell. Only a pair of seconds passed, but they seemed to be merciless hours; a moment that was prolonged by the horrid magic of the liquid. And when the endless instant finally ceased to tingle through our minds, we found ourselves staring at the Knob, whose nose was big enough to fit in our hands...  
  
"Wow..." Aeris mumbled. "That was... intense... I can't think of another word to describe it."  
  
"Neither can I." I said. "Well, at least we can now continue with our search... Gentle sir..." I said to the Knob, without really knowing how to... address him. "Would you be so kind as to let these wanderers pass to the other side?"  
  
"Why, certain... Oh, my, I forgot to tell you!" he laughed. "I cannot be opened!"  
  
"What?!" we all exclaimed.  
  
"The little bunny fellow locked me, and he took the key with him. I'm terribly sorry... I should have told you that before!"  
  
"'Should have'?" Donald muttered, filled by rage. "I'm gonna..."  
  
"Wait." I interrupted. "I can see a small opening behind the bed. Let us go through there... It will be easier than to pick a fight with a being that cannot defend itself."  
  
***  
  
"Court is now in session! Presiding is her majesty, the Queen of Hearts!" said a voice, the same one that we had heard in the strange corridor.  
  
We had traveled through a green maze, filled with trees which grew red roses... We had reached its exit without much trouble, for we had followed some yelling and screaming that came from the yard in which we now stood. This beautiful maze of perfect, green walls, and of delicate grass reminded me about a place that I had not seen in the longest of times... For an instant, I felt that I was back in Hyrule's castle, once again avoiding its many guards, only to see a glimpse of the land's fair ruler, Zelda. But the angry shout of the monarch of this world, a fat woman with a red dress with black squares and with a mean face, reminded me that my beautiful land of Hyrule had disappeared under the might of a yawning abyss...  
  
Apparently, there was a trial being held. As my friends and I peeked into the yard that lay in front of us, we saw an army of soldiers... Card soldiers. Spades and Hearts where their uniforms... I would have never conceived such platoon of warriors, specially ones that could fall to a mere gale... There was also a wooden pedestal, in which the white rabbit stood. The Queen of Hearts sat on the highest chair, and in front of her, was a golden haired little girl, who wore a blue dress and white stockings. She had an innocent glance, and a firm, but sweet voice...  
  
"I have done nothing wrong!" she said.  
  
"Silence!!" The Queen exclaimed. "I am the judge, I will be deciding who is guilty and who isn't! And you, beyond any doubt, are guilty! Now..." she paused, and her booming voice became soft. "You have been accused of the following crime: attempt of stealing my heart. How do you plead?"  
  
"I'm innocent, I tell you!" the girl replied, and rolled her eyes. "I've done no harm! I have no idea of what you're talking about! Besides, how can you say that I'm guilty when the trial hasn't even begun?!"  
  
"That's the way things work around here." The Queen explained. "You see, I am the judge. I will decide whether you're guilty or not, which you are, and after that, you will be able to defend yourself. Is that understood?"  
  
"But that's ridiculous!"  
  
"Hey guys... Shouldn't we help her out?" Sora asked, in a low voice.  
  
"We can't." Donald said. "That would be meddling. We can't interfere in other worlds' problems."  
  
"Even if injustice is the sole ruler of the land?" I asked. "People and servants should not be ruled with the tip of a blade, and with a sharpened axe. If this 'queen' proves to be a tyrant, meddling or no meddling, I shall put an end to her reign of fear."  
  
"Easy, 'lone ranger'..." Cid whispered. "Let's just wait and see what happens. Who knows? Maybe it's all a game..."  
  
"Off with her head!!" the Queen yelled, and the card soldiers raised their axes and got ready to pounce on the poor, helpless girl.  
  
"Stop it!" we all screamed, and ran to the Queen, with our weapons ready in our hands.  
  
"What is this?" the Queen asked, as we walked to her.  
  
Her guards did not even try to stop us. They only stared at us with a puzzled look in their faces. Their eyes moved from us to the Queen, as if questioning her what to do about the intruders... I could tell that they were terrified of her, and I guessed that any action that was not a following of an order would be punished by this tyrant... It was because of that that they did not move. Because fear paralyzed them... If they would have attacked us, would they had been rewarded, or would they had been sentenced to death by their so called 'monarch'?  
  
"You can't do this!" Sora exclaimed. "This girl is innocent, and I can prove it!"  
  
"You?! Prove it?!" the Queen yelled. "Is this some kind of joke?! Surprise attorneys and witnesses?! I'm not in the mood for such things! Off with their heads!!"  
  
"Just you try that, you stupid fatso of a jackass!" answered Ukyo, with a voice filled by rage, and spun her gigantic spatula - weapon over her head with fury.  
  
"What did you say?!" yelled the Queen.  
  
"You heard me." The girl replied. "Let us go. All of us, including her." She added, as she pointed to the golden - haired lass. "You have no right to be chopping heads off just because you want to. You have to be just! And justice is something that you don't have!"  
  
"Get her! Get her!" the Queen wailed.  
  
"Nice going, Ucchan." Grumbled Ranma, as he and the rest of them raised their fists and weapons.  
  
"Stop!" I said, and approached the monarch. Fighting anger with anger has never been a very wise thing... And so I came up with a plan. "Queen, I beg of you to heed my words."  
  
"What?!" she growled.  
  
"Please, it will only be a minute of your precious time." I continued. "Our lad has assured that he can find the true criminal. Please, do not unleash your anger against those who cannot fight against you. With your permission, I will personally find and bring the criminal who has tried to take your life before you. Queen of Hearts... May I do this?"  
  
The ruler of the world grumbled, crossed her arms, and remained silent for a few moments. Her servants could not believe that. The white rabbit stared at her with puzzled eyes, and with an opened mouth, but he said nothing, and the card - soldiers froze in their places, while their glances were filled by awe and wonder.  
  
"All right." She finally said, in a calm voice, to my relief and content. "If you say that you can find the guilty one, then I order you to do so."  
  
"Thank you, Queen." I said. "Yet I fear that I will be needing a bit of help, for my eyes and my ears may be sharp, but not enough to find a sleazy fellow such as the one who attacked you."  
  
"All right!" she grumbled. "But not all of your friends will go with you. You aren't thinking about talking with them in the shadows, to come up with a plan to finish me, are you?!"  
  
"Absolutely not."  
  
"Fine... Three of them may go with you. I shall choose your companions myself." She paused for a moment, and then pointed to Sora, then to Donald, and finally to Cid. "They will go with you. The rest of your friends will stay here, with Alice, until the suspect has been found... But be quick!"  
  
"Now, wait just a minute!" Akane said, and she, Yuffie, and Ukyo got ready to attack once more. "We're not going to be your prisoners, you...!"  
  
"Please, Akane!" I interrupted. I walked to her, and whispered in her ear: "This is the only way to save the girl and ourselves right now. Let your anger vanish... And stay quiet. If no words come out of your mouth, her rage will remain under our control."  
  
"Guards! Take them away!" The Queen ordered.  
  
Many card - soldiers approached our friends, and dragged them into a jail, along with the girl, Alicia. They locked the gate, to their discontent, and left them by the Queen's side. I walked to them, and said:  
  
"Do not worry. We shall come up with something..."  
  
"Yeah, like what?" Ranma said. "Are you gonna build an assassin out of flowers and grass?"  
  
"No, we won't." Sora intervened, as he, Donald, and Cid walked to us. "Because I know who tried to do this. Think of it: what do the Heartless lack? A heart! If she claims that someone tried to steal her heart, that means that the Heartless can't be far."  
  
"He's right." Aeris muttered. "The Heartless do seek people's hearts... What a smart boy. I'm impressed, Sora..."  
  
"Well..." the boy mumbled, with a shy smile.  
  
"Excuse me..." Alice interrupted. "I must say that I'm quite thankful for what you're trying to do... I don't mean to be rude, but, could you hurry, and get us out of here? I'm scared of this Queen to death... What if she runs out of patience and decapitates us all?"  
  
"That won't happen." Goofy said. "Don't worry, ma'am. You're looking at the master of the Keyblade, at the King's royal sorcerer, and... Uh..."  
  
"We'd better get going." Donald said. "Come on."  
  
"Please, don't take too long!" Jiminy's voice said. I noticed that the little cricket was hiding in Goofy's pocket. "It is quite dreadful in here... I've never liked cages very much. Specially when I'm locked in one of them..."  
  
"You'll be out of here in no time." Cid added. "We'll see you later, boys."  
  
"Link!" Ukyo yelled.  
  
I turned to her, and asked:  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Take care of Sora for me, will you?" she said. "Please, promise me that nothing bad will happen to him, okay?"  
  
"You have my word."  
  
"I'll be fine, Ukyo." Sora assured, with a giggle. "Don't worry about a thing."  
  
***  
  
"Okay... What's this place, mister savior of all the free people?" Donald snarled. We had taken a small, hidden path in the Queen's green maze, and were now in the middle of a forest as strange as any. Immense trees, surrounded by dark vines with red leafs, that appeared to be silent snakes with hideous tongues coming out of their invisible mouths. Their fangs were sharp spines that came out of their bodies. There seemed to be no sky, for it was covered by a dense ceiling of branches. A strange smell flowed in the air... It was the scent of mushrooms, some sweet, some rotten, but mushrooms all the same. The soil was soft and its dirt had a reddish color... "Where have you taken us to, huh?" He added. "And most importantly, where is this criminal that you said you were going to capture? I don't see anyone around here, mister big - ears!"  
  
"Instead of complaining, you should be helping us to find our catch." I replied, with a bit of anger in my voice. "You should know better the whereabouts of the shadows, since it is you who have fought against these fiends before. Instead of harassing us with your incessant babbling, help us look for the shadows that are the Heartless. You do want to free our friends from that dreadful cage, don't you?"  
  
"Yeah!" he answered.  
  
"Then stop that quacking and start looking!" Cid yelled. "You're getting on my nerves again, Donald! And I don't like to get angry, if you know what I mean. Ukyo is a sweet cake compared to me, so shut the hell up!"  
  
"Why you..." Donald started, but Sora interrupted.  
  
"Quiet!" he said. "Don't you guys hear that?"  
  
"Yes..." I whispered. "I have been listening to that for some time now, despite the loud voice of our nosy friend..."  
  
"Hey!!" Donald wined, but before he could continue speaking, we all put our hands in his beak, and quieted him. He then sighed, and asked in a low voice: "Why hadn't you told us before?"  
  
"Because I did not think that the meows of a cat could be of importance..." I answered, to their surprise. "But they have been getting closer, and closer. Somehow, I am not sure that the creature that has been following us is a friendly one or a sly foe... But silence, for it is here!" I exclaimed, in a murmur.  
  
This time, we all listened to the being's meows. I drew my sword, Sora raised his Keyblade, Donald held his staff in front of him, and Cid swirled his spear in the air. And suddenly, the meows turned into laughter. An echoing giggle that came from every tree of the forest and from the air itself. We turned our heads into every direction, but found nothing... Yet suddenly, Sora let out a tiny squeal and jumped back. We all looked to where he was staring, and let out a gasp out of our mouths...  
  
A pair of yellow eyes and a white grin were staring at us from the shadows. Slowly, they were engulfed by a round, purple head... A round body of the same color with pink stripes appeared bellow it. A tail materialized behind it, and the cat let out a final chuckle out its smirk.  
  
"Well, if it isn't the strangers that want to find a villain in order to bring peace and justice to the Queen's kingdom." He said. He waited for us to reply, but we were too surprised to talk... So, he continued speaking. "Poor Alice, accused of a crime which has nothing to do with her... Will she lose her head? Or will your friends suffer what would have to be the Heartless' punishment?"  
  
"What?" Cid finally muttered. "You know the Heartless? Do you know where they are?"  
  
"Maybe, maybe not." The cat said. "What can I say, after all, the Cheshire Cat has all the answers...But I cannot share them so easily. Oh, no, that wouldn't be fun, would it?"  
  
"You're the Cheshire Cat?" Sora asked.  
  
"Why, yes I am!" it chuckled. He then took off his head, and balanced his body on it, as if he were trying to stand on a ball! Truly horrifying, indeed! "There are four things that will help you in your mission. They aren't easy to find, however... And most importantly, you'd better start looking for them now, for... who knows? Some one else may beat you to them!" and with that being said, he vanished.  
  
"Wait!" I exclaimed, but it was too late. He had gone.  
  
"What do you suppose that he meant by what he said?" Sora asked.  
  
"No need to be a genius to figure it out, kiddo." Cid said. "It's as simple as this: the Heartless left behind some evidence that, if found and shown to the Queen, will prove Alice's innocence. So, evidently, the Heartless are now looking for them..."  
  
"So that Alice will be found guilty!" Donald finished. "We've gotta find that evidence... Whatever it is..."  
  
"You are right, Donald." I said. "And that is exactly the problem. We do not know what to look for, but the Heartless must surely know what to search. Therefore, we must be quick, and collect whatever we can that may serve as evidence."  
  
"And what if we find nothing?" Sora asked.  
  
"Then I am afraid that we will have to free Alice and our friends by force." I replied. "And I certainly do not want to use my blade to cut through the army of cards..."  
  
"Then quit talking and let's move it out!" Cid urged.  
  
And so, we explored all of the forest, all its dark passages and its somber corners. It turned out to be a lot smaller than we expected... It took us no more than ten minutes to cover all the ground of the woods. However, our small search did not go unrewarded. We found a small crest that had the shape of a shattered heart... My companions told me that that was none other than the crest that the Heartless wore as their war - emblems... We also found what appeared to be the shadow of a large antennae, and, once again, my comrades enlightened me by telling me that the thing was the part of a body of a Heartless weakling...  
  
We knew that we needed to hurry up, and return before the Queen. I thought that it would be enough for the maddened monarch to see the emblem of our enemy to know that she was wrong. On the other hand, to realize her mistake could also make things worse... But I tried not to think of that, and decided to believe in righteousness.  
  
We were about to reach the exit of the forest when suddenly, my ears captured a soft sound. It was the sound that comes from a string that is being pulled... And it came from our right side. With lightning speed, I grasped my bow, and prepared to fire an arrow. My companions let out a squeal and leapt back as I pulled on the string of my weapon. After standing still and silent for a few moments, I said out loud:  
  
"Do not dare to fire, fiend! The arrows that fly from the Fairy bow are unmatched by any others!"  
  
"You are wrong, lad!" a manly voice with a Nordic accent answered back. "The projectiles that Feanorth's bow shoots out are quicker than bullets themselves!" I sighed, and got ready to fire. But, to my amazement, I listened to how the unseen creature put his bow and arrow into a quiver. "Yet I shall not fire, for you mean no harm. I will come out of the bushes now. Pray, do not shoot, for I too, am harmless."  
  
"...So be it." I uttered, and put down my weapons.  
  
And so, an elf came out of the shadows that were in front of us. He was a little bit shorter than myself, and wore a blue silk tunic that had the drawing of a dragon in his chest. He wore brown boots, that appeared to be made out of leather (though I am not sure if that was indeed leather), and had a strong build. He had long, dark hair that fell down his shoulders, like a cascade that glitters in the dead of night, and had tiny, black eyes, though their color was not a dead one; it was the black that one can see in the thoughtful stare of a wise owl. He had pointy ears, very much like my own, but his were shorter than mine... And he emitted a strange glow, as mysterious and as fair as the fire that dances in the string of a candle... He walked to us, and said:  
  
"You are not with the Heartless. That is why I decided to show myself. It is good to see faces other than the ones of the bizarre cards that dwell in the maze..."  
  
"How do you know about the Heartless?" Sora asked. "And... who are you? What's your name?"  
  
"I do not think that it is very important for you to learn how I came to know the Heartless, for now, at least." Replied the elf. "But you can trust me, for I too have some... 'evidence' that will prove Alice's innocence."  
  
"What?" Donald interfered. "How do you know about her?"  
  
"I must assume that you talked to the Queen. But I did not. I only spied, and was unseen. I knew that the Queen would not release Alice. That is why I am here, looking for the one who tried to take her heart." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a strange helmet and a hat that appeared to be made out of hay. My companions gasped, and Sora exclaimed:  
  
"I've seen those before! They belong to the Heartless! Where'd you get them?"  
  
"There is a little house, hidden under the thick shadows of the trees, not far from here." Said the elf. "By it, there is a table, full of cups, and tea pots, and other trinkets. Be it by the enemy's stupidity or by fortune, I found these two items laying on the chairs that surrounded the table. But let us make haste and return before the Queen to save Alice. Time is precious and we are but letting it flow mercilessly by just standing here and chatting. Come on."  
  
"Wait, wait, wait, wait..." Cid intervened and held the elf by his arm. "First of all, I want to know why, after only talking for us for about a minute, you seem so eager to help us. How do I know that this is not a trap of yours? And besides, you haven't even told us your name."  
  
"It is Demean." He replied. "Let us go."  
  
"But..." Cid muttered.  
  
"We shall discuss this later." I interrupted. "Let us free our friends. Then we shall decide what to do about you, Demean..."  
  
"You say it as if I were some kind of threat." Demean said. "But, you are right. We shall talk about it later." And with that being said, he ran out of the forest with us behind him.  
  
***  
  
When we returned before the Queen, we noticed that, to our dismay, a riot had begun. The horde of card - soldiers were attacking a lone, single warrior... He wore a white Karate - Gi with a black belt over his tall, muscular body. He was bigger than any one of us; he seemed like a mountain of flesh and the cards appeared to be a weak gale that tried to bring him down, not to avail, for with a swing of his fists, he could defeat every single soldier that stood in his way. He also wore a red bandanna that seemed to play with the furious wind that engulfed him. He had brown hair and eyes, and these shone angrily with every attack that he unleashed...  
  
Our friends were still locked in the dreadful cage, and so was Alice. They were all shouting; some of them implored the man to cease his wrath, and some others encouraged him to keep on fighting. As for the Queen, she was screaming and thrashing incessantly, and commanded her soldiers to get a hold of the man.  
  
"Stop it!" Sora yelled, and ran before the monarch. "What's going on? Make them stop!"  
  
"Silence!" the Queen exclaimed. "This man is the true criminal! My soldiers must seize him so we can execute him!"  
  
"If that is the case, then why are all of our friends locked in that cage?" I asked, and walked to her throne without being bothered, for the battle had ended with the man's victory. He stood still and quiet, and around him, lay all of the cards, as if beaten down by a hurricane. "Besides, this man is innocent. We have found evidence that will lead to the capture of the true culprit."  
  
"He started it!" the Queen screamed, and I could not help but to roll my eyes at the statement that could only be made by a little child.  
  
"Hey, I didn't say or do anything!" the man intervened. "I just woke up in a strange place, and, by bad luck, it seems, found my way through here, and only asked you where I was. It was you who threw the soldiers at me."  
  
"Quiet!!" she wailed. "Don't you know the law in here?! Anyone who contradicts the Queen is guilty!!"  
  
"Not that we wish to contradict you, Queen..." intervened Demean, and approached the tyrant. He then showed all the evidence that we had collected, and said: "Behold! Here are the items that are bound to prove the girl's innocence!"  
  
The Queen merely stared at the items, and only growled in a low voice...  
  
"Okay, that does it." Ukyo said. "I'm tired of being locked up in here. So we're going out!" And with that being said, she swung her weapon once and shattered the lock.  
  
"What?!" the monarch yelled.  
  
"Obviously, our friends aren't here." The girl declared. "Let's get going. And let's also bring Alice with us: she doesn't deserve to stay here, right Alice...? What?" she uttered, as we all noticed that the girl was missing. "Where is she?"  
  
"What? Where has the defendant gone?" the Queen asked. "Without a suspect, there can be no trial. Cards, find her!!" she ordered, and the cards quickly stood up, and heeded her queen's command.  
  
As for us, we took advantage of this instant, and, along with our two new companions, left the Queen, her soldiers and the green maze. 


	9. Chapter Eight: The Cave of Wonders

Chapter Eight: The Cave of Wonders  
  
We had a really hard time when heading back to where Wilheim and Morrigan were. We got lost while traveling through the streets of the city, and to find our way back to where we started from wasn't an easy task. We had to hurry, because the sun was almost down, and we had to look for this Jaffar guy. Who could know? Maybe he would take us to where our friends were. Either way, breaking the news that this evil man was making the boy hate Ukyo and speaking of getting rid of her to Wilheim wasn't going to be easy...  
  
I've known Wilheim for some time. Perhaps not as well as Ukyo knew him, 'cause he had sent her letters in which he told her his most intimate secrets. I was totally aware that he hadn't told me everything about him when he had decided to tell me his story. I didn't care much, I mean... I didn't want to touch a sensitive spot, or something like that. And that was exactly that worried me the most. For I've seen Wilheim when he gets angry. He's scary. His face turns even whiter than it already is, his fangs seem to grow and to shine like the ones of a saber - toothed tiger, and his eyes start to glow as if they were on fire. But when he gets really mad is when Ukyo's life is in danger. I remember the night in which we fought Magnus... I saw Wilheim's eyes then, and I can't get that psycho glance out of my mind. I wouldn't be exaggerating if I told you that it haunts me, 'cause it does.  
  
So, you can guess that I really didn't want to tell him about this. Besides, when he gets furious, there's hardly any force in the world capable of controlling him, except for Ukyo. And she was precisely the problem. But be that as it may, Felicia insisted on telling him. I even warned them that he would get even angrier than when he had that fight with Vincent. But, did they believe me? No. And what happened when we got to the little storage room and broke the news to both Morrigan and Wilheim...? Two words: big mistake.  
  
"WHAT?!" Wilheim yelled, and his eyes started to glow with a spectral, terrifying light. "Are you saying that this man is corrupting this child's heart, and that he is doing it by making him want to vanquish my beloved?! Are you telling me that an innocent lad will surrender his heart to the darkness by slaying that which I love the most?!" And, just as I had feared, his fangs doubled their size, and he cut his lip with them. I was petrified by fear, and I think that so were the rest of my friends... Save for Vincent and Morrigan, maybe, but they too were a bit scared. I could tell by the look on their faces... My friend wiped the blood trail that ran by his chin with his hand and unsheathed his sword. "He shall speak no more lies, and will utter no more curses. Take me to him... I will send him to hell!!"  
  
"Wilheim, calm down!" Morrigan said, and held him by his arms. "Just killing him will do no good. Don't you understand? This man can be the somber light that will lead you back to the arms of your beloved Ukyo. If you slay him, the candle that shows the way will be no more, and you will remain in darkness, like now, submerged in the shadows without a guide to lead you out of them."  
  
"Morrigan's right, Wilheim." Vincent added. "We can't do anything about it, but to follow him to wherever he's going. Believe me, you'll find her, but only if you choose to be sly and cautious, rather than to spill his blood on the ground."  
  
"And..." I muttered, with a tiny voice. "If you want us to follow him, then we should get moving. I mean, I want to follow him. When he spoke to the boy, he talked about Ukyo and other people... I want to think that he was talking about Akane. I want to help her too, Wilheim, but we won't be able to do that unless we know where they are."  
  
Fortunately, this was all that we needed to say to calm him down. Still, the glow on his eyes didn't cease to be a scary, menacing one.  
  
"So be it, then." He snarled. "Let us go. This man will better be ready, for if Ukyo is nowhere to be found on this world, light or no light... I shall cut him down with my sword."  
  
"Wilheim, try to think clearly." Sakura said. "Try to..."  
  
"I said I will kill him." He interrupted, with a menacing voice, and Sakura took a step back in shock. "Come on, then. I am eager to find him, and to follow him."  
  
We decided to let him be, at least for now. To try to cool him again would be to disturb a black widow's web... He went out of the storage room, and into the city covered by the veil of night. The rest of us let out a sigh in which our fright escaped our bodies.  
  
"Wow..." Felicia whispered. "That wasn't pretty..."  
  
"I warned you." I said. "Next time, I hope that you guys have a little more faith on me."  
  
"And how come you aren't as angry as he is, Ryoga?" Sakura asked. "Akane could be in trouble, you know..."  
  
"I know." I replied. "Don't tempt me, because right now I'm trying to think that, if we follow this man, he will lead us to where she is, and then I can get to help her. But I too am angry. Though not as much as he is..." I took a deep breath, and said: "I can only hope that Ranma's taking care of her, even though he and I don't get along."  
  
"You will tell us all about this Ranma and Akane later." Morrigan said. "We should better get going, for if we don't, the fire of hatred will consume his heart yet again."  
  
"Are you coming or not?!" Wilheim roared, from outside of the storage room. "I am getting tired of waiting, and the night is the only ally that I have to aid me catch this fiend! Hurry up!!"  
  
"I hear that..." Felicia muttered. "Let's go. And I mean go right now."  
  
***  
  
We looked for Jaffar in every street. But he was nowhere to be found. Aside from the fact that this new enemy was practically invisible, Wilheim's attitude wasn't helping much. We often lost sight of him when we went from one street to another, because he walked much more faster than the rest of us (I guess that it was anger that made that effect on him), and literally scared the heck out of every man and woman that crossed our path. Morrigan tried to grab him and told him to calm down a couple of times, but when he turned to her with that crazy look on his face, she decided that it would be best to leave him alone. A wise choice...  
  
"As for now, it's best to let him take out his rage on the floor." Vincent suggested. "But, as soon as we reach Jaffar, no more games. I'll tie him up if there isn't any choice."  
  
"Let's just hope that you won't have to do that..." Sakura sighed.  
  
The night grew darker, and darker, and our prey was nowhere to be found. Felicia and I thought that maybe he could be found near the alley in which we had seen him talking to Riku and Maleficent. But, again, only the cooling wind of the city dwelt around there...  
  
"I wonder if he didn't leave already..." Sakura whispered in my ear. "And if he did, then there's no way to find him, is there?"  
  
"I don't know." I replied.  
  
"You guys should've kept an eye on him, or something..." she added. "Felicia could've followed him without much trouble, I reckon. By letting him go, our chance to find your friends has gone... Well, if indeed he has already gone. Who knows? Maybe we can still track him down. Anyway, you should have stayed near him."  
  
"You know what they say about the past... Leave it behind. And besides, even if we had done that, he would have seen us sooner or later, and you guys wouldn't know a thing about it." I let out a desperate breath, and muttered: "I wish that he's still around. I want to find Akane. I'm so worried about her. What if she's all alone, and...?"  
  
"Don't think that, Ryoga." Sakura interrupted. "Believe that she's with someone strong who'll look after her, until you go to her side."  
  
"We're not going to find him if we keep on looking him like this." Vincent said. "We have got separate."  
  
"What?" Felicia meowed. "Are you serious?"  
  
"Yes." He answered, in a firm voice. He turned to face me and Sakura, and said: "You two should go with him. Felicia and Morrigan will come with me. Ryoga, it is necessary that you go with Wilheim, for you're the one who knows him better. Try to squeeze some sense into that little stubborn mind of his."  
  
"But..." Sakura started to say, but he didn't let her talk.  
  
"If you want to find your friends, then it is best that we all look for this man in separate ways." He made a small pause, and gave us a quick glance. The light in his red eyes told us that it was better not to argue with him... He then added: "Whatever happens, let's meet in the storage room as soon as you see that the sky begins to pale. We can't let either Morrigan or Wilheim be touched by the rays of the sun, lest we want to dispose of their company."  
  
"Don't worry about me." Morrigan intervened. "I can live under the glow of the day without worries. However, I do know that vampires are vulnerable to the glitter of the great star." She looked at me, and, to my amazement, I saw that her eyes revealed concern... "No matter if you find Ukyo or not, do bring him back, by force if necessary. We can't afford to lose him."  
  
* Wow... * I thought to myself. She actually sounded sincere... Did she really care for him? Or was she so desperate for him to have a drink of her blood? I really wanted to think that it was the first and not the second idea...  
  
"Okay." I barely muttered.  
  
"But..." Sakura blurted, but Felicia kept her from speaking. She obviously didn't want to go on with just Wilheim and me. Not that she didn't like us (I mean, I think that she did, at least), but I guess that she would've liked to have more than two strong friends by her side in a world unknown to her.  
  
"Go, guys." The catwoman said. "You should better start looking by yourselves. That way, one of us will surely see him... and get on it now, 'cause Wilheim is just walking by himself without someone to control him."  
  
"Alright. You guys take the... err... left route." I said, and so I started to jog to my right side... or so I thought.  
  
"Ryoga...!" Sakura called. I stopped short and turned to see her. "If you want them to take the left route, then we should take the right one, correct?"  
  
"Yeah... sorry."  
  
And with that said, Sakura and I ran into the street to our right, while Vincent, Morrigan, and Felicia went took the left. We had completely lost sight of Wilheim... I was starting to get worried. What if he had already found Jaffar? If that was the case, then God knows what he had done to him.  
  
But luckily, he was just in the alley that lead to the east, I mean, to where the sun rises... I think. He was about to disappear behind one of the walls.  
  
"Wilheim!!" Sakura and I called, but he had already left.  
  
We ran faster and turned to where he had gone... and leapt back in both surprise and fear when we saw him standing still, staring at us with his violet eyes. In the darkness of the night, they seemed to be two unearthly stars, twinkling on the very streets of the city. They lit his face in a white flame, making him look even more terrifying.  
  
"What is it?" he growled. I take it that he was still very mad... I had to choose my words carefully, for Sakura was so horrified that she had frozen where she stood, and could not even move her lips.  
  
"Wilheim..." I said, in a low voice. "You've gotta be patient, okay? Jaffar will show up. But when he does, don't do anything stupid. Otherwise..."  
  
"Stupid?" he interrupted harshly. "Enlighten me. What would be a stupid thing to do, Ryoga? To threaten him after all that he has said? To curse him, to put the tip of my blade on his evil neck? Is that a stupid thing to do? Call it foolish if you may. I think it is... appropriate." He added, with a ghastly smile, that chilled me to the bone.  
  
"Try... try to - to..." I stammered. What can I say? He was as scary as the Devil himself. "Try to think clear - clearly, Wilheim. If you do what you say, then he'll probably point us in the wrong direction, or he'll try to fight us... And you'll kill him for sure." At this point, his smile had faded away, and the glow of his eyes turned from an enraged glance to a thoughtful one. My fear vanished, as did Sakura's, and so I said: "It will be best if we follow him quietly. If Ukyo or Akane aren't where he's going, then..."  
  
"You'll get to do whatever you want with him." Sakura concluded. "But as for now, try to stay calm... OK?"  
  
He let out a sigh and nodded in silence. His anger faded, and we kept on walking through the dark streets...  
  
Suddenly, we heard a voice. It was an irritating, cacophonic voice that sounded like the screech of a parrot... We got closer to it, and saw... that indeed it was the screech of a parrot! The voice came from a small, fat bird, with blue feathers on the tip of its wings. It had a beak full of teeth, which, rather than scary, seemed kind of funny. It had two tiny black eyes and... an attitude. It was walking down the street while it mumbled to itself, and while it did, its voice suddenly changed from a screech to a dark one and then, to a booming one, and then back to a screech again, and again...  
  
"'What we should do next...', he says... To capture that street rat and then send him off to fetch that lamp, like a puppy. Why can't anyone else do it? Oh, that's right! It's because of that stupid tiger - headed pile of sand! 'A diamond in the' blah, blah, blah... And while Jaffar's sitting on his butt, taking a tan, I have to go and find the princess! Oh, well... at least now I can take a break and go with him while the chomp goes to get the stupid lamp... But what am I talking about?! 'Undercover'. I have to travel inside his stupid jacket, while this stupid heat kills me in the mean time! 'Come with me, Iago...' Cook with me, Iago, be the main dish! That's what he wants!"  
  
"There's our catch!" Sakura exclaimed in a whisper.  
  
"Oh, great. Here they come now." The parrot said, and then kept quiet as two figures began to cross the street...  
  
The first one was an old man who held a cane. He seemed rather skinny, and had a hard time in walking. He had a long, white beard, and a bold head, full of rashes, and a crooked smile. When he saw the parrot, he quickly signaled him to fly inside of his coat, and, reluctantly, the bird obeyed... The other one was a tall, young man with dark skin, black, short hair, and brown eyes. He had a tough body, and wore no shoes. He had big, white pants, a purple vest, and a little, red hat, shaped like a cup. He had an innocent, yet cautious glance, and constantly gazed to his back, as if he was fearing that someone other than us was already following them. I could only hope that, if this were true, it would be Vincent and the girls... As they walked by us, I noticed that the young man had a monkey on his shoulder; a curious little ape with a funny glance, and a playful tail. I squinted hard as we all hid behind the wall, and noticed that the old man was actually Jaffar in disguise.  
  
"That's him." I whispered. "Let's follow them... And try to stay calm, okay, Wilh--? Wilheim!" I muttered in a low voice, as I saw that he had gone.  
  
"Where is he?" Sakura asked. "Where...?"  
  
We both kept silent as we noticed how a huge wolf with dark fur cautiously walked to the strangers. First of all, Wilheim's clothes and sword were on the ground, and, second of all, he wasn't there... and, furthermore, he was a vampire... So, put all of these ingredients together, and it turns out that at that very instant, I remembered that I had seen that wolf before.  
  
"Oh, God, don't let him do anything stupid..." I begged to myself.  
  
"What?" Sakura murmured. "Is that him?" she asked, as she pointed at the wolf.  
  
"Yes, I'm afraid..." I replied.  
  
"Wow! What's this?" the young man asked, as he saw how Wilheim approached him. The monkey on his shoulders screeched and hid behind his head. "Hey, take it easy, Abu!" he added, as he knelt and looked at the wolf in the eyes. "What a strange animal... Then again, there have been many strange creatures roaming about the streets of Agrabah lately. But this one is pretty cool!"  
  
"What?" asked Jaffar, and turned around. He leapt back when he saw the wolf, and let out a shriek. "What is that?! Go away! Shoo, shoo!"  
  
"Easy! He doesn't seem to be dangerous." The man said, with a warm smile on his lips, even though he didn't realize how wrong he was... Or so I thought. For after a few moments, Wilheim actually licked the man's fist, and the monkey's as well. "See? He's friendly!"  
  
"Oh, so he is?" Jaffar muttered and his eyes were filled by curiosity. He took a step towards the wolf, but when he did, Wilheim let out a menacing growl, and his fur seemed to turn into spines. "Oh!" he yelped, and leapt back once more. "Friendly, you say? It's a wild animal!"  
  
"Wow! I take it that he doesn't like you... Maybe it's because of the way you smell..." the man chuckled (and so did the ape), but then shut his mouth as Jaffar gave him a quick, angry glance. Wilheim stopped growling, and the young man added in a tiny voice: "Um... Forget about that..."  
  
"Listen, lad..." the evil man said. "We have to reach the cave in the desert before the day comes. We won't last five minutes with that dreadful heat..."  
  
"I know, I know..." the young man sighed, and began to walk behind Jaffar. He turned around, and exclaimed: "Hey! I think that he wants to come with us!"  
  
Jaffar looked back, and noticed that Wilheim was walking at the young man's side. He rolled his eyes, and said:  
  
"Then let him follow us, but keep him away!"  
  
"Whew. How touchy." The man said to himself, and the monkey let out a giggle when he heard him.  
  
They were about to disappear in the next street when I heard a voice...  
  
* Follow us. * it said.  
  
"Wow..." Sakura whispered. She turned to me, and asked: "Did you hear that?"  
  
"I did..." I replied. "It sounded like Wilheim."  
  
* It is me. * the voice repeated. Of course... He was a vampire, after all, and he had revealed to me that vampires can deceive humans with the power of their mind, and can even use telepathy. They are mind - readers... * I know what Jaffar plots. * he added. * This boy, whose name is Aladdin, was captured earlier in the day by some guards because he was seen wandering through the streets with the princess Jasmine. He was locked in a dungeon, and this fiend freed him by the promise of gold and the opportunity to glance at the fair princess once more. But he only wants him to retrieve an item from a mythical cave... The cave of wonders, a place that has a live of its own. Its breathing walls will only yield to the one worthy enough to enter it. And when this little trinket, a golden lamp, rests in his hands, he will 'reward' him by stabbing him with a cruel knife. * he paused for a moment, and then his voice was filled by anger as he said: * I did not think that such an evil being could exist. I thought that only Magnus' heart was as black as the abyss that leads to the depths of hell. But I was mistaken... * We heard his sigh in our minds, as he added: * We will travel through the desert. We are lucky, for a sandstorm blinds the eyes of the ones who dare venture into it. Even though Jaffar knows the way to the cave, he cannot see what is behind him. *  
  
"But Wilheim, what about Vincent, Felicia, and Morrigan?" Sakura asked.  
  
* We will have to go on without them. * he answered. * Do not lose a second more, or you will not know what way to take. Stay close to us, but not too much. Hide behind the counters and the curtains that dance with the wind. Walk at a steady pace. Let the sand suffocate your steps. Now, come! *  
  
"Okay..." I said. "But don't just walk by their side doing nothing. Distract them, or something, will you?!"  
  
* I shall do my best. *  
  
We lost no more time and began to follow them in a quiet step. We did as Wilheim told us and stayed behind the walls and the curtains, while they advanced to Agrabah's end. At that moment, as shocking as it may sound, I really wished that I could turn into P - Chan and go with them as Wilheim's little pig companion, or something like that... But I couldn't do that in front of Sakura. I didn't want her to know... At least not at that time. And besides, all the buckets of water that were in our way were still warm... The heat of the day had been really suffocating.  
  
When we finally left the city behind us and ventured into the desert, Wilheim started to bark loudly and constantly kept running through Jaffar's legs. This one squealed (and so did his parrot, Iago, a couple of times, at least), and tried to hit him with his cane, while Aladdin and Abu giggled in low voices. Of course, this was merely a diversion that our friend was creating so that we could keep up with them without being seen...  
  
Just as he had said, after a few moments, we were caught in the middle of a sandstorm. The bodies of Jaffar, Aladdin, Abu, and Wilheim turned into black silouethes that grew darker the closer we got to them and faded away if we kept still. We couldn't rely on our eyes as much as before. Instead, we kept up with them by following Jaffar's screams, Abu and Aladdin's laughter, and Wilheim's barks and howls.  
  
"I didn't know that he could turn into a wolf." Sakura said in my ear.  
  
"I had forgotten about it." I replied. "Actually, Ukyo and I first met him in his wolf - shape. It was her who later knew Wilheim the vampire as you and I always see him..." I made a small pause, and then said: "He actually had a reddish bandanna, but he let Ukyo keep it while he went away to regain his humanity."  
  
"Oh! Like Ryu!" she giggled.  
  
"Yeah... How'd you meet him?" I asked.  
  
"I saw him for the first time when he was fighting against some criminals that were trying to save their skins by taking a little kid as hostage. He rescued him and beat them all... They shot at him, and not a bullet hit him. I've seen him a couple of times since then, and we haven't talked much, unfortunately... Who I really get along with is with his friend, Ken. He's told me a lot about him, and knows that... I have a crush on him. In fact, he told me that he gave him his bandanna, at this one time when he managed to beat him in a round. Either way, I don't doubt that Ryu can still kick his butt anytime he wants to." She said, and let out a sigh. Then, she added: "I hope that he's here... I hope that we can find him soon. Or Ken, at least."  
  
"Whoever." I said. "Let's hope that we just find someone..." I stopped talking as soon as I heard Wilheim's voice inside my head.  
  
* We are getting there. * he said. * Stay low. We do not want them to see you now... *  
  
"Fine." I murmured, and Sakura and I began to crawl behind them. We had to swallow a few mouthfuls of sand, but, at the end, they stopped.  
  
Jaffar put a hand in one of his pockets and took out two pieces that, when he put them together, formed a golden scarab. The little thing flickered for an instant, and when it did, all of them leapt back, including Wilheim himself. The golden scarab flew around them, leaving a trail of sparkling dust behind it. It did this for a few moments, and then it dived into the sea of sand... And the ground began to rumble. We all watched, without uttering a single word, how a mountain of sand grew in the middle of the desert, and acquired the shape of the head of a tiger. Its bright eyes lit the night, and from its open mouth, a golden light came... We were speechless. And then, to our shock, it spoke in a booming, and demanding voice:  
  
"Who disturbs my slumber?!"  
  
Aladdin turned to Jaffar with a questioning look in his eyes, and this last one only nodded his head in silence. He then faced the great tiger yet again, and answered:  
  
"I - It is I... Aladdin."  
  
The tiger was silent for an instant, and during that time, it seemed to me that he studied the young man with its glance. Then, it said:  
  
"Proceed. Touch nothing, but the lamp!!"  
  
And with that being said, it opened its gigantic jaws even more than before and a warm wind came from inside its entrails. Jaffar smiled wickedly, and exclaimed:  
  
"Remember, boy! First, bring me the lamp! And then, you shall have your reward!"  
  
Aladdin and Abu nodded and stepped into the tiger's mouth. After a few instants, both of them disappeared in the light of the cavern.  
  
***  
  
We had waited for over half an hour for Aladdin and Abu to come out of the cave, but there was no sight of them. Wilheim had been very, very patient, for he had sat on his butt during all that time, without even growling at Jaffar, who walked to and fro, while Iago flew about him.  
  
"What if he doesn't come back?!" the parrot screeched. "Did you see his face? He looked like a jackass, didn't he? I know that he's going to touch something. What's more: I can bet on it!"  
  
"Patience, Iago, patience!" Jaffar replied. "We can do nothing more but to hope that you are wrong. Let's just wait for him to come out. He's obviously a naive, idiotic lad... But I reckon that he can get the job done."  
  
* I am running out of patience. * Wilheim suddenly declared, in our minds. * Stay where you are. I shall go with you now. *  
  
We were well - hidden behind a little mount of sand. Sakura lifted a hand in the air, so he could see. He came to our side, and Jaffar and Iago lost sight of him thanks to the apparently never ending sandstorm. He lay beside us, and said:  
  
* Nothing good shall come out of this. I have the feeling that my beloved and the rest of our friends are not here. Yet fate wished for us to follow this fiend, so that we could save the lad. Like the snake that waits for its prey with the cover of the sand, I will strike quickly, and he shall fall. *  
  
"No, Wilheim..." Sakura whispered. "You can't kill him... You can't... That would be to become what he is."  
  
He stood silent for a few moments, and we managed to see that he had a thoughtful glance in his eyes. Finally, to my relief, he replied:  
  
* All right. So be it. I will not slay him... But either way, we must save Aladdin. *  
  
"I agree. But how?" I asked.  
  
* Turn around, Sakura. * he said. * And you too, Ryoga. But first, hand me my clothes and my sword. *  
  
"Oh, right!" Sakura said, and covered her reddened face with both of her hands.  
  
I really would've liked to see him turn into a human back again... But for two reasons, I didn't do so. First of all, he asked me not to. And second of all, I am not too thrilled about the idea of seeing him nude. Maybe Ukyo could be, but I, most definitively, am not.  
  
After a few moments, Wilheim, the vampire as we knew him, lay by our side, fully dressed.  
  
"Ready?" he murmured.  
  
"Wow, that was fast..." Sakura said, as she uncovered her eyes.  
  
"What's next?" I asked. "Are you gonna grab him and slap him around? If you are, then please don't forget to ask about Akane, okay?"  
  
"I shall ask about her, as well as Ukyo." He said. "And even if he does not tell me the truth, I can always read his devilish mind. Let us go." He added, and got to his feet. We nodded, and followed him.  
  
Wilheim walked to Jaffar with a maddened look in his eyes. When he and Iago saw him, they both let out a little scream.  
  
"How did you come here?" the man asked. "How have you survived in the desert, with this storm of sand upon us? Who are yo--?"  
  
He stopped speaking as Iago flew away from him and as Wilheim grabbed him by his neck and squeezed him. This time, we did nothing. We only stared at him with angry glances. We also wanted to know where our friends were...  
  
"I am your other companion." Wilheim answered. "Or have your forgotten the glitter in my eyes?"  
  
"What?! YOU!!" Jaffar exclaimed, but his voice got stuck in his throat.  
  
"Where is my beloved, evil one? Where is the one who you seek to destroy with your lies and with the innocence of a child? Where is Ukyo, worm? And where is Akane?"  
  
"And Ryu!" Sakura demanded.  
  
"I...!" replied Jaffar, with a surprised look on his eyes. He didn't expect us to be related to them, I take it. "They... they're all down there!" he exclaimed, as he pointed to the cave.  
  
Wilheim squinted hard, and showed him his fangs. Jaffar tried to avoid his glance... But he was just to powerful for him, and he trapped him in his violet irises.  
  
"Is he telling the truth?" I asked, as I unsheathed my steel umbrella. "Because if he isn't, I'll be glad to dish out a hit or two..."  
  
"No need for that." Wilheim said. "He lies. Akane is with my beloved Ukyo, and they both are in a far - off world, called Traverse Town, or so does he believe. He has never heard about a man named Ryu, however..."  
  
"WHAT?!" Jaffar exclaimed.  
  
"Oh, vampires can read people's minds... didn't you know that?" Sakura mocked.  
  
"Now that you know that there is no escaping from the clutches of a being whose eyes have seen more full moons than your devil pupils, tell me, Jaffar..." Wilheim whispered, in a cold voice. "What is going on?"  
  
"What... what do you mean?"  
  
"Come on." I intervened. "We know that you sent Aladdin down there to get a golden lamp. What is so important about it? What's so important about it that matters more than his life, huh? Come on, answer. And don't try to lie about it. Our friend will know if you're lying... and if that is the case, I'll put this fist on your mouth." I added, as I raised my hand, and closed it in his face. "Talk!"  
  
"That... that lamp..." he uttered. "It is rumored that a creature of incredible power lies within that lamp... And, he who wakes it up, will get to..."  
  
"INFIDELS!!" interrupted the angry and booming voice of the tiger. We all turned to face it with a pale face, and so it added: "You have touched the forbidden treasure!!"  
  
"What?" I muttered. "What... what does it mean?"  
  
"That stupid boy!" coughed Jaffar, while he managed to escape Wilheim's grasp. "He's touched something else but the lamp! Now the cave will fall apart! The cave of wonders will be no more!"  
  
"Oh, great!!" screeched Iago, from far away. "I told you we should've never trusted that chomp and his stuffed monkey!"  
  
"Now you will never again see the light of the sun!!" roared the tiger's head, and the earth began to shake.  
  
This earthquake wasn't like the one we had felt before. This one was far more violent and terrible. The rumbling that we had heard when the cave emerged from the sand turned into an angry yell that created what appeared to be a whirlpool on the ground. The sand began to flow to the center of it, and dragged everything in its path... Including us. For, even though at first we were out of its reach, Jaffar took advantage of our frightened eyes, and pushed Wilheim into it... Our buddy rammed us as he lost his balance, and so we all fell. The whirlpool took us into the tiger's mouth, and we began to fall.  
  
After a couple of seconds, Sakura and I fell hard on a ledge. But Wilheim kept on falling to the bottom of the pit.  
  
"WILHEIM!!" we both yelled.  
  
Our friend's body suddenly suffered a strange change... His fingers began to grow thin and long, as his arms and legs shrunk. He grew a pair of dark wings, and began to fly about the cave in the form of a bat, while he held his sword with his little legs. After letting out a couple of shrieks, he began to fly to us... But he didn't make it to the ledge. Because, suddenly, a great rock began to fall from the ceiling. Sakura and I moved just in time to avoid it... But we then knew that we had been trapped and separated from our friend, who flew behind the wall that was in front of us. Before we could scream his name, we heard a roaring sound that came tumbling down a dark tunnel that was at our right. And then, a stream of molten lava flowed from it. We ran away from it as fast as we could... The heat of the boiling mass was practically burning our legs. But, luckily, we were quick enough to escape it. We leapt into yet another ledge, and watched how the river of lava passed below us. But then, to our dismay, the ledge began to crumble due to the heat.  
  
"Ryoga!! What are we going to do?!" asked Sakura, with a trembling voice.  
  
"Damn it, I don't know!!" I answered, with a desperate breath.  
  
"Oh... Look!" She exclaimed, as she pointed at a pillar that floated in the stream of lava. "It still hasn't melted. Let's jump on it! On three, OK?"  
  
"O... OK!" I agreed, realizing that we had no other choice.  
  
"Three!" yelled Sakura, as she saw that the flow of the current grew stronger and carried the pillar of stone with many mystical carvings right to where we stood.  
  
With a squeal of fright, we jumped onto the thing, and fell on it. The river carried us through many dark caves. Most of them were pitch black, and this was were we where most scared. Since we couldn't see what was in front of us, it was logic to think that at any moment, we would hit some obstacle and fall to our deaths in the lava. Luckily, that didn't happen. But some other caverns were illuminated by the glow of many golden items. Cups, plates, bracelets, and many beautiful stones, like rubies, emeralds, diamonds... Yet these precious things proved to be more of a problem than they proved to be of help. I had to constantly make use of the Shishi - Hokoudan to dispose of the many shiny obstacles that were in our path, while Sakura gathered all of her energy and let it loose in the form of a bluish wave, as she yelled 'Hadoken' over and over again... Even though we, so far, hadn't fall in the river of lava, we knew that we were doomed to die. At least I felt it that way. Who could survive in a situation like that? Well... we did.  
  
For suddenly, a burst of flames sent the pillar flying high into the air... We hit our heads with the rocky ceiling and managed to stay conscious only to see how our bodies fell into a dark tunnel, free of lava. Indeed we were lucky. But we were unconscious.  
  
***  
  
"A lad and a lass, they are. Both of them are very beautiful. Different bandannas are tied around their heads. He wears a yellow one, whereas she has a white headband. I wonder how they got here? I presume that it had to do with the black abyss that floated in the sky, and that swallowed us. Or, who may know? Maybe it was due to the rumbling that we heard a while earlier. They must have been eaten by the furious earth that lies above. Lucky they were that the stream of lava did not eat them whole... Yes, they are very beautiful indeed. I wonder what they dream about? Their hearts still beat, and they still draw breath. They are alive, no doubt."  
  
"Should we wake them up?"  
  
"I suppose that is what we should do. They must open their eyes and gaze at the deep darkness that engulfs us all. Although I would rather possess them both, I would rather quench my thirst for lust..."  
  
"Oh, come on! Don't start with that again! Listen, it's like you said after you tried to come on to me. We're together in this, and until we get out, we stay together, right? So stop saying such things and help me wake them up... And let's do so gently, okay? God only knows what these guys have been through. I wonder if they have any broken bones?"  
  
"They do not. Their bodies are as resilient as the rocky walls that imprison us, fortunately."  
  
"Fine, so let's do it."  
  
Both voices finally quieted for a second. The two of them were feminine, and neither of them knew that I was awake. Still, I didn't dare to open my eyes. I really didn't want to see Sakura lying lifelessly at my side... But after what they had said, I guessed that there was nothing to worry about. I had to see who these two women were.  
  
"Wake up, little girl..." whispered the first voice that spoke in Sakura's ear. The breath of that woman was extremely sexy and arousing... I couldn't help but to tremble at her melodic voice. Even then, I still didn't stop thinking about Akane, and I forced myself to lay quiet.  
  
"Hey... wake up, boy." The other voice, a tender and sweet one said to me, and I felt how two strong, yet soft hands shook my body. "Come on, man, wake up."  
  
I pretended as if I had just regained consciousness and rubbed my eyes, and let out a low moan. I turned to face the woman, and found myself staring at a tall girl with a... very voluptuous body. She had white skin and wore a white shirt and a little black skirt over her long, strong legs. Her hair was long and had a dark brown color. She had a sweet face and her eyes glittered with a fierce red. She was really beautiful. Not as much as Akane, though... She actually reminded me of Ukyo a bit. The same long, cascading hair that fell down their back, and the same pretty face...  
  
"There you are..." she said, tenderly. "How are you feeling?"  
  
"I... I'm good..." I muttered. "Who... who are you? How'd get here? Hold on, how's Sakura?" I asked, and sat down.  
  
"Easy, man. One question at a time, okay?" she replied.  
  
"She is awake now." Said the other woman and turned to face me.  
  
"What?" I asked. "Morrigan? What are you doing here?"  
  
"Morrigan?" the woman asked, with a puzzled glance in her eyes. "You must be confusing me with somebody else, lad."  
  
"Oh..." I gasped, as I realized that she was right. This other woman was a succubus, and also had green hair and eyes, like our other companion. But as I looked at her carefully, I noticed that her body was much more voluptuous. She had longer legs and larger breasts, and her skin was even whiter than Morrigan's. But what was most different about them, was their glance. Morrigan's face was somewhat cold, and had a fierce stare, whereas this succubus had sweeter eyes, yet... much, MUCH more tempting. This woman was even more beautiful than the other (at least to my eyes), and her fairness could even match the one of my beloved Akane... I mean... What can I say? Wow.  
  
"Who... who are you two?" asked Sakura, as she slowly sat down. "Morrigan? Oh, no... you aren't... her..." she stammered, while the succubus gave her an erotic glance. I got really confused when she did that. Sakura is a girl, as far as I'm concerned... And so was her.  
  
"So fair." The succubus whispered in a lustful voice, and ran her fingers through Sakura's cheek.  
  
"Give it a rest, will you?" the other woman said. "They just... Look out!!" she screamed, as we all noticed that a large boulder was about to fall on us.  
  
I quickly stood up, and let loose a Shishi - Hokoudan. It was quite a fortune that that was enough to break the rock. Otherwise, we would've become a quartet of pancakes.  
  
"Impressive." The woman said. We all stood silent for a few moments, and then she asked: "How'd you get here?"  
  
"I was just about to ask you the same question." Intervened Sakura. "And... your names as well. He's Ryoga, and I'm Sakura."  
  
"We both were swallowed by a yawning chasm." The succubus replied. "An evil spell, I take it, was what drove us to this bizarre cave." She eyed the other woman, and added: "She has survived here for some time now, with the help of a magic carpet, I understand. A being that, apparently, is doomed to stay here and guard the place until the chosen one arrives..."  
  
"A carpet?" I asked.  
  
"Yeah." The woman replied. "It's a long story... Bottom line is that the chosen one did arrive some while ago, and he did something that he shouldn't have. That's why the whole place came down. And, when all the rumbling stopped, and when I found a save place to hide from the lava river and all, she appeared right before my eyes."  
  
"Right... I understand... um..." Sakura muttered, in a low voice.  
  
"Oh, right, sorry!" the woman giggled. "Sakura, Ryoga, my name is Tifa Lockhart."  
  
"And I am a succubus from the outskirts of the kingdom of Urthalien. My name is Camille. A pleasure to meet you both, indeed." The succubus murmured in a sexy voice.  
  
"Camille?!" I exclaimed. "Camille?! From the kingdom of Urthalien?!"  
  
"What's wrong, Ryoga?" Sakura asked, with a puzzled glance in her eyes. "Why are you so upset?"  
  
"No, I'm not upset..." I replied. I then turned to the confused succubus, and added: "I know who you are! Camille, the succubus! Sakura and I know one of your friends! Wilheim, we know Wilheim!"  
  
"What?" Camille uttered, and her face was filled with both wonder and happiness. "Wilheim? My dear Wilheim? The lone vampire that dwelt in my castle for the longest and merriest of times?"  
  
"How...?" Sakura stammered. "How... how is it that...?"  
  
"The same one!" I exclaimed. "And he must be around here: he fell with us when the ground shook. We thought that he would fall to his death on the rocky floor, but suddenly, he turned into a bat and started to fly. When he was about to reach us, a damn rock dropped from the ceiling and that's the last we knew about him. He must be somewhere around here, and he must be alive. Wilheim isn't an easy vampire to kill..."  
  
"Indeed, he is one of the strongest of his kind, despite being so young." Camille giggled with excitement. "If he is here, then let us hurry to meet him."  
  
"But, how do we get out of here?" Sakura asked.  
  
"I've been trapped here for about two weeks." Tifa replied. "And I ask myself the same question every minute."  
  
"That matters not for me, at the moment." Camille said. "Right now, I only wish to find my dear friend. It has been ages since I last saw him, and I am eager to see if the glance in his deep eyes has changed to a merrier one. Let us go, please. I can only hope that you are right..." she said to me. "And that he is unharmed."  
  
"Yeah... let's hope that he's fine." I agreed. "Okay, then. Let's see if we can find him... How big is the cave?"  
  
"It's big." Tifa answered. "Let's pray that he's not very far from us."  
  
"He'll be okay." Sakura sighed. "But I wonder if there's any way to escape this gigantic cavern. So much darkness will drive me crazy if I stare at it for a long time." 


	10. Chapter Nine: The Gates of the Mythical ...

Before I start this chapter, I'd like to say some things. (Yup, another stupid mini - intro. Bear with me, please... ^_^) First of all, as you may have noticed (if you're actually reading the story), is that there are some characters (and places) that don't belong to any videogame or anime company... So far, these ones are Urthalien, Camille, Demean, Yiartish, and the forest of Fingoth (if this last name sounds familiar, is because I based myself on the elf 'Fingon', that J. R. R. Tolkien mentioned on his book 'The Silmarillion'), the forest of Ungolin, and (duh) Wilheim. When other characters created by me appear in the story, I'll let you know. If you'd like to use these characters for a story of yours (which, frankly, I doubt very much, but you never know... ^_^), then just mention the fool who created them, please, yours truly.  
And, most importantly, a new character appears in this chapter that doesn't belong to me (you'll know who he is). He belongs to Jorge Octavio Colmenero Acevedo, A. K. A., asuka - gandalf (that's his penname), a very good friend of mine.  
  
OK. Finally, on to the story. (Hopefully, I won't write more of these boring summaries... but if I do, then feel free to hate me) Enjoy! ^_^  
Chapter Nine: The Gates of the Mythical Mount  
  
We got out of the Queen's sight as fast as we could. Man, was that woman annoying! We ran away from her and her guards so fast that we didn't even care about the two new companions that came with us. Not one of us asked them their names, and frankly, at that time, it didn't matter. I, however, was somewhat amazed by the man in the white Karate - Gi. After all, he had beaten down an entire army by himself. Well, it was an army of cards, but they had axes and spears. And he didn't have a single scratch on him. I couldn't help but to wonder if he was as strong as me or Leon...  
  
We made our way out of the maze, and into the bizarre room in which we had grown small. Once there, Link turned to face us and said:  
  
"I fear the worst for Alice. It is a strange gift, to disappear so suddenly in front of everyone's eyes. And I doubt that such innocent, small a girl possessed such tremendous skill. I simply cannot understand that."  
  
"Neither can I." Added the elf that came with us. "It is not that simple to vanish, not even if one is lucky enough to be able to use the Twilight Capes at his or her will. And if that child had ever visited the dwelling of Yiartish and the other tree - men, I would certainly know. Those news would have traveled to my ears with the wind that blows from the entrails of the beautiful forest of Fingoth."  
  
Man, could these guys talk! They could turn a simple sentence into a sonnet, if they wished to. Just like Wilheim. They reminded me of him a lot. Of course, I didn't mind that much, but I could see that Ucchan had a lot of trouble in clearing her mind from his memory. I mean, come on... It was likely that they would never see each other again, and there they were, talking just like he did. It wasn't easy to see her like that. She had a very sad look in her eyes. I went to her side and put my arm around her, and asked:  
  
"You okay?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks, Ran - Chan." She replied.  
  
But then, her eyes were filled with wonder, as if she had suddenly remembered something that ought to be remembered. And, as I thought about it, I realized that the names of 'Yiartish' and 'Fingoth' were awfully familiar. I had heard them for the first time... in Ucchan's restaurant, with Akane. I quickly ran by her side, and whispered:  
  
"Akane, I think that I know who this guy is!"  
  
"The elf?" she asked. "What do you mean, Ranma?"  
  
"Excuse me..." Ukyo said, as she approached the elf. "What's... what's your name, huh? You haven't told us your name yet."  
  
"Demean." He replied. I knew it! I had heard that name before!  
  
"Demean?!" exclaimed Ucchan, Akane and I at the same time. I take it that old - tomboy girl remembered that name as well. All of our friends looked at us with a puzzled glance, and so Ukyo added: "I know you! I mean... I know who you are! You're the elf that stayed with Wilheim for three years in the forest of Fingoth! You're the one that saved him from the gigantic spiders from the woods of Ungolin!"  
  
"What?!" Demean exclaimed, in shock. "How is it that you know him? The 'melancholic vampire', he is called by the brethren of the children of Cain... How is it that you know who he is? You are a human girl, no doubt... And you too are mortals as well." He added, as he gave us a quick glance, and realized that we too, knew who he was.  
  
"He's my boyfriend." Ukyo replied, to the elf's surprise. "Ran - Chan, Akane, some other friends, and I helped him defeat Magnus."  
  
"Magnus is dead?" asked Demean, with a happy smile on his face. "I do not mean to sound evil, but those are joyful news! The merciless killer has been vanquished... Finally, the Vampyrs can be at ease! No longer shall their fellows be haunted by the malice of the Nosferatu - Caitiff. Thank goodness! Then his power has grown tremendously! Finally, he is free!"  
  
"Excuse me, but could we perhaps continue with this conversation later?" Leon interrupted. "I don't really like the look of this..."  
  
"Of what?" Aeris asked.  
  
Leon pointed up to the gigantic table without saying a word, and when we turned to it, we saw a purple cat staring at us with a grinning face.  
  
"The Cheshire Cat!" yelled Sora. "Hey!" he called. "Do you know where Alice is? Have you seen her?"  
  
"Yes, I have!" giggled the cat. "She has been taken by the Heartless! Off with the shadows! You shall not find her here!"  
  
"What?!" we all screamed. Akane took a step forward (lately, she had become more irritable than she already was... which isn't exactly good news), and yelled: "And why is that so funny, huh? Quit smiling, cat, and tell us where she is!"  
  
"How sensitive!" laughed the cat (honestly, I would've probably said the same thing if I were it). "She is not in this world, as I've said! But don't worry! You shall still be able to enjoy the company of some one you are looking for!" it added, as it pointed to the ceiling. There were a pair of lanterns that were suddenly lit with a yellow fire. "The shadows will be here soon. I hope that you are ready for the worst. If not, that's the way it goes! Ta - ta!" and so, it disappeared.  
  
And as soon as he finished saying this, a huge Heartless appeared. This one was even bigger than the armor we had face in Traverse Town! Well... at scale, at least. If we wouldn't have shrunk, we would be as tall as it was. But no. We had to follow that stupid doorknob's advice. Well, it wasn't its fault. None of us knew that a monster with four legs, who had paper - like, black arms, what seemed to be a column of heads, and that juggled a pair of pins was going to take us by surprise. Even still, I was very mad at the doorknob who, in addition, was sleeping!  
  
Yet, I couldn't stay mad for long. The huge thing swiped one of its arms at us and tried to kill us with a fierce blow, but we were all quick enough to get out of its way, except for Aeris and Donald, but they cast some strange spell on themselves, and where engulfed by a protective wind that kept them from harm. Lucky them. But the rest of us were still at the mercy of the Heartless' attacks. He was tall enough to squash us, and he knew that, for he tried to put his for legs on top of us.  
  
Fortunately, there were many of us to withstand the enemy's attacks. Unfortunately, his hide was tougher than the armored knight from Traverse Town. We first tried to hit its legs: Akane and I punched like crazy and only hurt our hands; Yuffie threw many shurikens at it, but did nothing; Sora, Leon, Cid, Link, and Ucchan tried attacking it with their weapons, but they bounced off him like a ball bounces off the ground; Goofy tried hitting him with his shield in the face, and... this actually enraged the creature, and, apparently, did some harm to it. Yet, he used most of his power to actually jump that high, and quickly ran away from the Heartless as soon as it began swinging its pins at him. Demean used his arrows to nail him from a distance, and even though he was quite accurate, it seemed that his projectiles did little or no harm to our foe. Later, Link joined him in these long - ranged attacks with his own bow and arrows, and so did Ukyo and Yuffie, with her tiny, but sharp spatulas and shurikens. Little by little, we began to wear the huge thing down. Akane skillfully jumped from a couch to another and then to the table and unleashed an aerial kick. I tried to harass him a bit with the Moko - Takabisha, while Goofy came back from his trip and smashed the Heartless with his great shield. Also, Donald and Aeris began to cast many spells on the Heartless. Soon, fireballs and icy spikes were all about the creature, weakening it by the instant. Or so it seemed...  
  
After some time, the Heartless got really, REALLY mad. With a loud roar, he set both of his pins on fire and began to attack us with them. His blows became quicker and harder to dodge. I got hit by one of them, and nearly lost consciousness. My whole body was engulfed by a fierce flame for a few seconds, and then it went away, but I felt as if I had been submerged in hell's pits for the longest of times. You can guess how I was feeling. I heard the others scream my name, but I couldn't get up. Akane ran to my side and quickly gave me a potion that Aeris had handed her. Not only that, but I felt how the duck and the sorceress both cast a healing spell on me, and I came back to life. Yet I wasn't Aeris and Donald's first patient... Later, the monster struck Leon and Cid, and, after them, Sora. Ukyo quickly threw her body over the boy's to protect him, and got nailed as well. Her piercing cry grew more intense as the monster laid a leg on her. She and Sora were about to be crushed... I couldn't just stand there, and let my best friend be squashed by that beast. I gathered all of my energy and threw a powerful Moko - Takabisha on the Heartless. It only stumbled, but Ucchan took advantage of this and ran away with Sora in her arms. However, she was badly wounded, and seemed like she wouldn't hold on for much longer. Aeris retreated to a corner of the huge room and started to cast the most powerful healing spell on them both... As for the monster... he didn't seem to be growing weaker. Rather, he had become a lethal menace to us all. Soon, Akane got hit by a blow of the Heartless, and flew all the way to the other side of the place.  
  
"AKANE!!" I yelled. Normally, she can be a pain, but what I can't stand is seeing her hurt. I got really mad as I ran to her and saw her looking at me with a weak glance. And that was when I knew that I could help no more, because I could only hit the monster with the Moko - Takabisha, and that attack relies solely on positive energy. And at that moment, I had none. I could only stay close to Akane and look after her. I thought about performing a Hiryuu - Shoten - Ha on it, but it was too risky. I could've gotten stepped on, and then Akane would be defenseless... My other friends tried hard to bring the Heartless down, but nothing seemed to work. The only attacks that seemed to be having some kind of effect were Demean and Link's arrows (the elf himself hadn't received a single blow. He was the quickest among all of us, whereas Link's arm was severely injured, for he had used his shield to deflect many of the fiend's attacks... and that didn't work much), Ukyo's spatulas, and Sora's blows with the Keyblade. Even so, this thing was much more resilient than the other one, as I've mentioned before, and wouldn't budge, not even to the Keyblade master. I could only stay there, protecting Akane and watching... Waiting, actually. Waiting for the battle to come to an end.  
  
Suddenly, we heard a piercing cry. Everyone froze in their places, including the Heartless. Then, a huge beam of blue energy emerged from one side of the room, as the words of the yell echoed in our minds:  
  
"SHINKU - HADOKEN!!"  
  
This wave of sudden power hit the Heartless in the chest, and brought him down. I could even see a painful stare coming from its many eyes... It screeched, and fell to the ground. And when it did, we all decided to end it there. All of us attacked at the same time. Link unsheathed his Master Sword, and Demean took out two daggers (I think that they are called the Quendi Knives), and began to slash at the monster with anger. I ran to him and repeatedly attacked him with my Chestnut's trick. It was Sora who gave the final blow, with his Keyblade, and with a horrid cry, the creature vanished... Its heart came out of its body and shone for a few moments. And later, it was gone.  
  
We all turned around to face the man in the white Karate - Gi, who had unleashed that final energy wave. I couldn't believe it... Even Ryoga's fully charged Shishi - Hokoudan put together with my Moko - Takabisha paled to this man's attack!  
  
As for Akane, she slowly got up, and walked to my side.  
  
"Thanks, Ranma." She said.  
  
I couldn't answer. I was just too shocked. There was silence for a few moments, and then I only heard her voice saying, along with a sigh:  
  
"Jerk."  
  
"What the hell was that?" asked Cid. "And I thought that we had lost you... I saw nothing of you since the battle began!"  
  
"When I saw all of you attacking his legs..." the man replied. "I knew that that wouldn't work. That's why I focused all of my energy on that single attack, and brought him down." He smiled, crossed his arms, and added: "A fierce blow is all it took. Your attacks were weakening him, but they weren't strong enough to defeat him."  
  
"Well, that was quite a wise thing to do." Said Demean, as he approached the man, and shook his hand. "I take it that you know all of our names. At least I have learned them, for the shouts of our companions have reached my ears. Yet, I do not know yours."  
  
"Nor do the others." Answered the man, with a chuckle. "I don't know what happened... I only appeared inside a strange forest... I'll tell you what I remember when we get out of here. And nice to meet you all; the name is Ryu."  
  
"Well, I guess that we can take you both on our Gummi ship." Goofy said. "After all, without your help, that thing would've crushed us. Thank you, Mr. Demean and Mr. Ryu. Now, if you follow us, we'll explain everything you need to know. But first, we have to get on our ship."  
  
"Oh, great." Grumbled Donald. "More crew to take care of..."  
  
"What a racket..." the doorknob suddenly yawned. We looked at it and it added: "You woke me up... Oh, I see that you are back from your trip. If you want to grow back to your normal size, then you should drink from the bottle with the red tab. You just have to climb to that table. I assume that it shall be no trouble to you..." it stopped, and yawned again. And when it did, Sora did something unexpected... He pointed his sword at the doorknob's mouth, and from its tip, a ray was shot out. It hit a dark keyhole in the being's throat, and then it vanished... and the doorknob went back to sleep, without noticing what had happened.  
  
"What was that?" asked Sora, as he looked at his weapon. "Why did it do that?"  
  
"It sounded like something closed." Added Goofy.  
  
"The keyhole..." Aeris whispered, happily. "We have locked our first keyhole!"  
  
***  
  
And so it was that, by pure luck, we sealed our first keyhole, thus, putting an end to the Heartless of that world. Still, I felt that we were obligated to go back and look for Alice. I could only think that the enemy was doing terrible things to her... And prayed that my feelings weren't true.  
  
We boarded the ship and headed to a new world. It seemed that Cid had installed some kind of navigation device that recorded the places we had been in, and now, we could go back to Wonderland and Traverse Town at any time we felt like it. Donald was marveled with this piece of equipment, and, day by day, I think that he felt that he had taken the right choice by taking us with him and his companions. He began to chat with us more and more, and soon we got to know him really good. He became very fond of Sora, Ukyo, and Aeris...  
  
What else happened during those days...? Oh, right. First of all, we explained Ryu the situation in which all of us were (apparently, Demean knew what was going on already. He told us that this Yiartish fellow had told him that something was terribly wrong, and that he had explained what would happen). He and the elf agreed to help us, specially Demean, for he also wished to find Wilheim, although not as much as Ukyo, naturally... Those two talked and talked for hours about him. Demean told Ucchan what had happened during Wilheim's stance in the Forest of Fingoth, and she told him all about the battle with Magnus... And when there finally wasn't anything more about Wilheim to chat about, they talked about their lives. Ukyo already knew a great deal about the elf, but he knew nothing about her. Well, Ucchan's live turned out to be quite more interesting that I thought, for they spoke for the longest of times...  
  
As for Akane, she got mad at me. I don't know why. I guess it was because of the fact that I never got to say, 'you're welcome' to her when I saved her. I suppose that she took it as if I had been forced to save her, some sort of thing that only got in the way. I tried to explain her that that wasn't how I felt, but she wouldn't listen. Well, I couldn't do anything about it... Unfortunately, this little game of Akane's also maddened me, and we both kept our distance from each other for a long while. When we did talk, we only crossed a few sentences, like 'good morning', or 'excuse me', and then that was it. Aeris and Yuffie tried to get us back together, but I said to them that I wouldn't go near her until she realized her mistake... And I don't care about what she said.  
  
Anyway, I wasn't all bored, or alone. Since Akane was too mad at me (and I at her) to speak, and Ucchan and Demean wouldn't stop talking to each other, I got to know my other companions a bit better... Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a little. The only one that I got to know really well was Ryu. He was a street fighter that liked to travel around the world, in search of the one that was stronger than himself. During his travels, he became all the more powerful, and never stopped wondering what the meaning of the word 'fighter' was. I myself had never thought about it... He was also very, very smart and wise... regarding this specific issue. Because he didn't know much about history, or science, or whatever... I learned that this was because he had studied in a lone dojo for ten years, with no more company than the one of his best friend, Ken.  
  
"You remind me of him, in a way." He said to me. "Like you, he's a hot - headed man with great strength within him. A natural joker, and a sentimental boy, he is. I laugh a lot when he's near. You never know what he might say. And he's also a fierce warrior, that only yearns to prove that he's the strongest fighter around. Whenever we see each other, we fight. But we don't battle with anger: that's the worst thing that could ever happen. And even if you aren't fighting against a friend, you never have to battle with rage, or all is lost. Keep cool and concentrate; that's a great way to win a fight. And always remember that, even if you lose against a terrible opponent, a learned defeat is greater than a hollow victory."  
  
* Wow. * I thought. * This guy knows what he's talking about. *  
  
Of course, Ryu wasn't always as serious, and also had a fun side. Mainly, we could see it when ate. I know that I'm some kind of Tasmanian Devil myself, but this man ate as if he were eating his last meal. I've seen lions that eat less than he does! And that's not the worst: he ate whatever was on his plate. I can tell you this because once, Donald tried to play him a joke by putting a wax apple in his food. I said nothing, because I wanted to see how Ryu would react... I reckoned that he'd probably kick Donald's butt. But instead, the duck and I only saw in awe how Ryu bolted the whole apple and said nothing about it...  
  
"I wouldn't want to be next to him in a desert." Donald whispered to me afterwards. I nodded my head and said nothing.  
  
But aside from all of this, something else happened one night...  
  
I couldn't sleep. Somehow, the sound of the engines had become much more annoying, and kept ringing in my ears. I first tried to cover them with my pillow, but it wouldn't work. I then tried to count sheeps (yes, I was that desperate), but nothing happened. I got up from my bed and was about to exit my room to tell Cid to shut the things off or something, when I heard his voice and Aeris's talking to each other. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but curiosity filled me, and I put my ear on the door, and listened... and then let out a gasp as I noticed that Aeris was crying.  
  
"I don't know what to do, or what to say..." she sobbed. "It's just that... I wasn't prepared for this. His memory is all that keeps me going on. What will happen now that there's no reason to look for him? I... I should've stayed in Traverse Town."  
  
"Don't say that." Said Cid, with a firm voice. "Don't ever say that. Listen, Aeris... You just have to let it go, okay? You have to let him go. Forget about Cloud. There's nothing else to it."  
  
"I can't." She replied. "I just can't. Caith Sith said that we were perfect for each other. Those words keep echoing in my mind. He said that the glow that our stars emitted was the same. They shone with the same beautiful light... I can't let go of him. I'm still in love with him..." she paused, and then muttered: "Why did this happen?"  
  
"It's not your fault. Things happen, Aeris. When you died, none of us thought that we'd ever see you again, obviously. Cloud was devastated, and so were the rest of us. We all found comfort in different things. Cloud found comfort in Tifa's arms, and she did on his. We never thought that, of all people, we'd find you when the Heartless took over the worlds. As far as I'm concerned, Cloud still thinks that you're dead..." he made a pause, and then added: "You have to get over it."  
  
"I can't... I just can't..."  
  
"Cloud and Tifa love each other... And you'll find someone. Who knows, maybe all of this happened for a reason, like most things do. Maybe you'll find someone greater than Cloud, someone who'll love you as much as he did."  
  
"It's a little hard to think that, Cid. How could I know that he would fall in love with her? He said that he would protect me from all harm. We even went out on the most romantic date you could ever imagine when we were staying at the Golden Saucer... And for what? So that in the end he would never think about me again, and..."  
  
"Easy, easy. Don't say more, okay? Just calm down, girl, calm down..." he murmured, and then, I heard how he embraced her, and how she wept all over his shirt.  
  
I really wanted to go there and comfort her. But I obviously couldn't do that, because they would've then known that I had been listening to them. I sighed, and kept silent.  
  
"Hey, take it easy." Cid said. "I bet that there's plenty of guys eager to date a woman like you. You're beautiful, Aeris. And... who knows? Were meeting many guys. It's likely that you'll fall in love with one of them, and viceversa, don't you think so?"  
  
"What are you talking about?" Aeris asked. I noticed that she sounded a little offended.  
  
"Don't take it the wrong way." Cid said. "But I've seen how you look at Link... I mean..."  
  
"Link?" she interrupted. "Link... No, I just... No. He's clearly in love with his princess. Don't you think that he's in love with Zelda?"  
  
"And what about you?"  
  
"I just met him. How can I fall in love with a man that I don't know? It's as ridiculous as saying... as saying..."  
  
She sighed, and said no more for a few moments. And just as Cid was about to say something (regarding Link, I guess), she started to cry once more, and sobbed in a shattered voice:  
  
"I love Cloud... I can't get over him just like that. You're asking me to forget about him. That's the same thing than to ask the moon to forget about the sun. The only glow that she emits is the one that comes from him. She always tries to capture him, but not to avail... Why can't we merge in the magic of an eclipse? Why did... did it have to be with her, and not with me?"  
  
I heard how Cid began to rub her back with gentleness... and that's all that they said. I went back to bed with only one thought in my mind: even the foxes would envy Link's hearing...  
  
***  
  
Not much happened during our time in space. I noticed two very important changes among my companions, however...  
  
The first one came from Aeris. As the days went by, she became more and more quiet, and her face began to lose all the happiness that once dwelt in there. I knew that it had to do with what Cid and her had talked about. I knew I could do nothing about it, but still, I was concerned. I watched how all of my friends reacted to her silence in several ways; Ucchan, Akane, and Yuffie kept asking her if there was something wrong and if she wished to talk about it. Of course, she only drew a false smile on her face, and said that there was nothing for them to worry about. Cid also became a bit more quiet... As for the rest of us, we paid little, or no attention to it. Not even Link... And I couldn't help but to wonder if he had heard the conversation between the pilot and Aeris.  
  
The second change came from Akane. There's not much to say, for what happened was that she finally started to speak to me. As you might have expected, she never accepted that all that had happened had been her fault, and it had nothing to do with me...  
  
Either way, one day, Cid clapped his hands in joy and said in a loud voice to the rest of us:  
  
"There we go, folks! New world coming up! Everybody get ready to disembark!"  
  
***  
  
The new world was very different from both Wonderland and Traverse Town. All that we could see ahead of us, were two gigantic gates with gladiators painted on them, or at least that's what those two men with swords and shields appeared to be. At our left and right, there were two big torches, and the heat of their flames caressed the sides of our bodies, along with the bright sun that shone fiercely in the sky. The floor was nothing but yellow sand, and after a few seconds, we decided that it was time to abandon this tiny desert and to seek some shadows to stay cool. We entered through the gates that were in front of us, and found ourselves in a little room of yellowish stones. And there, right in front of us, was a satire. A little being with the torso of a man (excuse me... make that, a chubby, bearded man), and with the legs of a goat. He seemed to be writing something on a board, and didn't pay even the slightest attention to us. As he turned to his left and right, I noticed that he had a big, round, red nose, and little black eyes. We walked to him, and before we could even say something, he spoke to us.  
  
"Glad that you're here." He said. "Would you move that pedestal over there for me? I've got many things to do, and I can't seem to end with the list of the contestants that are going to enter the games."  
  
"Games?" Sora asked. "What games?"  
  
The satire finally turned to face us, and uttered, with a gasp:  
  
"Oh, wrong guys!"  
  
"What's this about games?" I asked. "Haven't you realized what is going on, with the Heartless and all? Why are you having games? And... what are they about?"  
  
"Ranma!" Akane scolded.  
  
"I ask myself the very same thing, regarding the second question." The satire replied, as he leapt off the stone in which he was standing and walked to us. "I don't know why we're having games. I only know that the boss ordered that it would be so. I'm just a pawn, I have my hands tied, you know?"  
  
"What do you mean?" Goofy asked. "You're still doing it, aren't you?"  
  
"Metaphorically speaking, pal!" the satire exclaimed... Yup, Goofy didn't see any bonds, and we all knew this. "I don't know exactly what is going on... What I understand, is that Zeus is looking for some sort of heroes..."  
  
"Wait a minute..." Ucchan interrupted. "Zeus? Zeus as in Zeus the god, the one that rules over the other gods, like Poseidon, Apollo, and so on?"  
  
"Well!" the creature said. "I see that you already know who they are! Did you live near mount Olympus before all of this happened?"  
  
"This is way too weird." Akane murmured.  
  
"Anyway, I think that he wants to find some sort of hero, or something. That's why he's organizing a tournament at the Coliseum. He'll reward the team that wins the games with something really special." The satire said.  
  
"What's that?" Donald asked.  
  
"How should I know?" the satire complained. "Do I have the face of the royal advisor? Nobody tells me anything! Even Hercules, my best pal and my pupil is keeping all of this a secret from me!"  
  
"Hercules?" Demean asked. "This is definitely too strange. I wonder if, by any chance, we have not entered into a surreal realm of some sort, or if our little minds are playing cruel tricks on us."  
  
"We are not interested in participating in the games." Link said. "We are only here to look for our friends, and to seal the source of evil. It is vital that we do so, for only then will the shadows disappear from this land."  
  
"So I take it that you're heroes." The satire said. "Okay, then. I'll put you in for the tournament! However, I'll split you guys in two teams, so make up your mind about who's going to stay with who, got that?"  
  
"What are you talking about?" Demean intervened. "We just told you that we do not want to be a part of this. It would only be a loss of time, given our objective. Do not you understand that, in order to rid your world from the malevolent forces that are surely attacking it, we cannot be distracted by anything? Or is it too hard for you to understand?"  
  
"You'll start tomorrow." The creature said, without heeding the elf's words. "I hope that you'll tell me what team you'll be on, or I'll just put you wherever I feel, okay?"  
  
"Ah, phooey!" Donald muttered, with anger.  
  
"I have met orcs who have more brains than you, satire!" Demean exclaimed.  
  
"Hey, it's Mr. Phil to you, elf!" the being replied. "You have to participate. You all seem to be worthy enough to take the challenge... Well maybe not all of you..." he whispered, as he eyed Sora, Donald, and Goofy. "But, if you win, you'll get yourselves a great reward. The tournament lasts only two days. You have to fight, heroes are meant to fight!"  
  
"Fight?" Ryu and I murmured. "You never said anything about fighting." He added. "If this tournament consists of winning battles against fierce foes, then count me in."  
  
"Me too." I said.  
  
"What? Ranma!" scolded Akane.  
  
"Ranma! Ryu! What the heck are you guys saying?!" Cid demanded.  
  
"There are many strong men and women that wouldn't let an opportunity like this slip by them." Ryu answered. "Ken is one of them. Maybe we'll find him here. Who knows? Maybe we'll find some of your friends."  
  
"But..." Cid started, but Sora interrupted him by saying:  
  
"Okay. I'm in, too. I can be on your team, guys."  
  
"Count on it." Ryu said.  
  
"Sora!" Ukyo exclaimed, and I noticed anger in her voice. "What do you think...?"  
  
"If the Keyblade master steps into the arena, then we'll be glad to follow him!" Goofy added, with a giggle.  
  
"I'll go too, if that's the case." Donald said. "I want to know what the reward is. Besides, I'm a hero."  
  
"Sure you are..." Phil whispered, and let out a chuckle.  
  
"All right." Said Link. "If that is the case, then so be it. I shall enter the competition as well."  
  
"So will I." Sighed Demean. "I may not be too thrilled about it, but I suppose that there is not much of a choice. I shall win this tournament."  
  
"Great! I'll put the rest of you guys in the board, then!" Phil said. "The tournament starts in one day... Luckily, you were the only ones that we were missing in order to begin. So don't be mad! In four days, at the most, you'll be out of here with a great reward in your hands... Well, that is if you follow my advice and come to train with me."  
  
"Oh, what the hell!" Ucchan exclaimed, and she didn't sound happy... Actually, I could tell that neither her, Akane, Aeris, Cid, or Yuffie wanted to go through this (as for Leon, I think that he didn't care), and were going to throw it into our faces as long as we could endure it. "Okay! Sing us up! But as soon as the tournament ends, reward or no reward, we're out of here!"  
  
"Forget about smooth - riding with you, fools!" Cid added, as he and the other girls left us alone in the little room, with the satire.  
  
"So, how will the teams be, you guys?" Ryu asked, with a nervous smile.  
  
***  
  
We slept in two tents, outside of the little, yellow -stoned room. Cid, Leon, and the girls slept in one tent, and the rest of us slept in the other. I think that the only one of them that wouldn't mind seeing us was Squall, but the rest of them... Well, we could have died, and they wouldn't have cared. At least at that time... So much for the truce between me and Akane.  
  
All of us were sleeping peacefully. Not one of my companions snored, luckily. However, that doesn't mean that I didn't wake up during the night. Some voices disturbed my dreams. One of them was Phil's, and the other one came from a man unknown to me. I crawled out of the tent, and listened to them without being noticed...  
  
As I have guessed, there was Phil, talking and jumping from one side to another. He seemed to be very disturbed about something. I couldn't see the guy who was speaking to him very well, because the night was very dark and the four torches that lightened the place in which we were didn't vanish enough shadows from the ground and the walls. I could, however, tell that the man was clad in a red cloak, and that he had yellow - spiky hair. He was tall, and had a huge sword, almost as big as himself. He wore two leather gloves on his strong hands and brown, battle boots. He had a grave, manly voice...  
  
"What do you mean that you are not going to participate?!" Phil demanded, with a desperate breath.  
  
"I mean that I'm not going to participate." The man answered. "I thought that you were smart enough to catch the meaning of that. What do you want me to do to explain it to you, then? Should I use apples, or should I draw you a picture?"  
  
"Hey, don't try to be a funny guy with me!" the satire replied. "Besides, you can't quit! Not now, when the competition's about to start! It's just not fair!"  
  
"There's a lot of thing's in life that aren't fair." The man said. "You'll just have to get used to them, Phil. It sucks, but you can't do anything about it. Got it? Just keep this in your mind: Everything is cool."  
  
"No! You have to compete! Listen, see those tents over there?" Phil said, and pointed to the direction in which we were. I quickly hid back in the tent, and kept listening without poking my head out again. "There are thirteen guys in there that will kill me if the tournament doesn't start tomorrow! Without you, there is no tomorrow! You have to stay and fight! Don't quit on me now, boy, you can't! You just can't! I'll kill you if you do so!"  
  
"That will be a bit hard to do, considering the fact that those people will assassinate you tomorrow!" the man laughed. He didn't have an evil cackle, but rather a playful one... When he noticed that Phil didn't like the joke, he cleared his throat and said in a serious tone: "Listen, you'll find someone else. I can't compete in this tournament. I'll be back for the next one, okay?"  
  
"What makes you think that there will be a next one?!" the satire exclaimed.  
  
"Because Hercules isn't fighting in this one. That's why I'm not fighting."  
  
"But Hercules isn't indispensable to this tournament!"  
  
"That's right. He'll become indispensable in another one. And when that happens, I'll be back. Trust me, there's nothing to worry about." He concluded, and began to walk away from him. Phil ran after him, but the man wouldn't stop. He exited the place, and moments later, I heard the roaring of the engines of a Gummi ship. Phil let out an enraged yell, and walked back to the yellowish room.  
  
It was then that I decided to go out of the tent and talk to him.  
  
"What was that all about?" I asked.  
  
"Oh!" he gasped, and turned to face me with a nervous smile. "Did that wake you up? Maybe you should have a glass of milk... That helps me to go back to sleep, you know..."  
  
"I heard all of what you were saying." I said.  
  
"Oh, perfect!" he moaned. "Now you and all of your friends will stick your swords through my belly, and you'll roast me as if I were a little pig! Please, don't be too rough! First hit me in the head with something so that I'll sleep through the whole... you know... butchery."  
  
"I'm not mad at you. I just don't understand how you can be so upset when there are such easy solutions."  
  
"You're not mad at me?" Phil asked, softly. But after a second, he sighed, and said: "But your friends will be. Well, I'll remember you when they make me write my will... if they let me write my will, that is."  
  
"Listen, it's very simple." I said. "You don't have to call off anything. Just say that this guy didn't show up, and that his opponent will win because of that."  
  
"I wish it were that easy." He replied. "The thing is that there can't be any no - shows. Zeus said so. He said that all those who chose to participate would have to fight, no matter what. But this guy didn't care about it! Oh, no, because he won't be receiving a lightning bolt on his little, freaking head of his tomorrow! Nor he'll be cooked and eaten by a maddened crowd!"  
  
"OK..." I murmured. "I understand that the teams that participate on the tournament can have up to seven integrands, right? If that's the case, then just split up one of our teams into two. Sure, they'll be mad at you, but not as much as the will be if you tell them that the fights have been cancelled."  
  
"Didn't you understand, kid?" Phil wailed. "He has already signed into the tournament! And so have you! No matter what happens, there will be an empty spot! The only thing that I could do is to sign up some new guy that will fill in for this jerk!"  
  
"A tournament?" a voice that came from behind us said. It had been a very, very grave voice... We turned to it and saw a huge man. He was a little bit taller than Link, and had a strong build. He was even bigger and more muscular than Ryu himself. He wore a great cape, made out of what appeared to be bear skin. I could see that he was equipped with both a katana and a shotgun. He had short, dark hair, and a stern expression on his face. His eyes were dark, and there was something on them that disturbed me... How can I describe it? I'll put it this way: it seemed that he lacked all emotions, and, at the same time, a deep sadness and a great rage tormented him, and shone out of his pupils in a ghastly way... There was silence between us for a few moments, and then, he took a step toward us, and spoke again. "A tournament is being held? This is quite a surprise, to learn that, even when the shadows of malice have taken over the worlds, there are still those who fight amongst themselves. And for what?"  
  
"What? Where did you come from?" Phil asked. "What...?"  
  
"Can you tell me the names of those who will fight?" the man asked. "I want to know if this is worth my precious time, or if I should look in the glow of the moon once more for devils. I want to know if this will satisfy the hunger that keeps me alive... Or if I should seek for the chill of evil in another place."  
  
"No can do, pal." The satire answered. "I'm not allowed to say who'll fight or who won't."  
  
"If that's the case, then how come that other guy knew that Hercules wasn't fighting?" I asked, and I started to get angry. Indeed. How could that guy know?  
  
"I didn't tell him! Do you think I told him?!" Phil grumbled, but was interrupted by the man.  
  
"Hercules? Now I know that I have lived to see every madness that the universe keeps. Who would have guessed that the myths were true?" he said, and let out a somber chuckle... but he didn't smile at all. "Then so be it. I shall fight. Let's just hope that fate grants my wish."  
  
"You will fight?!" Phil exclaimed. "Oh, thank you!! You've saved my skin! Yes, new contestant coming up!" he reached for his board, and a piece of chalk. I had now calmed down, for the tournament wouldn't be called off... I also wanted to thank the guy, but was kind of... scared of him. "The contest starts tomorrow, so be sure to get a good night sleep, okay? But first, tell me your name!"  
  
"Georgius Octavius Chronicus Acvedus." He answered.  
  
"That's kind of a long name..." the satire mumbled.  
  
"Octavius it is, then. I hope that it will be enough. Now, I shall sleep a little. Be sure to wake me up before the tournament begins, satire." He added, and walked away without uttering another word. I watched him in silence as he began to build his tent...  
  
"Great!! Thank you, Octavius!" the satire laughed, and then said: "Cloud Strife, you're out!"  
  
"Cloud?!" I yelled. "Cloud Strife?! Oh, no! That's the guy that Aeris was looking for! Was he the one who left?!"  
  
"Yeah... is that bad?" Phil asked.  
  
"Bad? It's a catastrophe! Damn it!" I walked around for a bit, as I tried to keep my cool. I had blown it. If I had gone out when the guy was talking to Phil, I could've stopped him. Now he had left to God knew where! Even if I woke up the guys at that time, we still wouldn't have found him, for I didn't know how his Gummi ship looked at all... I took a deep breath, and finally whispered: "Listen, you didn't see anything, okay? None of us did. No Cloud Strife signed up for the tournament, and then left. Got it?"  
  
"I can't give away information, even if I wanted to." Phil replied. "Either way, I won't say a word. My lips are sealed."  
  
"Thanks... I guess I should rest a while."  
  
"Right. Go then. Sweet dreams!" he giggled, and hoped into the little, yellow room.  
  
I let out a sigh, and headed back to my own tent. Octavius had already built his tent, and now slept heavily inside of it. I couldn't help but to think of what a formidable adversary he would surely prove to be. I mean, it is true that appearances may trick you, but I was certain that this fellow was as powerful as the strongest one of us... Maybe even more. I shook my head, and went into the tent. Once there, I saw that all of my companions were still in a deep dream, and hadn't woken up during the whole racket... But for a moment, I saw how Link blinked, and then rolled around his back, and covered his body with blankets...  
  
And so, after a few seconds, I stopped pretending that I hadn't noticed anything, lay down, and thought to myself:  
  
* He listened... He listened to the whole thing. Damn. * 


	11. Chapter Ten: A Smile From the Past

Okay, kids... New characters. 

Those that belong to me: Tish and Merryck, along with the places that are the forest of Feanorth (again, yes, based on J. R. R. Tolkien's Silmarillion elf Fëanor), and... I believe that's about it.

Those that don't belong to me... well, you'll see. Enjoy! (That was short, fortunately, wasn't it?)

_Chapter Ten: A Smile From The Past_

I slept for the longest of times. Unaware that the sun rose and fell above my head, I lay in the bottom of the dark cave, unable to wake from my fell dreams. I stirred in my sleep, as I pictured Ukyo's lovely face being devoured by the same black hole that had consumed me. I wanted go to her... But first, I had to get out of that infernal place. Some time passed before I learnt that it had not only imprisoned me, but other beings as well. Beings that I held very dear...

I finally woke up when I heard a loud, angry yell, which came from Aladdin's mouth.

"That stupid, two – faced, son of a jackal!" he wailed, as he waved his fist at the ceiling that impeded the moonlight to pour through. Abu growled, and leapt on his master's shoulders...

"Be calm, Aladdin." I heard another voice, a beautiful, feminine voice say. "We will not find our way out by cursing the devil who locked you in here. We have to search for the exit ourselves, unfortunately. I wish that my light could guide us to the outskirts of the desert, but I do not possess such magic."

"This is horrible!" added yet a third voice. It was the voice of an Englishman... "I cannot believe this! First, my friend Tish and I were swallowed by that cruel, dark hole, and now, we find ourselves in a trap that was not meant for us! Of course, it shouldn't have happened to you, good fellow."

"Yeah, I understand..." Aladdin sighed. "But... whoever that guy was, he got what he wanted. He left me here, silenced by the cave. And he went off with that stupid lamp."

"And what's more, here lies the body of another man..." added the Englishman, as he walked to me. "And a big man he is. I wonder if any life lies within him yet?"

"Yes, I still draw breath." I answered, and tried to get up, but my legs were as heavy as lead. I gasped as the Englishman leapt back, and muttered: "What in God's name...?"

The Englishman was very, very small. If he raised his hands high into the air, he would barely reach my neck (if I were standing up, that is...). He had golden, curly hair and two hairy feet. He wore a green cape and a fancy jacket. His kind face was covered with dirt and ash, and his blue eyes shined with wonder and fear. It was until then that I realized that he was a hobbit. Unlike Aladdin, he did not seem to be a strong fellow, but something had amazed me... He had walked towards me, and I had not heard his footsteps. I am a Child of Cain, and my hearing is as sharp as the one of a cat. Why had not his footsteps reached my ears? Had he used some sort of vain spell to fool me? No, it could not be...

"Oh, my!" he gasped. "You... you're awake!"

"He has awoken?" asked the feminine voice, and suddenly, a bright light flew in front of me. I gazed in awe how the little light was in fact a small, but beautiful fairy. She had long, dark hair and eyes, and a voluptuous body. Her skin was even whiter than mine... Yet she had a lively, gorgeous color, unlike the one that I own, which only reflects death. She had big, round cheeks, and a kind expression in her face, very much like the one of an elf. A magical being she was, a beautiful spell incarnated in the body of a mysterious woman... "Well... hello." She added, and a weak smile spread on her face.

"Hello..." I replied. Aladdin and Abu slowly walked to our side, and knelt down. "Hello, everybody..."

"Are you okay?" Aladdin asked. "It looks as if you took a hard fall... Or not..." he mumbled, as he noticed that I had not even the slightest scratch.

"Yes, I have." I replied, and finally managed to get up. "I... I take it that we are still captured by the walls of the Cave of Wonders..." I looked around me, and asked: "Are not two young boys with you? A tough, but gentle one named Ryoga, and a beautiful girl called Sakura?"

"No, I'm afraid..." the hobbit said. "It seems that they have ended in some other place... Did a great, black abyss devour you?"

"Yes, but this is not where I appeared." I replied. "I came here because I followed Aladdin and Abu, in hopes of finding my beloved and my friends."

"You followed us?" Aladdin asked. "When?"

"I was the wolf that accompanied you." I explained. "You see, I can turn into such an animal because I am a creature bathed with the powers of the shadows. I am a vampire."

"A vampire?" the fairy asked. "If that is the case, then which clan do you come from, _Vampyr_?"

"I see that you know the social aspects of my race, fairy." I said. "Unfortunately, I do not have a clan. I am a Caitiff vampire, a poor soul damned by the evil of Magnus. Yet I have avenged myself... If you wish to hear a name, then it is Wilheim."

"Wilheim!" The fairy exclaimed, and a smile was drawn upon her face. "I know you! You are a legend amongst your kind! Your doings have even reached the outskirts of both the forests of Feanorth and Fingoth!"

"What!" the hobbit interfered. "You mean that this is the same vampire that wondered both elves and children of Cain in the archery contest with his skills!"

"Um, excuse us, but, I think that neither Abu nor I know what in the world you're talking about." Aladdin interrupted. "Would you be kind enough to fill us in on what's happening? Or is it a long story...? Hey!" he suddenly exclaimed, as he noticed that Abu was holding a golden lamp in his arms. I take it that he meant to show it to him earlier, but our chat had distracted him... The monkey turned to Aladdin, and smiled triumphantly, as he held up the lamp. "Why you little thief!" the man giggled, as he patted Abu's head and grabbed the lamp. After a moment, he turned to us, and said: "I'm sorry... But this is what that man was looking for. I wonder what it is...? You were the wolf!" he exclaimed, as he looked at me.

"Yes... that is a gift that us, vampires possess, to morph into other creatures... I could change into a darker, more mysterious one than a wolf if I wished to, but now is not the time to discuss that." I said, and looked at the fairy and the hobbit with a surprised expression. "How is it that you know me? Is it because of the blow of the wind? Has it carried the words of my comrades to your ears? Or have you heard it by some other being? For I know the names of Feanorth and Fingoth quite well..."

"I know." The fairy giggled. "I come from the first forest. My name is Tish. And as a response to your question, I must say that I have a very dear friend, one who is always by my side, and it has been that way for nearly a thousand years..."

"Demean!" I yelled. "You know Demean!"

"Yes! He is my eternal companion!" she replied.

"Then you are the friend that he kept talking about restlessly! It is a fortune (perhaps by an ill one) that of all people, I have the pleasure to meet you!" I then turned to the hobbit, and asked: "And what about you? Are you, by any chance, a heir of the Goldengrass name?"

"Yes, Merryck Goldengrass, mister Wilheim!" he answered, with a puzzled look in his eyes. "How...?"

"Demean has told me much about himself and his friends, save for Tish. He promised me that, the day that we met once again, he would introduce me to her. I doubted that such day would come, but I see that I was wrong... Yet this is not how I imagined it."

"Neither did I." Tish said, as she looked around her. "Listen, I think that we should first think about how we are going to exit this place... We shall talk about the past later."

"Yes... But I also want to find my friends." I added. "They fell with me into the abyss that the sand created under our feet. I fear that they have been consumed by the merciless river of lava that ate every rock and metal that stood in its way. I hope that I am mistaken..."

"Yeah, me too." Aladdin said, as he sat down next to us. I too, took a seat, and he added: "I guess that you're not one of that man's servants, right?"

"I meant to save you and your companion Abu from a fate such as this... I failed, however, and I apologize."

"No need for that. You tried, and that's what's important. But how did you knew that this was going to happen?"

"As I said, we vampires possess many dark abilities. I can read the minds of those who are weaker than me. But do not you worry, for I will not invade yours."

"Oh, OK... thanks, I guess."

"If you knew about this man's plans, why don't you enlighten us?" Merryck suggested. "Tish and I only appeared here some moments ago, and have only a vague idea of what's going on, for she explained it to me before we woke the lad and the monkey up."

"Do you know about the Heartless, Wilheim?" Tish asked.

"I know the name, but I do not know what they do or who they are. Yet, right now, that is unimportant." I said. "As soon as we escape from this somber place, I will hear everything that you have to say..." I then looked at Aladdin, and explained: "All I know is that the item that you now hold in your hands has some great power within it. Like a black widow that waits for its mate to come along with a present to then devour him, Jaffar, the dark man, sent you to bring this lamp to him. Yet his plan failed, for you are still alive, and you hold that trinket."

"A powerful thing?" he murmured, as he gazed at it with wonder. "I wonder what it does?"

"There must be a way to unlock the power that lies within it..." Tish inquired.

"I guess you're right..." Aladdin said. At that instant, Abu let out a squeal, and pointed at one side of the lamp. "What is it Abu?" asked the man, as he turned the item. "Oh, there's something written here... It's covered with dust. I can't quite make it out..." he muttered, and began to rub the lamp with his clothes...

And as he did, it began to shake. Gently at first, but then it began to rock from one side to another in a violent fashion. Aladdin froze, as did we all, and looked at it with confusion in our eyes. Suddenly, a potent explosion came out from the lamp, and the man struggled to hold the trinket in his hands, as a cloud of blue smoke came out of it. Abu hid behind Aladdin's back, while the rest of us covered our ears from the noise that the lamp made, and staggered back in alarm.

What devilry is this? I wondered as the colorful fumes began to grow into a pillar of smoke. We then heard a low voice that grew into a mighty yell, and this was followed by the shape of a gigantic blue being... He had big arms and hands, and a broad chest. Still, he did not look at all menacing, for he lacked enormous muscles and had a... rather hilarious face. He had big eyes and a little black beard. His lower body was fume; he possessed no legs. I could not believe what was happening... How can such a huge creature stay put in such a tiny thing? How could that be possible...? Yet I thought again, and I understood that such thing could happen. Why not? After all, he was surely a great, powerful, and magical being. And, undoubtedly, his power now belonged to Aladdin, who still held the lamp in his hands.

"Whoa!" he yelled. "Ten thousand years...! Isn't it amazing how much torture one poor man can take! My neck is numb! Hang on a second..." he added, grabbed Aladdin by his clothes and hung him on one of the rocks on the walls! And after that, he grasped his head, took it off, turned it around once, and then put it back on top of his shoulders again! "Oh, boy, does it feel good to be out of there!" he exclaimed, with a giggle, and put Aladdin back on the ground. This one looked at him with both fear and wonder, and let out a little gasp out his mouth. "Well!" he said, as he eyed all of us. "What a pleasant surprise! I didn't expect to have a welcoming committee! Thank you, all of you! What a fantastic present!"

"Uh... What the...?" Aladdin muttered, but the creature interrupted him.

"Hi, sir, hi!" he said. "It looks that you are the grand winner of this millennial contest! Yes, lucky one, hi! Come on, what's your name?" he asked, and put on a big smile on his face.

"Uh... um, Aladdin." He replied, after staying silent for a second. "What...? Who...? How?" he stammered.

"When? Where? How many or how much?" the creature laughed. "Not to worry! I shall now tell you what is going on, before you fry that little brain of yours... I am the Genie of the lamp, and you have summoned me! 'And what does that mean, sir?', you may wonder... Well, it means that Ali here has earned the right to ask three wishes! Yes! Take a bow, mister!" and as soon as he finished saying those words, a crowd of... Genies appeared, and began to clap and cheer at Aladdin. Of course, this could only be the Genie's doing. I was truly amazed... and amused. I had not ever seen a being that made use of his abilities only to toy with them, without harming anybody. He could best be described as a magician that plays the role of a buffoon in front of a bewildered court...

"Okay... So let me see if I got all of this." Aladdin said. "You're a Genie... And you're going to grant me three wishes... Correct?"

"Absolutely right!" the Genie exclaimed. "Well, you're a lot smarter than I thought!"

"A Genie...?" Merryck murmured. "An all powerful being that can grant anything that he's asked? Why hasn't anyone ever mentioned this before? This could be the greatest of legends. I cannot believe that all of this is shrouded in secrecy."

"It must be because of the fact that this is a different land from our own, Merryck." Tish whispered, without taking her eyes off the blue being. "If that were not the case, this mythic lamp would surely be something that everyone would speak of."

"Oh... right." The hobbit said.

"Is that right?" I asked, as I approached both the Genie and Aladdin. "Is it true that you can grant any three wishes that your master asks you to fulfill?" I added, as a little light of hope began to shine in my heart.

"Oh, well... almost." The great, blue being confessed. "You see, there are a few... um, provisos... um, limitations."

"Limitations?" Aladdin and I asked at the same time, as Abu took a step toward the Genie.

He was about to answer when his eyes suddenly turned to our right, and, with a chuckle, he exclaimed:

"Yo, Rug – mate! This is quite a pleasant surprise, man! How are you doing?"

We turned around and saw a flying purple carpet, with beautiful and magical drawings painted on its surface; most of them described the face of the gigantic tiger, which we had encountered earlier. Even though this unearthly thing was truly a sight to behold, I was no longer impressed by it. So many strange things had happened in so little time that not even the spells of this world captured my sight anymore. Besides, I had other things in mind, for I wished to know if the Genie could grant me two wishes... Of course, I would have to borrow the lamp from its owner for a moment. But Aladdin was a good – hearted lad, and I was sure that he would gladly lend it to me so that I could end with my anguish and my bitter suffering. I began to get excited, for I saw the Genie as a merciful Angel, ready to work its miracles on my soul...

The carpet circled the Genie and then Aladdin and Abu. This one giggled for a moment, and said:

"I thought we had lost you back there!" he then turned to us, stopped smiling, and said in a low voice: "This carpet... helped us escape... the river of lava... Hold on a second guys." He turned to the Genie, and asked: "What do you mean limitations?" He clearly wanted to know what the being was talking about... And so did I.

"Oh, it's just three things." The Genie said. He then grew as small as us, and floated next to us. He then explained: "Rule number one: I can't kill anybody." He passed his hand by his neck and took off his own head. Of course, he did not die, for this being was hilarious enough to toy with death and to amuse us with his games... "So don't ask. Rule number two: I can't make anybody fall in love with anybody else." He said, and winked in a playful fashion, as if he were flirting with us... "And rule number three: I can't bring people back from the dead. It's not a pretty picture. I don't like doing it!"

"Is that it?" Aladdin asked. Like the rest of us, he was amazed by the tremendous power of the Genie. If those were his only limitations, then he was indeed a monstrous creature full of both knowledge and magic...

"It is quite a fortune that we have found you, chap!" Merryck giggled. "We have to fear no more. Can you please get us out of here?"

"Hold your wish Merryck, for he cannot grant you one. Remember that you are not his master." Tish interrupted. "And besides, it seems that Wilheim's friends are still lost in this treacherous cave. We cannot abandon them to the cruel shadows that lurk in the rocks..."

"Indeed... Yet, I have two questions." I said to the Genie, and approached him. "...Hypothetically speaking... say that I would ask you to turn me into a human again. Could you do that?"

"Hypothetically... what are you, if not a human?" he asked, as he eyed Aladdin with a questioning look in his eyes. Evidently, he was asking him for permission to speak to me... The man nodded his head, and answered:

"He's a vampire."

"Oh, then... hypothetically, that makes you an undead being. Which means that you're a little dead. All in all, hypothetically speaking, no, I'm afraid that I can't turn you into a human." The Genie said.

"Oh..." I muttered, and felt how a sigh of disappointment escaped my lips. "Well, then, perhaps another wish? Could you take me to the side of my beloved?"

"Does she live?"

"I believe that she does..." I paused for a moment, and then said: "Yes. She does live. I do not know where she is, but I know that the breath of life still has not abandoned her body."

"That I can do!" the Genie giggled, and I let out a chuckle of happiness out my mouth. "Yet, if you want me to do that, then Al must make the wish for you, or he could hand you the lamp... But come on, no one would ever be as stupid as..."

"Here you go, Wilheim." Aladdin said, and gave me the trinket. "Just be sure to get us out of here, okay?"

"My mistake." The Genie said in a low, playful voice.

"Thank you... thank you so much, Aladdin..." I muttered, and quickly embraced him. He tried to return the hug, but my strong arms were all but gentle, and were actually choking him... He tapped my back, and so I released him. I then turned to Tish and Merryck, and said: "Is there anything that I could do for you? Perhaps all of you would like to come with me?"

"If that's possible, then yes, by all means!" Merryck exclaimed.

"Yes, please!" Tish pleaded. "Get us out of this infernal prison!"

"Of course... I shall not forget about Ryoga or Sakura, for that matter." I whispered, to myself, and, with trembling hands and a shaky voice, said: "I wish for you, O kind Genie, to take me and my good friends to the side of my beloved Ukyo."

"Right away, kid! Hold on to your pants!" he said, and began to move his hands up and down, as he conjured the spell... A few moments passed, and nothing happened. The Genie actually looked a bit disturbed by this... He tried harder, but not to avail. Finally, he sat down, and murmured: "What's going on? It's strange... I have seen this girl's face, and I now where she is... But I can't take us to her. It's seems that there is a barrier of evil that prevents me from doing so..."

"No..." I murmured, and fell to my knees. All the hope that I had vanished, and I gave the lamp back to Aladdin, who took it with a saddened sigh. "I cannot believe this. Is it fate that we shall not meet again? Then life is truly a merciless torture that only wishes for my ashes to wander through the lands in agony and pain! What shall I do, now that all is lost?"

"No, Wilheim, nothing is lost..." Tish said, and flew next to me. "Do not lose hope. Hold on to it..." She then turned to the Genie, and asked: "Can you at least take us out of this cave?"

"Yes, that I can do for sure." The Genie said. "Take it easy, boy..." he whispered to me, and a... tissue appeared on his hand. I took it, and raised my head. Aladdin, Abu, and Merryck leapt back in fear as they saw how the bloody tears that I cried ran down my cheek.

"Do not be afraid." Tish said. "It is fine. He is not hurt... At least not his eyes. All that we can do is comfort you, Wilheim, so that you can regain hope, and so that the wound on your heart will heal."

"How... nice of you." I mumbled, and let out a bitter laugh... But then kept quiet as I heard other voices coming from the depths of the rocky cavern. They were coming to us...

"Potions." Said a feminine one. "I couldn't have survived without them. Two weeks without food would've killed me, right? Luckily, there was a little lake not far from here, with clear, crystal water... But as for food, I used all of my potions to keep myself alive. You see, when the black hole was about to swallow me, I only thought about grabbing all the potions that I could see. It may have seemed to be a stupid thing at that time, but that stupidity was what saved me. And that's why I'm here... But right now I don't have any potions to keep me upright... Or you guys."

"That's okay. Don't worry about it, Tifa. We'll think of some way to get out of here." Another voice said. It had been Sakura's... And her voice was a gift from God, for if I had not heard it, I would have crumbled like a castle of sand that is crushed by a wave.

"Who are they?" asked Aladdin, as Abu ran behind his back in alarm.

"My... my friends... Sakura!" I yelled.

"What? Wilheim!" I heard her answer, and her scream was followed by Ryoga's.

"Are you there!"

"Of course I am, I would not be talking to you if I were not!" I replied, and let out a giggle of joy. Even though I was still a child of Cain and Ukyo was still lost in the vast space, to hear their breaths was all that had taken to cheer me again.

Their yells were followed by their own footsteps, which came to us...

"Talk about your lucky days!" the Genie chuckled in relief, as he and the others saw how I got up, and was ready to meet them.

"A light always shines, Wilheim." Tish added. "...I do not wish to see the vampire that Demean left alone in the ruins of Rugliath."

"And I do not wish to be that vampire." I said. "Ryoga, Sakura! Come here!"

They appeared from behind a rocky wall. We ran to each other, and hugged each other.

"I thought we had lost you!" Sakura exclaimed.

"I thought so too!" I added.

And then, two women came from the shadows... I did not know anything about the one with the beautiful red eyes, who ran toward the magic carpet and, with a smile, held it in her arms, but the other one... I knew her smiling face. I knew her erotic, captivating body. And when she saw me, she let out a moan of happiness, and I nearly fell to the ground. I was too surprised to believe my eyes, and the shock had weakened my legs. I could not help but to smile and giggle with joy.

"Oh, sweet God..." I murmured. "Camille... Oh, Camille it really is you..."

"Wilheim... I cannot believe that you are here." She said with a trembling voice, and approached to me. "After I was devoured by that... dark enemy, I thought that I would never see you again... Oh, Wilheim!"

She ran to me, and held me in her arms. I embraced her, and we both wiped our merry tears on our clothes. My beautiful succubus, my most beautiful companion was now holding me in her arms, shielding me from both pain and misery, as she once did. I breathed her scent, and let out a giggle. I felt her soft skin, and wept even more. I could not believe my luck. Perhaps fate would not be so cruel with me after all. Perhaps I would find Ukyo again, and I would turn back into a human once more. But at that moment, all I could think about was Camille. She had been the one who had silenced my most bitter cries, and now she was there again, saving me as she once did in the past.

"My sweet Wilheim, how I have longed to meet you once again..." she whispered in my ear, and I shivered from happiness.

"Oh, Camille... You are here... Thank God that you are here..." I answered. "You, of all my friends, are the one who can turn off the fire of bitterness in my heart..." I concluded, and gently kissed her neck.

With great tenderness, she caressed my cheek and then kissed it. We then kept silent and held each other for a little longer. It had been almost fourteen years since we had last been together. Others of my kin would say that a decade is no more than a sigh of time... but to me, it had been an eternity.

At long last, our hug ended.

"You are as beautiful as I remember, little Wilheim." She whispered, and I noticed lust in her words... But at that time, I decided not to tell her anything. I was too happy, and went with her breath's flow.

"So are you." I replied, with a smile. I turned to see my other friends, and said: "This is Camille, my dear friend; the succubus who gave me shelter and love for the merriest of times... Camille, these are my good friends, Ryoga, and Sakura, and the others I just met."

"Yeah, we already know each other." Giggled Sakura.

Aladdin, Tish, Merryck, and the Genie introduced themselves to Camille. She seemed to be very happy to say 'hello' to all of them, strangely, and specially to Merryck. As he shook her hand, I noticed that some kind of sleeping tenderness awoke deep inside of her, for he was only a little boy to her... For my part, I met a new companion, Tifa, a beautiful woman whose cascading hair reminded me of my beloved...

"All right, everybody know each other now?" The Genie said. "Well, then I guess it's time that we exit this place, eh? Who's willing to sacrifice one of their precious wishes? Who's stupid... I mean, noble enough?" he added, with a chuckle.

"Wishes?" Sakura asked.

"I'll explain later..." Aladdin said. I could tell that he was about to make the wish. But instead, he gazed at me with wonder as I took the lamp from his hands, and said:

"I wish for you to free us from this prison of rocks, and take us to our friends' side. I wish for you to take us to Felicia, Morrigan, and Vincent." I said.

"You got it!" the Genie exclaimed, and a blinding flash came out of his fingers... I felt as if I were falling while the rocks around, below, and above me turned white, and then vanished from my sight...

It was nighttime, thankfully. Agrabah materialized itself in front of our puzzled eyes, and we were back on the city once again, standing in a dark, empty alley...

"Whoa!" Ryoga exclaimed. "That was... quite a trip, eh?"

"Yes, it was..." I agreed. I could still feel a magic wind stroking my skin with its fury. "Where are we? Where are our friends?"

"They should be somewhere close..." the Genie said. "Well, that's one wish down for you! What else do you want to wish for, eh?"

"Another wish? Well, the only one that I can think of is to go to Ukyo's side, but since that is not possible..." I muttered. I felt how all eyes rested upon me, and sighed. My friends then smiled and looked around them. They were happy indeed, for we were no longer trapped by the Cave of Wonders... After letting out a giggle, Aladdin asked the Genie:

"Well, what would you wish for, Genie?"

"Me?" he blurted, with a puzzled glance, and as the magic carpet flew about him, and allowed him to seat down on its back. "No one has ever asked me that before..." He thought for a few moments, and then said, with a smile: "Well, I... No." He muttered, and his smile faded. "No, it wouldn't work with you."

"What do you mean?" Camille asked, with confusion in her eyes. "Do you think that desires are not shared by people? Go on, Genie... speak."

"I think that I know what it is that he would wish for." Tish interrupted. "And... I do not think that it is prudent to ask the..."

"Say no more, I understand." The succubus intervened, and put her hand on the fairy's mouth, which bothered this last one a bit.

"What is it, then?" Merryck asked.

"Freedom." The Genie replied.

"Do you mean you're a prisoner?" Aladdin asked.

"Yeah, it's all part of the whole Genie – game." He explained. "You get to have phenomenal cosmic powers... but an itty – bitty living space."

"That sucks!" Ryoga exclaimed.

"Tell me something I don't know." The Genie said, and his voice revealed sadness.

"Well, I have an idea." Aladdin said. "Why don't we do this? You grant us our wishes, and I promise that I'll use my third and last wish to set you free! How about that?"

"You'd really do that?" the Genie asked, as a huge smirk spread on his face.

"Yeah."

"Al, you've got a deal!" he exclaimed, and hugged the man.

"Well, I don't think that we will have much to wish for..." Tifa murmured. We all turned to her, and she added: "Well, what would we wish for? Power? Richness? I don't think so. I think that most of us want one out of two things: to see our friends again or to get back home, and it seems that that isn't possible, is it?" the magic carpet flew next to her and allowed her to sit down on its back, for the Genie was floating once again. "I think that Aladdin should keep the lamp and wish for whatever he wants to wish for, no? And when he's done, he gets to free the Genie."

"That's not a bad idea..." Ryoga murmured. Without really wanting to, I read his mind... He actually wanted to make a wish: to make Akane fall in love with him. But aside from the fact that the Genie was incapable to fulfill that desire, he kept repeating to himself that, if he would win Akane's love, then it would have to be a genuine wish, and not because of a blinding spell. I smiled, and respected his thoughts.

But suddenly, we heard a yell that came from the streets next to us...

"Help!" said a feminine voice.

Aladdin's eyes were filled by fear, and he yelled:

"Oh, no! Jasmine!"

"Is that the princess' name?" Sakura asked Ryoga and me.

"Yes, I believe so..." I said. "She must be in trouble, and I can bet that it is all Jaffar's doing... Let us lose no time! Let us go to her aid! Now!"

And so, we ran to the other street, and watched in dismay how a horde of shadows mercilessly attacked a beautiful woman. She was clad in blue, exotic clothes, and her skin was dark and mesmerizing. Her body was voluptuous and beautiful, and her black eyes revealed an immense fear, and reflected the army of shadows and thieves with turbans that were upon her... Her black hair waved from one side to another as she frantically tried to flee her enemies, but the treacherous walls around her imprisoned her...

"Jasmine!" Aladdin screamed, and quickly took a Saracen sword that lay on the ground.

"Oh, Aladdin!" she yelled back. "Help me, please!"

"Come on, guys, let's help her!" Ryoga exclaimed, and unleashed his most potent attack, which destroyed about three of those dark creatures, and drew their attention to us.

As I gazed at their bodies, I realized that they had an evil crest carved in their skin. It was the same emblem that I had seen on the gargoyles that had attacked us in Halloween Town. As if it had been annihilated by a devilish thunderbolt, the shattered heart seemed to beat with each breath that the monsters drew. Even though they were not at all menacing, and even though their swords were no match for the thirst of Renamark, I grew afraid. What could be happening? Were all the worlds bound to fall to these dark beings? Would they keep on spreading chaos and blood until every fortress of every planet had a flag with their dark crest waving with the fell wind? For a moment, these thoughts petrified my arms, and I took a step back. Yet my hands came back to life as I saw how my dear friend, Camille, flew at the monsters and began to attack them, along with the rest of my companions...

It was then that I remembered the somber strength that slept in the body of my succubus. Once, she had asked me to fight her... And I could not even score the slightest blow, for she was as quick as a murmur and as terrible as the dawn. She had... humiliated me, toyed with me like a cat plays with a mouse before it kills it. But she had not destroyed me, for she loved me. And I saw how, once again, she used the same techniques that had obliterated me to defeat these opponents... A thousand needles came from her back and went through many of the creatures, killing them instantly. She extended her hand, and from it, came a burst of fire that burned her adversaries to a crisp... She indeed was a powerful creature.

Meanwhile, an enraged Aladdin used his sword to cut the demons' heads. He knew how to handle the sword quite well. The Genie, Abu, and the magic carpet hid behind one of the counters. I knew that the Genie could fight if he wanted to, but he lacked Aladdin's order to do so. Sakura and Ryoga fought in the same way that they had fought during Halloween Town's racket. The little hobbit and the fairy quickly ran by my side and hid behind a wall. Tifa fought with her fists. Despite having the appearance of a damsel, her blows packed immense power. Each of her hits was strong enough to destroy a boulder. They were like meteors that fall from the sky and make Earth shake under their might...

I let out a sigh, and shook my head, as if I were trying to rid myself from a nightmare. Then, I unsheathed Renamark and leapt into the battle. The demons were much weaker than the ones we had encountered in Halloween Town, but they were much more. And what was worse, they seemed to be materializing out of thin air, and emerging from the ground. The endless army did not cease to attack us, yet we would not give up.

"Wilheim! Ryoga! Sakura!" yelled a voice. It had been Felicia's...

We turned around, and smiled triumphantly as the powerful _Bastet_, the succubus, and the dark man ran to our aid...

"Where were you!" asked Vincent, while he shot down two monsters with his mighty gun.

"We shall explain it to you later, if you do not mind!" I replied, and cut the head of an enormous monster, that seemed to be a bandit clad in red clothes. His mouth breathed fire once, and then fell to the ground. He disappeared, and the monster was dead.

We were so busy fighting against the army of darkness that none of my companions noticed how a little shadow ran to Aladdin and got a hold of his lamp. The Genie certainly did not like this, but he had to remain loyal to the owner of the trinket... I tried to chase it, but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

"Damn it!" I cursed.

"No, let go!" yelled princess Jasmine with a weak voice, and we noticed that she was being carried away by a figure engulfed by the night's shadows.

"JASMINE!" Aladdin wailed, but the creatures would not let him go after her.

I, however, transformed myself into mist and escaped from my enemies in order to chase this new foe. I ran after him as he tried to flee through dark, narrow alleys and empty streets.

"Stop, fiend!" I cried, and ran faster. I made use of my dark powers and became as swift as a gale of an undying wind... We entered in a somber alley, and so I ran past him and stopped in from of him. "Stop now!" I commanded, but then kept quiet as I noticed that this enemy was a young boy with silvery hair and a blue gaze...

He frowned, and, with anger in his eyes, replied:

"You! Jaffar told me about you! He told me that you're that witch's boyfriend! Stay away from Sora! And don't even think about going near Kairi, or I'll kill you!" he unsheathed a dark sword, and pointed at me with its steel.

I was furious. How dared he to call my dear Ukyo a witch? I was about to let out an enraged yell and to behead him, but I realized that this boy was being manipulated by that scoundrel, Jaffar. I took a deep breath, and tried to calm down. I decided not to put Renamark away, yet I did not let him look at it... Jasmine was unconscious in the boy's arms. It looked to me that he had given her some sort of poison.

"Put the princess down." I said. "And be quick about it, Riku."

"What? How do you know my name?" he asked me, with a surprised glance.

"A simple matter." I replied, and started to walk around him. I wanted to know if he had a hidden weapon, but he never stopped facing me. "I know that you are the boy that Jaffar and Maleficent have been deceiving."

"What?"

"Like the flower that makes her sweet fragrance reach the smallest and most defenseless of insects, you were drawn to them by their tempting voice. But what you do not know is that these evil beings hide behind a mask of false gentleness... You have been tricked, Riku. They have lied to you."

"What...?" he murmured, and fell silent.

Meanwhile, I glanced at the street in which my friends were fighting. I could only hear their yells, and the gunshots that came from Vincent's weapon, and I could only see flashes that lit the sky for an instant, and then they faded... But suddenly, another glow caught my eyes. It was the glow of the sun, which was struggling to defeat the vastness of the night. It was slowly crawling out of its hideout... I did not have much time.

"No!" Riku said, at last. "I don't believe you! They told me that they would take me to Kairi as soon as I got them the princess! I know that they're not trying to fool me, because they asked nothing in return!"

"Have they not!" I yelled. I could not believe that this boy could be so blind. "And what about that woman that you carry on your arms? You just said that, as soon as you take her to them, they would show you to your friend. Is that not something that they asked you to do!"

"Yes, but anyway, they'll take me to her! They only want me to be happy!"

"Do not be so foolish, boy! Do not fall for such a trap! Their words are only vague promises that will end in treachery!"

He gulped, and took a few steps back. Then, he murmured:

"That girl, Ukyo, is a witch... And you're a vampire... A vampire. How could I ever believe the words of a being who is in love with an evil sorceress and that drinks peoples' blood to live! How could I do that, huh!" he exclaimed.

"Do not you ever call my dear Ukyo a witch, mortal! Do not you ever do that again! Or I shall..." I started to wail, but then paused. I could not remain calm anymore, but I had to realize that this was not Riku's fault, for his mind had been poisoned by Maleficent and Jaffar's venomous words... "Very well." I said. "You say that you cannot believe my words because I am a creature that lives in the night only... If that is the case, then how can you believe two beings who control an army of shadows that wear a shattered heart as an emblem? How can you believe those who ask you to steal that which does not belong to you to take it to them? How can you believe the words of Jaffar, an imbecile who tried to murder me and my friends and an innocent man? And how can you believe that my dear Ukyo, the most beautiful of Angels, is a witch who is stealing your friend from you? If you do not believe my words, then at least listen to your heart, for I am certain that it still beats pureness."

Riku gulped yet again, and took a step back... And suddenly, a black abyss appeared under his feet, and swallowed him.

"No!" I cried, as his body and Jasmine's disappeared under the sand.

The boy had gone, but something gave me hope... I had seen doubt in his eyes.

The rays of the sun began to caress the land, and my time was over. I quickly broke into an abandoned house, and hid under the veil of shadows...

"Wilheim!" I heard Felicia yell. I suspected that the battle had ended and that my friends were now looking for me.

"I am here!" I replied in a loud voice.

Moments later, my old friends and my new companions came into the empty house, and the cat – woman leapt at me, and threw her arms around me.

"Wilheim, I was so worried about you!" she exclaimed.

"I appreciate that." I said, with a weak chuckle.

"Thank God that you are save." Added Camille, and embraced me. As I returned the hug, I noticed how Morrigan looked at my succubus with... jealousy. Indeed, that is something that I would not expect from any woman. Especially from Morrigan, who is much older than I am, and only finds me interesting because of the magical moment that we go through when I drink from her...

"Yeah, it's good to see you alright, Wilheim." Added Aladdin, and knelt by my side. I tried to say something to him, but as soon as Camille let go of me, Morrigan quickly hugged me, and my words were caught in my throat.

"Things wouldn't be the same without you..." she whispered.

I giggled, and turned to Camille, expecting to see the same look of jealousy in her eyes. But instead, she gave rather a lustful glance and secretly licked her lips... What can I say? In a way, it was good to have her by my side again.

"It was a fortune that you guys escaped from that cave..." Vincent added. "And it was even more fortunate that you found my dear friend in there."

"Yeah... I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: it's so good to see you again, Vincent." Tifa said to the dark man, as he smiled at her gently and held her hand with tenderness.

"I did not know." I said. "Well, then it certainly is quite a fortune... Where is the Genie, the magic carpet, Tish, and Merryck? Are they save?" I asked. I was not worried about the little monkey, for I could see that he was standing beside his master.

"We are here, we are safe." Said Tish, and flew in front of me. Merryck appeared behind her, and so did the carpet. "Do not worry, Wilheim."

"Camille saved us from a lumbering army of behemoths!" Merryck exclaimed. "There were plenty of them! But she disposed of them in just a few moments!"

"You exaggerate, my good hobbit." Camille giggled, and patted the hobbit's head. He blushed and said no more. "But Tish really amazed me. She has incredible powers..."

"Yeah, she suddenly glowed so intensely that all of our enemies were blinded by her!" Ryoga said. "We couldn't have won without her help."

"Thank you." Tish said, and turned to Camille with a proud, challenging glance. The succubus smiled, and gently shook her head.

"But we don't know where the Genie is." Aladdin said. "He suddenly vanished... As did my lamp."

"A little shadow stole it from you." I explained. "I was unable to catch it..."

"And what about the girl?" asked Sakura. "What happened to Jasmine? After the fight ended, she was no longer there. I only saw how something took her away, but that's it. I thought that you had brought her back, Wilheim, since it was you who began to chase down that thing."

"I could not get her back... I am sorry." I said. I let out a sigh, and then added: "It was Riku, the boy who you mentioned, who kidnapped her."

"What!" exclaimed Felicia, and Ryoga at the same time.

"Yes, it appears that Jaffar is much more dangerous and treacherous than we thought." I added. "He has poisoned his mind to the degree that he is now his servant. Words that are carefully chosen can prove to be the most dangerous of spells... Yet right now, I am more concerned about the Genie, for I believe that the little shadow was no more than a pawn of Jaffar. If he gets his hands on the lamp, I fear the worst... But I can do nothing about it right now, for the light of the day prevents me from escaping this place of shadows..." I stopped talking for a moment, and then turned to Tish, and asked: "What about the Heartless? I believe that both Maleficent and Jaffar are behind them, and that they control them. I am certain that the shattered heart stands for them, and I am eager to know what their plans are."

"I do not know much about their plans." She replied, and felt how all eyes rested on her. "But I shall tell you what I know; I will speak the words of the wise Yiartish, the oldest and most powerful of all tree – men. And later, I think it would be prudent to tell our friends what powers does our missing lamp hold."

"I agree." I said. "But right now, speak quickly, for we cannot lose time. At least you cannot, for I will have to wait for the night here..."


	12. Chapter Eleven: The Biggest Fight

Hello yet again, folks. 

I have decided something... Since no one is stopping my madness, and since I have liked them since I was nine years old... Some of the characters that will appear in this episode and in the ones that follow don't belong to me. They are property of Masami Kurumada. And, for the record, since I've only seen them dubbed in Spanish, I have no idea what the real names of their techniques are, so... bear with me.

Okay, after this brief announcement... on to the story.

_Chapter Eleven: The Biggest Fight_

I still couldn't believe that those jerks had been bold enough to sign up for the tournament. Who could be that stupid? We were supposed to be looking for our friends. But now, we would have to battle terrible adversaries in order to win what would probably be some useless artifact. Anyway, my friends and I weren't that mad anymore, for they had let us select the teams. And it was a good thing that they did so, for if they hadn't, they would have sealed their doom...

In the end, the teams ended up like this: Akane, Aeris, Sora, Yuffie, Demean, Ryu, and I were one, and the other was formed by Ranma, Link, Donald, Goofy, Leon, and Cid. Of course, we were the ones that had decided to keep both Demean and Ryu, for they were the most powerful fighters... specially Ryu. He had impressed me the day in which we had fought against that giant Heartless; like a patient tiger, he had waited for the precise moment to attack, and had defeated our enemy with one powerful blow. A thinking warrior, he was, and a fierce companion. Even then, we still were very mad at him, since it was him who first signed up for the battle. As for the elf, I couldn't be very angry at him, since he was my Wilheim – honey's best friend, and was deadly accurate with his bow and arrows. Either way, I was certain that we would win the tournament without much trouble.

Ranma seemed to be a little bit flustered about something, but I couldn't get any information out of him. I tried to speak to him, but he only smiled at me, and then walked away. What had he done that was so terrible? I wondered... He couldn't feel bad about the tournament. I know Ran – Chan. He was eager to fight, and didn't care that all of the girls and Cid were mad at him. I believed that it was something else, and the only one who didn't look at him with confusion in his eyes, was Link. That being has magical ears, and I could had bet that his eyes also had mystical powers. Be that as it may, I decided not to think about it anymore, and to study the moves of the fighters that were battling on the coliseum's arena.

The huge, flat platform; the ring, was surrounded by four gigantic walls of stone. In each of its corners, it had high pillars that seemed to reach the blue sky with the flames that burnt at their very tops. All the contestants were gathered around the ring, eager to enter in it, and to claim victory over their opponents...

Our two teams were sitting together during the preliminaries, and discussed about how would be the best way to defeat the fighters that were battling in the ring. Surprisingly, most of them were heartless, but they all lacked the dark crest that they carried into battle. I supposed that they were renegades that only cared about fighting. Barbarians that only wish to shed blood, and to claim victory over helpless beings. Of course, most of them were weaklings and quickly fell to the might of more powerful heartless, or other beings, not to mention that the biggest teams were only composed of seven heartless, which, compared to the army that we had fought in Traverse Town, were a joke...

While we sat and watched, Ryu and Demean continually discussed about the fighters' weak points, and what would be the best way to attack them.

"They seem to be slow – moving creatures, these tiny heartless." The elf said to the man. "I reckon that a swift arrow from a decent distance is bound to finish them in a second."

"I agree, but I don't have any weapons with me." Ryu replied. "As for me, I would surely use a Hadoken to finish them. However, the knights seem to be more aggressive, and tend to run after you at an incredible speed as you try to fly from them."

"Yes, for those foes, it is best to unsheathe the Quendi Knifes. Or, in your case, to smote them with you powerful arms..." he let out a sigh, and then added: "It is a good thing that we cannot perish in such a contest. It is likely that we are but losing our time here by watching these spectacles and waiting for our turn to fight, but at least we are not risking our lives."

He was right, for it seemed that Phil, the satire, had some sort of magic potions in his repertoire just in case some one passed away... If a fighter took a hard fall, he would throw in the towel, and then he would give him or her a potion to cure him or her...

When the time to fight came, I didn't hold back. I swung my spatula from one side to another, and defeated all the heartless that tried to come to attack me. Akane's fists turned into lethal weapons, while Aeris's spells finished whatever opponent tried to hit her. She also used her staff as a bo to take down foes from close range... Yuffie was as quick as ever. In a few moments, a thousand of her shurikens flew through the air and defeated all of her enemies. Sora turned out to be quite the swordsman, for he alone defeated every enemy that stood in his way, without even letting out a breath of tiredness out his body. Demean was a menace to his adversaries when he was far away, for he was an excellent archer, and was even more dangerous up close, because the sharpness of the Quendi Knifes cut down through all opponent that dared face him. As for Ryu, he only gave one punch to his enemies. And that was all it took to take them down.

The other team was doing good as well. Ranma's arms were as quick as lightning and hit his adversaries at least ten times before they hit the ground. Donald and Goofy became fierce fighters that didn't receive the slightest scratch and that smote every warrior that challenged them. Link was arguably the strongest one of them: his sword's blows were powerful enough to bring down a building... so you can guess how loud his enemies yelled when they felt his blade on their skin. Leon and Cid fought bravely and bravely beat every opponent that faced them. From time to time, Cid would take out a TNT stick, light it with his cigarette, and throw it at his foes... I swear that that man is going to die from lung cancer.

All in all, we were unstoppable. We were the two most powerful forces that the coliseum had... Or at least that's what we thought, for suddenly, two teams came along, and surprised us all with their mightiness, speed, and resilience.

The first one was formed by a single man. But what a man he was. He was taller than Wilheim and more muscular than Ryu. A walking mountain of power, he was, and wore a cape made out of bear fur... He had a stern expression and a pair of dark eyes that chilled me to the bone. And what scared me the most about him, was his strength. When Phil blew the whistle for his battle to commence, the seven knights that he was facing, fell before him in an instant. It had taken only one blow to beat them all. I saw him as a sleeping volcano that, when erupts, finishes with all life around him...

And the other one was formed by two men. They didn't seem to be as menacing as the lone fighter, but when they won their first battle, I knew that it would not be easy to beat them... They faced two giant, fat, heartless soldiers, and both of them fell to a kick of them in just a second.

As Ran – Chan saw them, he said:

"Guys, guys! I know who these guys are!" We all listened carefully to him as he kept on speaking. "Remember that tournament that took place three years ago? They fought on it!"

"I do not know what you speak of, since I do not belong to your world..." Link muttered. "Yet, I believe you. Are they fierce opponents, then?"

"And how..." I said, as I remembered that indeed, I had seen those faces before. "I can't believe that they're here..."

"Now I remember." Ryu added, with a smile. "I hope that we get to fight them. It's going to be quite interesting..."

"Quite interesting?" I asked. "I don't want to fall to those two, or to the lone wolf, for that matter. Specially, I do not want to fight that guy, over there..." I said, as I pointed at one of the two men. He wore an armor which had a white color from the chest to the head, and a blue one from the waist to his feet. He was thin, but had a muscular, tough body. He had dark, blue hair and eyes, and a scar on his forehead. The last time that I had seen those eyes, I had seen the glance of a murderer; a psychopath that only wanders about the world in search of blood and dead... But now, that look had seemed to be tamed, and now it only reflected strength and a certain gentleness. The other one, who I did not fear, was a blonde man who wore a white armor. He had blue eyes that revealed both tenderness and an undying will. He had a very beautiful face, and a breathtaking smile... "Suddenly, they don't seem that terrifying." I murmured, while studying them.

"They aren't. Don't worry about them... Specially the one that you say. I think that all that he did was to toy with you, incredulous folks!" Ryu giggled.

As strong and as magical as a phoenix bird, and as graceful and gentle as a swan... I knew their names. They were Ikki, the Phoenix's saint, and Hyoga, the Cygnus's saint, who had fought in a bloody tournament that had ended in tragedy... Why were they together? I wondered... Weren't they enemies? And then I thought that maybe Phoenix had turned Cygnus into a puppet of his, into a loyal minion, and that that new look in the saint's eyes was a false one.

I had seen the last combat, where he and the Wolf's saint had fought. I was fourteen years old when I turned on the T. V. that day... The battle did not last more than two seconds. Phoenix only raised his fist, and then his adversary fell. They later revealed that he had used a somber, evil technique to annihilate his soul... Eventually, in the news, they said that the Wolf's saint had recovered, and only remembered a fell illusion. He seemed fine, but I didn't know if his soul was still within his body. And as I thought of this, I grew very afraid once again... I gulped and prayed to God that we wouldn't fight against this team. I'd rather take my chances with the Goliath fellow than with those two.

So, can you guess what happened? The combats went on and, eventually, our teams got to the finals. Our team was up against the huge, mysterious man, while our friends faced some heartless. As I looked at the chart that Phil was holding, I noticed that, whoever won the next battle would fight against the two saints. Which meant that if we succeeded in defeating this mountain of a man, we would battle against Cygnus and Phoenix. I trembled at the mere thought...

"Hey, Akane..." I whispered to my friend. "Wouldn't it be better if we just quit this one?"

"What do you mean, Ukyo?" she said, with a puzzled look in her eyes. "We're one fight away from the semifinals. I'm not quitting now... And if I may say so, I'm surprised that you want to give up now, 'cause you're stronger than me, Sora, and Yuffie. I thought that..."

"I know, but I don't want to fight against him." I replied, as I eyed Phoenix.

"You're still with that?" Akane giggled. "You heard what Ryu said. It was all part of the show."

"Do you really think so? Do you think that they really wanted to end with the tournament like that?"

"Well, you have a point there... But it could have been a very dramatic thing to do, don't you think? I mean, I don't believe that he actually killed that guy's soul. As a matter of fact, I think that the whole thing, the whole tournament, was just a show. Look at them, they're wearing new clothes now."

"So you think that they were just playing... And what about now? Haven't you seen the punches and kicks that they throw?"

"Ukyo, try to calm down, okay?" Akane said. I noticed that she was sick of my worries and complaints. "We'll win, you'll see. And then, we'll fight against our friends, and we'll beat them as well. If I were you, I would be more worried about this colossus..."

"Yeah... right." I sighed, and entered the ring with the rest of my team.

The man was even bigger than I had thought. And more muscular as well. As he walked toward us, I noticed that he had a katana and a shotgun. I took a deep breath and withdrew my spatula. I was certain that this was going to be a very tough fight...

"Ready...? GO FOR IT!" screamed Phil, and the battle commenced.

I was the first one who attacked the man. I swung my spatula at him, and attempted to hit his stomach, but he stopped my blow with his sword, and threw me away. I fell on my feet and watched how Sora threw his weapon at him as if it were a mighty boomerang. The man rolled under it, and received no damage. With a yell, I threw myself at him, and kicked his legs. Surprisingly, I knocked him off his feet, yet he stood up again, and swung his fist at me. I blocked it just in time, and my spatula received the blow. I felt as if I had stopped a meteor that falls from the sky... I stumbled and nearly fell to the ground.

"What strength...!" I mumbled to myself.

Demean and Ryu then attacked him. He was agile enough to stop the elf's knifes with his sword and resilient enough to block the warrior's punches and kicks. However, he could not counterattack, mostly because of Demean. He was so fast that I had a hard time in seeing his arms. After a while, the man leapt back, and raised his arms.

"I yield!" He announced in a loud voice.

"What!" Phil wailed. "You cannot quit! The battle has just started!"

"This tournament no longer amuses me." He said. "The one who I seek is nowhere to be found in this world. Besides, I know my limitations, and I am not meant to win this fight."

"Don't say nonsense, Octavius! This isn't over yet!" the satire exclaimed.

"One or two I could defeat." The man continued. "However, the girl with the huge weapon has lightning speed and powerful legs; the little boy has a sword capable of shattering diamonds; the man with the red headband's fists are strong enough to bring down a wall by just touching it, and the elf's daggers are as quick as arrows that are shot out from a thousand crossbows. The other two girls have not attacked me yet, and the sorceress has not even began to conjure her devastating spells. How can you expect a single man to defeat such contestants?"

"You're not a single man!" Phil said. "You're a were – bear! You said so today!"

"I will not turn into a beast just to emerge victorious in a tournament which does not consent me anymore." Octavius said, to our surprise... I could not believe my ears. A were – bear! What if he had transformed himself into a gigantic animal? "Even then, I still would not be capable of defeating them all."

"Oh, all right!" Phil growled. "You're out, then! You guys win!"

"I shall remain here, however." Said the were – bear, as he walked out of the ring and stood still in a corner of the arena with his arms crossed. "At least I want to meet the champions of this contest."

Phil grumbled, but said nothing. He walked to us, and said:

"Okay, then. You guys will fight against those two next, got it?"

"Um, Phil?" I muttered, and took a step toward him.

"What?"

"It's against the rules to kill the soul of a contestant, right?" I asked.

"Oh, please, Ukyo!" Akane whined. "Give it a rest, will you? He won't do that."

"What a dumb question!" Phil said, with a laugh. "Of course it's against the rules! It simply can't be done! And by that, I mean literally: no one has the power to destroy a soul!"

"That's what you think." I growled.

"Ukyo, don't say such things." Sora intervened. "Come on. Let's sit down and cheer for our friends. I'm sure that we'll do just fine in the next fight." He pulled my arm, and forced me to go with him and the rest of the team.

I wished that our friend's battle would last forever. I wished that they would just beat their opponents again and again, without leaving unconscious. However, the fight ended very quickly, for Ranma had used his 'Moko – Takabisha' to beat three heartless knights, and while Link had pulled out his bow and arrows, and had used magic shots to freeze a gigantic soldier...

"Nice going, guys." Phil said to our friends, and clapped his hands. "Okay, you're next!" he said to us.

I took a deep breath, and stood up. I could feel how my skin became pale and how my breathing sped up. Sora looked at me, and said:

"Ukyo, if you're that afraid, don't worry. I know that you have to get in there, but don't fear: I will protect you."

His words touched me. How could he ever beat those two? Not even his mighty Keyblade was capable to undo their armors... But at that moment, his heart would have stopped any attack that they would have done. Sora's strength lay within his spirit, not in his fists. And the ones like him are the strongest beings in the universe. As he finished speaking, I felt how a little light of that strength shone within me, and, with a tender smile, I answered:

"Hey, I'm the one who's supposed to say that. I won't let them get you, okay?"

"Well, I see that you're back." He chuckled. "Okay, then, let's go."

We stepped into the ring, and waited for Phil's cue. As I looked at Phoenix, a thought invaded my mind. I could not lose this battle, for if I did, I would certainly lose my soul. I could not die. I had to see Wilheim again... I spun my spatula, and assumed a fighting position.

"FIGHT!" Phil yelled, and the battle began.

Ryu, Sora, Akane, and I quickly threw ourselves against Phoenix, while Demean, Aeris, and Yuffie began to attack Cygnus. Ryu was the first one to score a hit on the saint's chest. I could not believe how resilient their armor was! Not even the slightest scratch could be seen on its surface... And it had been Ryu's fist that had hit it! Phoenix yelled, and counterattacked with a powerful kick. Our friend managed to block it, but he fell on his back anyway. Akane tried to attack the man's stomach, which was unprotected. However, he quickly grasped her leg, and threw her at Ryu. He caught her just before she hit the ground... Sora threw his Keyblade at him like he had done with Octavius, but the sword bounced off the saint's armor as if it had been a rubber ball that hits a concrete wall. Phoenix ran at Sora, grabbed him by his arms, and threw him far away. He almost fell out of the ring, but managed to stay on top of it. My turn came, and I swung my spatula as hard as I could at the man's head. To my surprise, my blow was as strong as a giant wave that crashes into the soft beach, and knocked Phoenix off his feet. I smiled to myself, and sighed in relief. However, I celebrated too quickly, for the saint got up in a second, and threw a kick at my legs. I fell to the ground, and saw how he leapt into the air... The glitter of the sun blinded me, and I couldn't see where he had gone. My fear returned, and, with trembling hands, I covered my head, and yelled:

"Please, don't kill my soul! Don't attack me with the Devil's Wraith!"

A moment of silence passed, and then, I heard how he landed right next to me. I wanted to grab my spatula and defend myself, but fear would not let me do that. However, my terror was replaced by confusion as I heard the saint's voice say:

"What?"

"Huh?" I muttered, and looked at him. He was standing beside me, and looked at me with a certain tenderness... "You... you're not going to kill me?"

"I take it that you saw the tournament... How old were you?" he asked.

I turned to my left and my right, and saw that Ryu, Sora, and Akane were standing still, waiting for him to stop talking...

"Fourteen..." I replied, in a tiny voice.

"No wonder, then." He said. "Listen, girl... I'm done with that. I was an evil man back there. But the love of my brother and my friends changed me... I'm not going to kill your soul, so do not be afraid. How could I kill such a lovely, young woman?" he chuckled.

A smile of relief spread through my lips, and I let out a giggle.

"Thank... thank you." I said.

"However, I'm not going to stop fighting, if that's what you think." He added, with a giggle. "So grab your weapon, and get ready."

"Oh... OK." I muttered, and rolled away from him.

"Have at you!" he yelled, and tried to hit me with his right fist. I jumped away from it, and threw three of my little spatulas at him. He avoided two, but got hit by the third... Anyway, I knew that it would take much more than that to stop him. I smiled at him, and whispered once again:

"Thank you."

Meanwhile, our friends fought against Cygnus with all their strength. As I avoided Ikki's attacks, I saw how Demean's Quendi Knifes bounced off Hyoga's armor like drops of rain that fall on water. And as far as I knew, those daggers were strong enough to cut through a dragon's skin...

"Diamond Dust!" yelled the saint, and unleashed a furious artic attack that froze all the ground around him... I could even feel the cold wind that came from his hands, and I was ten yards away from him.

The artic wind was about to engulf Yuffie with its power, when suddenly, it was nullified by a spell that came from Aeris. She began to throw as many fireballs as she could at the saint, but the man froze all of them with his powers. Demean meanwhile tried to fire some arrows at him, but Cygnus avoided all of them. He was as fast and as graceful as a leopard, and as powerful as a panther. And Phoenix was no easy opponent, either. At least, I now fought fearlessly, for I knew that he would not kill me...

Akane, Sora, and I had a lot of trouble in hitting our opponent. Ryu, however, was giving Phoenix a big headache, for his furious attacks wouldn't cease for a second. If he was not next to his rival, Ryu would be attacking him with his most lethal move, the Hadoken. Still, the saint wasn't hit by not even one of his energy waves. He was too quick, even for our strongest fighter. I managed to hit him once or twice, yet I did not hurt him. That armor was indeed resilient... As for our other companions, I could see that Yuffie was struggling not to get caught in the ice that Cygnus shot from his fists. Demean was having a hard time as well, because his arrows were frozen by the saint as soon as they were shot from his bow, if they weren't avoided. Aeris was actually the one who Hyoga was having the most trouble with. Her fire spells neutralized his Diamond Dust, and hurt him from time to time. But the saint's skins were like steel, not to mention that their armors protected them from almost every attack that we unleashed on them.

"This is it! Aurora's Ray!" shouted Cygnus, put his hands together, and performed a terrible attack... The artic ray hit the floor under Yuffie's feet and froze her legs. I was standing no more than eight feet away from her, and the steel of my weapon became so cold that I had to let go of it.

"Ouch! Aeris, help me!" Yuffie wailed. The sorceress quickly melted the ice that trapped her with a spell, and then fell to the ground.

"I can't do anymore spells..." she muttered. "I'm so tired..."

I decided that it was time to give the other guys a hand, since Ryu was not letting Ikki breathe... However, my spatula was still as cold as ice, and I couldn't hold it in my hands for a long time. Sora threw his sword at Phoenix once again, but it didn't hit him. As I saw him, I realized that I could do that... Perhaps my spatula lacked the magic that made the Keyblade go back to Sora's hand, but it was much heavier and more powerful... I threw it with all my strength at Cygnus, and hit his head. With a cry of pain, he fell to the ground and held his skull with his hands. I couldn't believe it... I had defeated a saint! Of course, I wasn't going to get away with it just like that. As I stood still and amazed by my luck, I felt a sudden, hard blow on my legs. I fell to the ground and yelled. Ikki's kick hadn't knocked me out, but a certain dizziness invaded me because of it, and wouldn't let me get back on my feet, even though my legs had received the blow, and not my head. From the floor, I saw how Sora threw his Keyblade one last time and finally succeeded in hitting Phoenix's feet. This immobilized him for a few seconds, which was enough time for Ryu to run to him and hit him with a mighty uppercut, as a furious yell came out of his mouth.

"SHORYUKEN!"

Ikki flew high into the air, but I realized that he wasn't defeated yet. He landed on his feet and got ready to attack once again. Yet he was not prepared to get kicked by Demean, who ran as fast as he could, leapt into the air, and threw his powerful legs at the back of his head. This wrestling move finally knocked Phoenix out, and he fell to the ground.

"Great going, Demean!" I cheered, and struggled to get back on my feet.

"That move I learned from Wilheim, who relies mainly on his brute strength and is capable of shattering the biggest of boulders with his fists!" the elf laughed. "Yes, we have achieved victory, at last! Yet, I must say that these two opponents were terrible of foes, worthy of being mentioned in fantastic tales and legends..."

"That's it!" Phil exclaimed. "The fight is over! The saints lose!"

As he said that, the two men got up and rubbed their heads. With a sigh, Cygnus looked at me and smiled.

"I didn't expect you to do such a thing." He said. "You have a very strong arm, girl. What's your name?"

"Ukyo Kuonji." I replied, and walked to where my spatula was laying. I grasped it and sheathed it. It was still cold, but its metal didn't freeze my hands. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." He replied. "You and your friends are very strong. Congratulations, it's not everyday that I find someone who is as strong as us." He added, and extended his hand. With a smile, I shook it, and he said: "My name is Hyoga."

"Yeah, I know." I giggled.

"Your fists are as powerful as the ones of one of my friends, the Dragon's saint, and that's saying a lot." I heard Ikki say to Ryu. They shook hands, and the saint added: "Well fought. I'm glad that we lost to you, a powerful team, and not to one of them weaklings that are clad in shadows. Even the little kid was a terrible foe." He said, and smiled at Sora. This one chuckled, and spun his Keyblade with pride.

"Well, it was truly an honor to fight you." Ryu replied. "I hope that we can do this again, sometime."

"If everything goes back to normal, then yes, I too hope that we'll fight again."

"You are indeed a powerful sorceress." Hyoga said to Aeris, and helped her to get up. She was still too weak, and couldn't get back on her feet by herself. "I never thought that my Diamond Dust would be unmade by the magic of fire. I guess that I was wrong."

"It wasn't easy..." Aeris chuckled. "I... I have to rest for a while. I don't think that we'll win the next fight if we battle right now."

"I will aid you, then." Link intervened, and stepped into the ring. He let Aeris put his arm around his neck, and murmured: "Are you well? Those artic blasts were powerful enough to put out a river of lava that a volcano spits out."

"Yeah... thank you, Link." Aeris said, and blushed as the Hylian carried her out of the ring.

"You wanna stay and watch the final match?" Sora suddenly asked Hyoga. "We're fighting our friends. What do you say?"

"I believe that Ikki and I have nowhere else to go right now." Cygnus replied, with a laugh. "Fine. We'll watch. Good luck, kid."

"Yeah, thanks!" Sora said.

The sun was about to fall under the walls of the coliseum, and the moon and the stars would take its place in a few moments. The first shimmers of the night took over the sky as we stepped in to the arena to wage our final fight. We were still a little tired from our previous combat: Ikki and Hyoga had been two difficult adversaries. The saints and Octavius stood in a corner and looked at us in silence. However, we were all but silent, for some of us were trash – talking to some of the integrands of the other team... Mainly, Yuffie and I versus Cid and Ran – Chan.

"We're gonna get you so bad that, when the combat ends, you'll be asking yourselves if anyone wrote down the plates of the truck!" Yuffie exclaimed, with a giggle.

"Is that so?" Cid asked, and let out a chuckle. "Why don't you say that again to my little friend, over here?" he spun his spear, tossed his cigarette to the ground, and lit a new one. "When I finish with you, you'll gonna be eating mashed potatoes from a can!"

"Hey, Ucchan! I bet that you're crying for Wilheim's help right now, eh?" Ranma laughed. "'Oh, Wilheim – honey! Where are you? Save me, save me!'"

I shook my head, and slammed the ground with my spatula a couple of times. After that, I said:

"You're gonna wish you never said that!"

"Ready... FIGHT!" Phil exclaimed.

With a loud yell, we all ran to our foes. Prior to the duel, we had decided that each of us would fight against an opponent whose strength was the same as ours. However, even though I was supposed to attack Cid, I wouldn't let Ranma get away with what he had said just like that. As he ran to me, I leapt into the air, and swung my spatula at his head. He managed to block my blow with his arms, but as I sent him flying far away from me, I could see that I had been perhaps a bit too drastic...

"OUCH!" he yelled. "That hurt! That's it! You're in for a lot of trouble now, Ucchan!"

"So are you!" Yuffie intervened, and threw three shurikens at Ranma. He avoided them just before they hit him, but my companion wouldn't let him go after me. After a few instants, Ran – Chan found himself in a more serious predicament, for Akane began attacking him as well...

Sora fought against Goofy... Well, 'fought' isn't exactly the word that I would use to describe their duel. They were rather playing 'tag', or something of the sort, and rarely used strong attacks against each other. Out of their mouths, came more laughter than enraged shouts. None of us complained, of course. We couldn't force them to fight. Aeris and Donald's battle wasn't very different, either. Mostly, Aeris froze the ground underneath the duck's feet and this made him fall on his back, while he cast wimpy lightning spells on her that only gave her a little shock, and made her yell in surprise. Then, they would both laugh and keep on toying with their conjures.

However, the fight between me and Cid was a whole other deal. He was as quick as Ikki himself, although he wasn't as strong, and didn't have an armor that protected him from every blow that I unleashed on his body. He did had a longer reach than the saint, though, thanks to his spear. Its tip hit me a few times and cut my skin, and my spatula wounded his stomach and arms. More than once he took out a TNT stick, but he didn't count that I was prepared to counter that attack. As soon as he began to light it, I threw a tiny spatula at the stick, and cut the cord, and knocked off Cid's cigarette. When this happened, he would raise his arms, and ask for a moment of peace. He would then light another cigarette, and return to the fight. Pitiable, really... However, he didn't need his TNT sticks to cause me a headache: he was a formidable opponent. He was most dangerous in the air, for the pilot was a natural hawk that kills its preys in the sky. But on the ground, I was a lioness that hunted a deer...

Ranma fought against Yuffie and Akane. Although they weren't as powerful as he was, Ran – Chan had a very hard time defending himself against Akane's fists and Yuffie's shurikens. Not even his 'Moko – Takabisha' could stop the fierce fighters...

Leon battled against Ryu. And this fight was not exactly a fair one. Well, almost anyone who fights against Ryu can say the same thing, for our warrior was pummeling Leon with his powerful attacks. The only thing Squall could do was to jump back and from side to side to avoid Ryu's devastating blows, which made the ground shake in fear. And what was worse (to Leon, that is), was the fact that he had not even began to throw energy waves at him... Leon tried to stop our monster with fire spells and by swinging his sword as fast as he could, but Ryu didn't stagger once, or even took a step back.

The most spectacular of all battles was the one that Demean and Link were waging. The elf attacked with his daggers, and when the Hylian parried his weapons with his sword, a rain of sparks bathed the two of them. From time to time, they would fire arrows at each other, but most of the times, their projectiles were avoided. However, there were a few times in which the arrows crashed against each other... Of all the combats, this one and the one between me and Cid were the fairest, for Yuffie and Akane were driving Ranma mad, and Leon was losing badly to a rival way out of his league. As for the other four clowns, I knew that they would just play with each other until the rest of the fights ended.

After a while, things began to get a little more difficult for me than they already were. Cid began to jump more often, which was bad, for, as I've mentioned, he was very dangerous while airborne. And that was not the worst: he started to use a lot of TNT sticks (don't ask me: I don't know where he got so many of them from), and I couldn't stop all of them from blowing up. Little by little, he was taking control of our fight, and was about to beat me.

Suddenly, he leapt high into the air and landed right in front of me. All became still for a second, and then, I noticed that he had buried his spear on the ground. I didn't know what that meant, until a wave of energy rose from below, and sent me flying into the air. I almost fell out of the ring, but managed to stay on it. However, I had taken a bad fall, and had hurt my arm very seriously.

"This is it!" Cid wailed, and took out a final TNT stick. I knew that there wasn't enough time to throw one of my little spatulas at it to turn the light off, so I decided to risk everything in one final play...

As he threw the stick at me, I jumped into the air, and quickly bounced it back at him with my leg. Luckily, my kick didn't turn the explosion on... Then, I only heard a thundering roar and saw Cid's body flying out of the ring. The dark smoke of the tremendous explosion still hadn't faded by the time that Cid landed on the ground. With a giggle, I fell to my knees, and yelled, with a triumphant voice:

"I did it!"

"That hurt!" he said, and rubbed his head.

I had defeated the pilot, but even then, all my strength had left me, and I couldn't lift my arms. My spatula was heavier than lead, and my eyes couldn't hold on to one image. It was as if I had been dragged by a fierce whirlpool into the ring... Luckily, the rest of my friends didn't need my help to defeat the other team.

Ranma eventually fell to Yuffie's speed and to Akane's fists. When this happened, I noticed that Goofy, Donald, Sora, and Aeris began to fight for real. The dog used his shield to smack Sora in his face, and to send him flying far away, while the boy hit Goofy with his sword several times before he fell to the ground, with stars in his eyes. Donald summoned all of his energy and created a gigantic ball of darkness; a black abyss that, apparently, made all of Aeris's body as heavy as iron, and she fell to the ground, as if she had been crushed by a giant's foot. After she recovered, she raised her rod high above her head, and vanished. For a moment, the sky became pitch black, and all of us cowered at the sight of a flaming demon that emerged from the ground. Donald let out a little gasp as the creature summoned a wall of fire that scorched him, and knocked him out. Then, the sky cleared, and an exhausted Aeris appeared.

Ryu decided that it was time to finish Leon off, and leapt into the air. With a mighty yell, he uttered the words:

"TATSUMAKISEMPUUKIAKU!" and then kicked Leon's face with his powerful leg three times, before he collapsed, and let go of his sword.

As for Demean and Link, they were still fighting fiercely, and none of them seemed to be in control of the battle. Every time Link scored a hit, Demean counterattacked, and the Hylian fell to the ground. The elf was faster than the whisper of the wind, but Link was much more resilient, and used much more strength. The few hits that the Hylian scored were fierce enough to make Demean stagger from side to side, but it was this latter who managed to score most of his deadly attacks. After a while, they both stood still with their glances focused on each other, while gasping for breath. Link noticed that of all his companions, he was the only one standing, and, with a sigh, dropped his sword.

"I know when I am defeated." He said. "And what a defeat we have suffered. I congratulate you, friends, for your mightiness is beyond anything that I have ever seen before."

"You gave quite a fight." Said Demean, with a smile, as he sheathed his daggers and put his bow and arrows away. "You are an extraordinary fighter, worthy of being mentioned in the legends of all the kingdoms."

"Thank you."

"Okay, this time, I won't complain." Phil intervened. "At least you all gave quite a spectacular fight. Well done! Ryu's team wins!" he announced.

Oh, well. I thought, and giggled. Maybe this was an incredible loss of time, but still, I enjoyed myself.

After the fights were over and we had recovered from our wounds, Phil opened a treasure chest that stood in a pedestal, and said:

"Here's the prize!"

"What is it?" I asked.

"I don't know." He replied. "The only one who knows what's on this chest is Zeus himself... Huh?" He muttered, as he took out a scroll and what appeared to be a key chain. "Is this some kind of joke?" he opened the scroll, and read it aloud.

" 'To the winner of this tournament:

'I know that you have been commended with a difficult task, and that you will need all the help you can get. That is why I give you a special gift: a Key Chain. You may think that such reward for such a warrior is useless, but if you attach this item to your Keyblade...' "

"What!" Sora exclaimed. "So that means that we were meant to win this tournament?"

"I see!" Phil laughed. "Well, it's what they call fate, kid. Anyway, Zeus knows what he's doing..." he then continued reading:

" 'You will receive the power of the gods of the Olympus. May our strength and wisdom shine in your blade.' "

"This is all very confusing... But it looks okay to me!" Sora laughed.

"See?" Ryu said. "It wasn't such a bad idea, to stay here and compete. We have met incredibly strong opponents, and have earned a fine reward. I take it that this gift will make our mission much easier to complete..."

"Mission? What mission?" asked Octavius, who had witnessed our fights, and had been present during the whole... ceremony. "What do you mean? Have you been sent here by some other deity? What is it that you seek?"

"To restore the world order." Goofy said, with a giggle.

"What?"

"To put the worlds back together." Donald replied. "And Sora's the only one who can do that, because he's the wielder of the Keyblade. But he couldn't have gotten all this way if it weren't because of us."

"And once the worlds are back together, everything will return to normal." Goofy added.

The were – bear nodded his head once, and then said:

"I want to join you."

"Huh?" we all uttered.

"So do we." Suddenly said Hyoga. We turned to him and noticed that he and Ikki had been listening to every word that we had been saying. "If what you say is true, and all of the worlds return to normal, then we'll be able to meet our friends again. Why don't you let us lend you a hand? After all, you've seen how powerful we are."

"Well, no doubt about that, but the Gummi ship won't be able to carry more passengers..." Cid said, as he eyed Octavius. The man – mountain seemed to be heavy enough to sink a boat by just standing on it.

"Not to worry." This latter said. "I have acquired one of these ships myself, and have learned to fly it. Let me join you; I assure you that I will be of assistance."

"Are you looking for a friend, too?" Yuffie asked.

The were – bear said nothing for a few moments, and after a while, he only repeated:

"Let me join you."

"Well, I suppose that the more the merrier..." Sora murmured, and quickly eyed all of us.

"If he has a Gummi ship of his own, then that's fine by me." Donald said.

"Yes, actually, I think that we would all be more comfortable if some of us traveled along with him." Said Demean. "That is, if you do not mind."

"Not at all." Octavius replied.

"Okay, then, it's a deal." Cid said. "The more people that we gather to fight the Heartless, the better it will be. Since I'm the pilot of the ship, I'll be deciding who's gonna go with him, alright?"

"OK, I guess..." Sora murmured.

As for me, what can I say? I actually felt a soft chill running through my skin as I looked how Cid put on a wicked smile on his face...

In the end, I guess that the pilot was still a bit mad at me for beating him in the tournament. He had sent me, Akane, Sora, Donald, Ranma, and Demean along with Octavius. Hyoga and Ikki came with us as well. I couldn't help but to giggle at the thought of Cid's maddened expression when I defeated him...

Still, I was a bit uncomfortable at Octavius's side. Not because he frightened me, but because of his coldness. When Ranma had asked him how he had acquired the ship in the first place, he only eyed him without saying anything. We later found out that he had stolen it from an unwary heartless... As I watched closer, I became quite disturbed as I noticed that the were – bear's eyes were filled with both hatred and desperation. But to whom? And why?

This is the same title of the first song of the CD of Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout for PSOne... Just in case you were wondering.

Those who are curious to know the names of the saints' techniques in Spanish (so you can know why I put them like that), suit yourselves:

Diamond Dust: 'Polvo de Diamante'

Aurora's Ray: 'Rayo de Aurora'

Devil's Wraith: 'Espectro del Diablo'

I'll let you know the names of other techniques as the story goes on.


	13. Chapter Twelve: The Battle for Agrabah

Chapter Twelve: The Battle for Agrabah  
  
"Where have you been all these years, dear Wilheim?" Camille asked. "The last time that I saw you, it was in your dreams... Your nightmares, actually. Or have you forgotten? Have you forgotten how I sang to you until that wound on your desperate heart stopped bleeding, at least for the rest of the night?"  
  
"Of course I remember, Camille." I replied, as I eyed Morrigan, who was walking from one side of the dark basement to the other, like a hungry lioness that waits for its prey to drop its guard.  
  
I knew that she wished to go along with the rest of our comrades, but we had agreed that it would be best if she and Camille stayed with me during the day. For whatever reason, Morrigan was not too thrilled about the idea of sharing a room with my dear succubus. I could only think that this was because she was jealous of my fangs, and did not wish to see Camille's blood trail running down my lips...  
  
What did I feel about this, you might ask? Well, I am ashamed to admit it, but I was quite aroused. Not every day one gets to be locked in a somber basement with two sensual, breathtaking women at their side. The feeling that had emerged from my body the first time that I had seen Camille returned, and started to devour me like a fire eats through wood. I feared that, soon, I would not have the strength to refuse an offering from either of the succubus. Still, I was certain that Morrigan would never participate in such... lustful act. But Camille would happily ravish me along with another woman.  
  
* Stop thinking nonsense. * I thought to myself, as these adolescent fantasies raced through my mind. "Of course I remember." I repeated. "If it were not for you, I would have cut my wrists in that little hotel, without thinking about it twice."  
  
"What happened to you, so that you would desire death so badly?" asked Morrigan. She did not even look at me; she merely wished to hear our conversation so that our words would ease her hunger for battle.  
  
"A beautiful woman broke my heart." I replied. "And yet, I deserted her first."  
  
"You did not desert her, Wilheim." Camille said firmly. "You made the right choice. Think about it with a clear mind, and stop listening to your shattered heart for a moment. If you would have taken her with you, if you would have let her follow you into the way of the shadows and blood, you would have never been able to forgive yourself. And the glitter in her eyes that you loved so much would have vanished. Like the emeralds that once shinned around your pupils, they would have turned into an empty color..."  
  
"Funny." I giggled. "Olaf and Lucrecia told me something of the sort."  
  
"Oh, so you met the Gangrel?" the succubus said, with a laugh.  
  
"I most certainly did." I replied. "I stayed with them for the longest of times, until disaster stroke my soul again, and I had to flee from them as if I were running away from the plague."  
  
"How sad..." Morrigan murmured. I cannot tell if her voice was either filled by an urge to leave the place, or by sincerity.  
  
"But tell me, Camille... Are my eyes still the sad rocks of desolated hazes that you contemplated last time? Have they not changed a bit, at least?"  
  
"Yes, it seems that the deep sadness that once tormented them has diminished. Why, I wonder?"  
  
"It must be because of my dearest Ukyo. You see, after I left the Gangrel, I wandered through the world, hiding this..." I said, and showed her my blade. "From the eyes of those who desire to misuse it."  
  
"Renamark?" Camille said, in shock. "I thought that it belonged to Gustav, the elder of the Malkavians. What has happened to him? Has he died?"  
  
"No, he gave it to me." I answered. "I shall tell you all about it later, but fist, listen to this story." As I said these words, both succubus turned to face me. Morrigan finally sat down, and listened carefully. "After the longest of times, after a marvelous spectacle in my dear capital, Berlin, and after a little chat with the Almighty, I stopped traveling and settled down in Japan... For it was there that I met the woman who loves me as a vampire; the girl that I love as a human: Ukyo Kuonji, my dearest..."  
  
"Oh!" Camille laughed. "So that means that you have forgotten about Elizabeth?"  
  
"Oh, not at all." I said. "I still remember her... I still remember her charming smile, and her dazzling eyes, and her cascading, fiery hair..." I paused, and then added, as I glanced at Camille: "And I still remember her soft breasts, which were actually your own, dear friend."  
  
"Oh, speaking about that..." the succubus said, and her voice was a lustful one. She put her leg on top of my stomach, and whispered in my ear: "Since you have a new girlfriend, I suppose that you will not be able to keep your promise, correct?"  
  
"What promise?" added Morrigan, and, to my surprise and dismay (or joy), I noticed that her tone had been an erotic one.  
  
"I..." I muttered. "I... I have not broken my promise, Camille. As a matter of fact, I think that I kept it."  
  
"Is that so?" she asked, and licked my cheek.  
  
"Yes." I quickly answered. I knew that I had to free myself from her grasp... Otherwise, I would surely succumb to her. "I promised that I would see you again."  
  
"And you said that you would do so when the day that the sadness in your eyes vanished came... Or the day when you would want to make love with me arrived. Have you forgotten your oath, you silly boy?"  
  
"What a marvelous promise." Added Morrigan, and put her arms around my neck. I could not believe her dirty move. Now she too had cast a lustful spell upon me. "I wonder if you would be able to fulfill it now?"  
  
"Morrigan!! Wilheim!! Camille!!" called Felicia's voice, from outside of the house. "Come out!! The sun has vanished! The sky is pitch black! Come on, what are you doing down there!?"  
  
"What has happened?" Morrigan muttered, as she and Camille stood up and raced to the door that led to the street.  
  
* I am certain that this is ill news, but thank God... * I thought to myself, and let out a relieved sigh.  
  
As we exited the house and joined our friends, we noticed that, indeed, the sky had been covered by a dark veil. Grey clouds extended themselves to the very limits of the world, and from time to time, were illuminated by red lightning. The air was as cold as a blizzard that only blows in the mountaintops, and it was filled with fearful screams and desperate crying.  
  
"What is happening?" Camille muttered, without taking her eyes off the sky.  
  
"I don't know for sure." Vincent said. "But I believe that the Heartless have something to do with it. In fact, I'm certain of it. But what is it?"  
  
Because of Tish, we now knew who the Heartless were, and we also knew much of their foul plans. Still, we did not know who it was that commanded them, but for my part, I had a strong feeling that it was none other than Jaffar himself. Later on, I found out that I was actually wrong...  
  
"What should we do?" asked Merryck, as he cowered before the thundering clouds, and hid behind Vincent's legs. "What's going on?"  
  
"Look!!" Aladdin yelled, and pointed to the sky.  
  
A pillar of blue smoke rose from the ground, and, slowly, took the form of our friend, the Genie. It grew bigger, and bigger, and floated towards the palace that had greeted us when we first came to Agrabah. The body of the being became a terrible, muscular one, and his eyes shined with a white, deadly light. With great ease, he tore the palace from the ground, and the earth shook. He then put it on top of an enormous red mountain that had appeared from nowhere, and the people yelled with fear. To our eyes, he appeared to be a god of some ancient legend, who manipulated all around him as he wished... But we knew that he did nothing on his own; the words of his master were his orders.  
  
"I've got to stop him!" Aladdin exclaimed, and quickly climbed on the flying carpet, who took him and Abu to the Genie's side. We all stood stupefied as we heard Aladdin scream: "Genie, don't!! Stop, please!! Stop!!"  
  
And so, the Genie replied:  
  
"Sorry, kid. I've got a new master now." And as he said these words, his eyes were filled with regret.  
  
"What... what's going on?" Sakura asked. "Damn... I wish he was here."  
  
"Any ideas, Vincent?" Ryoga asked the dark man.  
  
"I can't think clearly... Not with that sky above our heads and that monster tearing up the earth to shreds." He replied.  
  
"He is not a monster... at least not by will." Tish interrupted. "We must think of something to do, before he destroys everything in his path. His power is too great for us to handle. We have no choice but to get our hands on the lamp once again."  
  
"This must all be Jaffar's doing." Morrigan inquired. "I can't think of any other enemy."  
  
"If that is the case, then what do we do?" asked Merryck. "With the Genie's help, he's invincible. There is nothing we can possible do to..."  
  
"Look!!" Tifa exclaimed.  
  
We all saw, to our dismay, how a bizarre light suddenly engulfed Aladdin and Abu, and draw them to the ground. And then, we saw how the Genie's face was filled by concern and fright.  
  
"He's been captured, for sure..." Vincent guessed.  
  
"We can't leave him alone!" Tifa added. "We've got to help him! We have to think of something to do... Someway to get in there... Because my guess is that the place must be swarming with Heartless."  
  
"I have an idea." I said.  
  
Everyone turned to face me, and waited for me to speak again.  
  
"Let us attack. It is that simple." I suggested.  
  
"Without a game plan?" Sakura asked.  
  
"Well, there is a trick to it... I was thinking that it would be best if you attacked, and I, inadvertently, searched for Jaffar."  
  
"Yeah, right. And how can you do that?"  
  
"It is easy. Nobody will suspect of a cloud of mist... and even if they did, air cannot be hit."  
  
"I think that's a great plan." Vincent said.  
  
"Are you serious?" Ryoga asked. "Jaffar's probably an unbeatable being by now. Are you saying that it's OK to send Wilheim all by himself to face him without any help?"  
  
"Not really, but I don't think that we'll have enough time to think of something else." The dark man answered, and pointed in front of us.  
  
Indeed, there was no time to do much more, for a horde of fierce Heartless marched toward us. It was a whole army of them: there were tiny, dark figures that appeared to be insects with flashing, yellow eyes; minuscule, flying, cloaked enemies that were actually powerful sorcerers; powerful warriors that bore Saracen swords, and enormous foes that breathed fire out of their mouths. I let out a low, scared breath, for I knew that this was not going to be an easy battle.  
  
"Oh, my God..." Tifa whispered.  
  
"Wilheim, don't you dare go dying on us..." Ryoga murmured, as he fearfully assumed a fighting position.  
  
"I say the same to you." I replied, out of breath.  
  
"Wilheim, do not abandon me." Camille said, and turned to see me. "You have yet to fulfill your promise. Do not forget..."  
  
"I will not." I said. "Be careful, comrades! Do triumph, so that we will meet again!"  
  
"Yes, now go!" Vincent urged, as he took out his gun and began to shoot at the many monsters that now ran directly to us.  
  
Without thinking about it twice, I let my body join the air around me, and vanished from the eyes of my enemies. All they could see of me, was an ethereal body, a being that moves at the wind's mercy. The swords, the fireballs and else passed right through me like they would have done through vapor. I decided to stay there for a moment, to see how my friends did without my help.  
  
It seemed to me that I would not have done much of a difference. The shadow that was the army extended itself like a horde of ants that cover an entire hill with their bodies. I was horrified at this mere sight... However, my companions fought bravely and I was certain that they would not succumb so easily to the evil shadows...  
  
Sakura and Ryoga fought side by side, using all of their energy to let loose a series of energy blasts that could even tear a steel wall apart. Their punches and their kicks had the strength of a titan, and could even floor the toughest of monsters. Felicia's claws were sharp knives that cut through her preys like daggers that tear pieces of paper. Her eyes were filled with rage, and looked like the ones of a maddened tiger. I had never seen her so angry... Both Morrigan and Camille used her dark tentacles to mow down their foes, and also manifested incandescent balls of fire that incinerated every enemy that stood in their way. Tifa used her iron fists to defend herself. I had no idea that a woman could hit as hard as she did. Every punch that she connected made the ground shook under her feet. Even Merryck helped a little; he used his dagger (I do not know who gave it to him) to poke his enemies on his legs. Thanks to his size, he was able to run away from his opponents like a furry rodent. He was as agile as a fox, and no creature could even scratch him. And Tish used her light to blind the monsters that attacked her, and even cast some healing spells to aid our comrades.  
  
As for Vincent, he did something that I did not foresee. He put his gun away, and began to... morph into a hideous creature! His muscles began to grow and his flesh acquired a grayish color. He tore his clothes apart, and as he kept growing, sparks of lightning came out of his enormous body. His fists grew as big as boulders... And after an instant, before me, stood a monstrous golem that was not damaged by any attack, and that could break the skull of a griffin with a finger. A creature capable of withstanding the fiercest of attacks, and capable of inflicting the deepest of fears unto his enemies...  
  
I could not help to wonder if Vincent was really a human. His essence told me so, but this mysterious and incredible change that his body had suffered told me otherwise. What kind of creature was he? I had mistaken him for a man, when he was some other being, or so I thought. Was this a gift bestowed upon him by God, or a curse that had come from Satan's lips?  
  
Either way, I could not think about it much longer, for I had to leave my companions and fly to the palace, which was now protected by cruel lightning and the roaring winds. I was certain that I was going to have to find a way around the angry gales, for I was at their mercy... I thought of something to do, but was reluctant to do so. Not much time passed until I realized that I did not have a choice... And so, I decided to transform into a bat.  
  
My body appeared in the shape of a darkling mammal. My fingers became my wings, and my mouth and my ears became my eyes. Even though I was not blind, I had to rely on my own squeaks to guide me to the palace. I knew that even though I now had a body, it would not be easy to pass through the wall of wind that protected the fortress. I took a deep breath, and, while holding my clothes with my tiny feet, flew to the palace, to Aladdin's aid.  
  
The fierce gales tried to bounce me away but, luckily, I am a very big being, even as a bat. I flapped my wings time after time, and finally managed to pass through the wall of wind. But it had weakened me much, and I could not sustain my current form any longer. So it was that I morphed back into my human shape and fell to the ground. It took me a few moments to recover my strength. It was Camille's blood that had helped me to survive the tremendous fall... her elixir still flowed through my veins and closed my wounds. I shook my head, and put my clothes on. Then, I quietly went into the palace, and placed my hand in my sword's hilt, ready to unsheathe at any time.  
  
For the first time since we had arrived to Agrabah, I felt very cold. I do not know if it was because of the roaring winds that still ceaselessly protected the palace, or if it was the ivory that cooled everything with its freezing touch. Either way, I was grateful, to a certain extent, to have such cool wind around me. After all, we vampires are very susceptible to fire, and do not like heat much.  
  
The rooms of the palace were huge, and they shone with a red light. Everything was red, as if all the walls and the ceiling had been painted with blood. It chilled me to the bone, but I did not stop. I knew that I had to find Jaffar as soon as possible, if I wished to save Aladdin and the rest of my friends. The growls of the Heartless's army began to reach my ears, and I did not like that at all...  
  
Suddenly, I heard some murmurs. I noticed Aladdin's angry voice and Jaffar's triumphant, evil breath... And decided to make haste. I ran to the room from where the murmurs came, and these whispers turned into clear, loud voices. I made use of my vampire speed, and got to the place where my friend was being held. He, and Abu were chained to a wall, while the flying carpet had been nailed to the ground, and standing in front of them, was Jaffar, whose eyes now shone with a more evil color, and his face had a crueler smile than before. He turned to me, and said:  
  
"This is quite a surprise! I'd never expect you to come here!"  
  
"Life is full of surprises, is it not?" I replied, with an angry breath, and let my eyes shine fiercely. As soon as I saw the floor and the walls being illuminated by a violet light, I spoke again: "Let my friends go. And stop your army from spreading chaos. I now that you command the Heartless, so I suggest that you stop them now, or I shall have your head."  
  
"Fearless words." He smirked. "Sadly, I cannot do such a thing. You see, I have sent the Heartless to do some exploring. And everyone that gets in their way, must be annihilated. The people of Agrabah will be spared, of course. Do you think that I am a genocide?"  
  
"I think that you are a tyrant." I said. "The people of Agrabah are alive because if they would be killed, then who could you command? It seems to me that you wish to rein over this land, just like you rein over the will of the Heartless."  
  
"How smart!" Jaffar laughed.  
  
"Damn you!" Aladdin intervened, with an enraged voice. "I won't let you do that! And where's Jasmine? What have you done to her?"  
  
"Silence!" Jaffar snapped, and hit Aladdin with his staff. Abu began to screech angrily, and tried to bite the man, but without succeeding in it. I took a step forward, and growled. The evil man looked at me again, and smiled. "Don't think that I'll be wasting my energy with you, boy. I think that it will be best if we let your slaughtering to Riku, won't it?"  
  
"What?" I muttered, and gasped in surprise as saw the boy come from behind a pillar. He wielded a dark sword, and his eyes were full of anger and hatred. "Riku? What are you doing here?"  
  
"Why do you want to know? Does it matter?" the boy replied.  
  
"Yes... You were the one that fled from the battle with princess Jasmine in your arms. Where have you taken her?"  
  
"You don't care!" he exclaimed, and threw himself at me, and tried to cut me in half with his blade.  
  
I began to grow very angry. But I was not mad at Riku. He was but a lad that had been lied to; a boy that had been deceived by that evil sorcerer. How dared he let this poor kid take his place in a battle against a child of Cain? Obviously, he still underestimated me... I dodged Riku's blow, and jumped back. He tried to stab me, but I rolled away from him. Then he swung his blade with great skill, and attempted me to hurt me, but he achieved nothing, for I merely stepped from one side to another, and jumped and ducked. He was very quick, but I was faster. Every time that he tried to hit me, he cut nothing but air. I did not even have to turn into mist to dodge his flurry of rage. The more I evaded him, the angrier he became. Over time, his blows became less quick and more powerful. His anger was about to take control over him. If I had fought back, Jaffar would have only sent a lamb to a slaughter... and I hated him for that.  
  
I decided that it was time to end with this fight. Riku jumped at me, and tried to slice me once again. I merely took a step to my left, and then put my hand in his chest, and pushed him away. He fell to the ground, and let out a growl as his back hit the floor. He looked at me, and got up, but did not attack me. Instead, he stood still, holding his sword tightly, with his eyes on the verge of shedding tears of desperation and hatred. I shook my head, and gently asked:  
  
"Do you think that you can possibly defeat a being who knows how you are going to attack him before you even move?"  
  
"You're just bluffing!" he yelled, and pointed his blade at me.  
  
"Do you really think so?" I asked, calmly. "If it were that way, you would have killed me by now. But I am still alive, and you have not even scratched my skin. And even if your blade cut me, my wound would quickly close. You see, being a vampire gives me several advantages over you, mortals."  
  
"You're lying!"  
  
"If I wanted to kill you, you would be dead already. I could have even used your blood to extinguish the thirst that has begun to invade me. It would be like throwing a bucket of water over a little, lighten match... But I have not killed you, nor will I."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I do not want to fight you, Riku. In fact, I would be glad to help you."  
  
"Help me?"  
  
"Yes. The other day, you said to me that you were looking for a friend of yours..." I paused, and read his mind. A gentle smile spread through my lips, and I said: "Kairi, no? You wish to find your sweet friend Kairi. And Sora... the boy that is... under Ukyo's spell, correct?"  
  
"What are you talking about?" he asked, and frowned.  
  
"As I have said before, my darling is not a witch. If she is with your friend, then come with me, and let us find them together."  
  
"Don't listen to him, boy!" Jaffar intervened. "He's only trying to trick you! Don't pay attention to him, or you'll die!"  
  
"They have not led you to Kairi yet, have they?" I asked Riku, and ignored the evil sorcerer's words. "Maybe I am wrong, and they shall take you to her. But what will be their price? Your freedom? Your life? Your heart, your soul, perhaps? You may never now, Riku, until it is too late. Come with me, for I offer you only the chance to find your friends, and I ask nothing in return."  
  
"What...? How...?" Riku muttered, and his face was filled with confusion. He turned to Jaffar, and then to me, without knowing who to listen to. "How can... How can I trust you? Can... can you promise me that you'll find Kairi and Sora, and that you'll take me to them?"  
  
"No, that I cannot promise." I said. "I am not a soothsayer, and I do not know where your friends might be. I do not know where my beloved is..."  
  
"Then why should I go with you!?" he interrupted.  
  
"Well put, lad!" Jaffar laughed.  
  
"Because I would never ask you to fight in my place." I answered, and I as I said these words, the sorcerer's face turned into an expression of anger. "He is afraid..." I added, with a gloomy smile, as I eyed Jaffar. "For he knows that beating me is no easy task. That is why he sent you. If you join us, then we will fight to protect you, unlike him..."  
  
"Then think about this boy! Why did I stay here, if I knew that you were going to be killed? If that were the case, I would've run!" the sorcerer said.  
  
"He stayed because he wanted to study my moves... To understand how I fight, in spite of the loss of your life." I answered. With a sigh I concluded: "I will not stop you from going with them. But know this: if you threaten the life of Ukyo with this dark blade, then I will have to slay you. And that is something that I do not want to do, Riku. A thousand times I would rather spill my blood to protect you than to cut your skin."  
  
"I... I..." he stuttered. He did not know what to say. I could not even read his thoughts, for his mind was a mess. I only knew that he had believed my words, but he believed Maleficent's as well. Luckily, he did not trust Jaffar...  
  
"What are you waiting for?" this last one said. "Go on! Kill him!"  
  
"No!!" Riku yelled. "Leave me alone!! I want to be alone!" and so, a dark abyss appeared under him, and he vanished.  
  
"No!!" yelled Jaffar. "Stupid brat!"  
  
"It seems that your luck is beginning to change, Jaffar!" Aladdin said, with a triumphant laugh. "Even though the boy is gone, he's gone with a different look in his eyes..."  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
"It is a shame that he is gone." I intervened. "Still, your flesh - shield is now useless, Jaffar." I said, and my voice became a menacing growl, and my eyes shone with a spectral, deadly light. "Now we will fight, you..." I stopped talking and unleashed a fireball from the palm of my hand. However, I had not aimed at Jaffar...  
  
The chains which were holding Aladdin and Abu broke under the might of my attack, and then he freed the carpet... The sorcerer growled, and so I added:  
  
"Aladdin, and I. And believe me when I say that I will not hold back." I unsheathed Renamark and its ghastly glow illuminated the stance. I had wakened the blade, and it wanted to feed on blood... "Prepare yourself, Jaffar. You will not leave this palace alive."  
  
"Tell me boy..." Jaffar cackled. "How do you expect to defeat me and my army, when we grow stronger with each second?"  
  
"How amusing." I replied. "It just so happens that a fairy recently told me that it is because that the Heartless grow weaker that there are many people, like Tifa, who are escaping from the darkness that once captured them."  
  
"Silence!" the evil sorcerer shouted. "It ends now!"  
  
"You're right about that!" Aladdin exclaimed, as he picked up a sword, and threw himself against Jaffar, while Abu and the carpet quickly hid behind a pillar.  
  
With a laugh, our foe vanished from our sight and my friend's sword cut nothing but air. He reappeared behind me and tried to scorch me with a fireball, but I was quick enough to jump over it. I then tried to stab him with my blade, yet he disappeared again. Suddenly, an army of Saracen swords rose from the ground. Aladdin and I froze in terror as we saw how the weapons began to attack us. I could not see the ghosts that held these blades, but I knew that the room was riddled with evil spirits that wished to murder us... However, I was not worried about myself, for I could turn into mist and avoid the deadly swords. I was concerned about Aladdin for a moment, but when I saw him fighting off the weapons with great skill and anger, I knew that I only had to concentrate in finding Jaffar and eliminating him. There he was, flying over the room, laughing at us. I jumped at him and swung Renamark at his head, but he vanished yet again.  
  
"Damn you!!" Aladdin shouted. "What's wrong, Jaffar? Are you afraid?"  
  
"Afraid?" he mocked, from a dark corner. "See how afraid I am, you foolish boy!"  
  
As he said these words, the swords fell to the ground, and their blades turned into a ring of fire that imprisoned us. Aladdin tried to turn it off by swinging his hand at it repeatedly, but the flames did not fear Aladdin's fist. I began to grow afraid, for we vampires are very susceptible to fire, as I have said before. Nevertheless, as if an angel had whispered the secret of defeating this spell into my ear, I drew Renamark and let its tip touch the flames. As soon as I did this, all the fire was absorbed by it. Its hilt became so hot that I let out a shriek and swung it with all my strength. The sword shot out all the flames that were engulfing it, and the fiery projectile almost hit Jaffar. He reacted just in time to vanish one more time just before the wall behind him burst into a thousand pieces.  
  
"How smart." The sorcerer said. "I may have to modify my tactics..."  
  
"You are very powerful." I replied. "But you have underestimated us... I did not want to do this, but it seems that I do not have a choice." I sheathed my sword, and took a deep breath. "I have never changed into such a monster, for I am afraid of the very evilness that flows through my body... But only using the strength of a monster will I be able to defeat you."  
  
"Stop talking nonsense, and simply die." Jaffar laughed. "It will be the best, for all of us."  
  
"Let us find out, then!" I yelled, and got ready to turn myself into a monstrous gargoyle... Yet, I did not have the time to do it, for I first had to dodge a fireball that Jaffar shot out of his hand. And after I avoided this projectile, I had to jump over another, and another. Our enemy knew about my plan, and was not going to let me turn me into a being capable of shredding him to pieces. "Damn you!" I cursed.  
  
"Take that!" Aladdin screamed, and threw his sword at our opponent. This one disappeared, and the blade passed right through him. It was then that my friend took a deep breath and shouted: "Are you afraid to face us, you cowardly snake!?"  
  
"A snake, am I?" Jaffar roared, and appeared in front of us. "Then perhaps you'd like to see how snake - like I can be!!"  
  
And with that being said, his eyes and tongue changed into the ones of a reptile. His body turned into the one of a serpent and began to grow into a monstrous creature with cruel, resplendent fangs and a red gaze. I froze in horror as I looked into the eyes of our new, evil enemy.  
  
"Dear God..." I murmured. "I wish that my friends were here..."  
  
The gigantic snake stood still for a few instants, and then moved, with the speed of lightning. I leapt back in fear, stumbled, and fell to the ground. With a loud hiss, the monster threw his head at me and tried to bite me. However, Aladdin leapt in front of me and swung his sword across the creature's mouth. A loud yell came out of the snake's throat and its blood fell on the ground. As I saw its wounded body, I recovered my courage and my strength, and got to my feet.  
  
"He'll have a harder time while disappearing, I think." Aladdin whispered. "Let's take advantage of this."  
  
"I agree with you." I replied. "Let us destroy this being with our blades!!" I exclaimed and, with the same speed that the monster had attacked me, leapt into the air and buried my sword in its body. The snake howled in pain as Renamark glowed fiercely and satisfied its thirst for blood. However, the serpent shook itself and threw me against the wall. I knew that this fight was still far from over but now that Jaffar was bleeding, we had gained a certain advantage over him.  
  
The monster began to chase me and Aladdin, and tried to bite us with its sharp, dagger - like fangs, and to capture us with its enormous body. I made use of all my velocity and became as quick as the snake itself. When it moved, I dodged it and cut it once more. Nevertheless, even the might of Renamark was not sufficient to end with the creature. As for Aladdin, his quick reflexes and his marvelous agility amazed me. More than once he bounced off the pillars of the stance to get away from the monster's grasp, and even leapt on his body to bury his sword in it.  
  
It did not take me very long to discover that Jaffar had only changed his appearance to intimidate us with those serpent eyes and those monstrous fangs. However, his strategy had backfired and now we were weakening him with every move that we made.  
  
Suddenly, I noticed that, on a dark corner, the Genie stood, and frantically pointed at his lamp, which was being held by the red parrot, who was staring at the combat without moving. I waited for Aladdin to capture Jaffar's attention and ran as fast as I could to catch the bird in my hands before it could get away.  
  
"Ouch!! No, let me go!!" he whined, as I held him by his beak.  
  
"If you give me the lamp, I will do so." I replied.  
  
"Okay, okay!! Have it your way!!" he exclaimed, and dropped the lamp...  
  
I smiled and quickly grabbed it. But, before I could rub it and ask for a wish, the snake's tail hit me, and sent me flying across the room. I hit the wall and fell to the ground with a very large wound on my head. The stance seemed to move from one side to another, as if it were being shaken by an earthquake, although I knew that it was not so. I stayed still and waited for my strength to come back to me.  
  
Then, I watched in horror how Jaffar finally managed to capture Aladdin with its body. He let out a growl and his skin began to turn red as Jaffar laughed and slowly squeezed him.  
  
"You foolsss!" he hissed. "You thought you could sssimply beat the mossst powerful being on this world with jussst a couple of ssswords?"  
  
"How... how did you acquire such power?" I asked in a low voice. "When I first met you, you where nothing but a cowardly man who used lies as his weapon..."  
  
"Ignorant child..." the snake replied. "Thisss iss all becausssse of the Genie... without him, you're nothing."  
  
I slowly turned to see the Genie and noticed that he was looking at Aladdin with a horrified expression on his face.  
  
* That's it! * Aladdin's thought suddenly invaded my mind. "You idiot! The Genie has more powers than you'll ever have!" he yelled.  
  
"What!?" Jaffar hissed.  
  
"He gave you your power! He can also take it away! You're not the most powerful being on this world! He is!"  
  
"Al... What the hell are you doing?" the Genie said, with a nervous giggle.  
  
"You're right..." the snake grumbled. "His power is greater than mine..." He stood still and thoughtful for an instant, and then, his eyes glimmered with malice. "But I believe that we can change that..."  
  
"Oh, no, no..." the Genie chuckled as Jaffar let go of Aladdin and began to circle him. "You see, I've met the kid for some time, now. He's a whacko. I've actually been trying to get him into a mental institute but since you arrived, the government facilities aren't what they used to be..."  
  
"Silence!!" the monster roared. "Genie! I will now ask you for my final wish! I wish to be an all - powerful Genie!!"  
  
"A Genie?"  
  
"Yes, and be quick about it, you blue hunchback!"  
  
"All right... your wish is my command..." the Genie giggled again... but this time, I noticed that his laughter had been filled by relief. He pointed his finger at Jaffar, and said: "First you want to be Sultan... then you want to be a powerful sorcerer... you just know where to go, don't you?"  
  
"Get over with it!!"  
  
"Okay!"  
  
He shot out a ray from his finger and hit Jaffar with it. The monster began to change into a muscular, horrible being with great, red arms and long, black nails. His eyes turned yellow and the ceiling shattered under his might. He let out a long, evil laugh and began to toy with fireballs and lightning, as he chanted:  
  
"THE ABSOLUTE POWER!! The universe is mine to command!! TO CONTROL!!"  
  
"Not so fast, Jaffar!!" Aladdin screamed, and I noticed a triumphant expression on his face. "Aren't you forgetting something?"  
  
"Huh?" the evil Genie muttered, as he looked down at us.  
  
"If you want to be a Genie, you've got it, but with everything that goes with it!" he added, and held a black lamp up... It was Jaffar's lamp.  
  
"NO!!" Jaffar wailed, as a pair of golden bracelets appeared on his hands and forced him to go into the lamp...  
  
"Phenomenal, cosmic powers... Itty - bitty living space." Aladdin giggled, as the red haze of the room began to vanish.  
  
"Al! You genius, you!" the Genie exclaimed and hugged the man, along with the magic carpet and Abu.  
  
"I do not believe this..." I muttered, and walked to them. "I thought that we were done for!"  
  
"Well, you thought too early!" Aladdin laughed.  
  
"Incredible!" I said, and burst out in relieved laughter. "It is now clear to me that wits are indeed a much greater weapon than great girth and monstrous fangs! Thank you, Aladdin! Now, with Jaffar defeated, I am sure that the Heartless army will vanish."  
  
"Oh, about that...!" the Genie intervened. "Before you changed his mind, Al, Jaffar wanted to wish for me to find out where this... lock was..."  
  
"The locks that Tish told us about!" Aladdin inquired.  
  
"I guess so! Anyway, he wanted to find it so that it could never be sealed by... who? Oh, right! By the one that carries the Keyblade!"  
  
"Is that so?" The man said, and rubbed his chin. "If that's the case, then let's mess up his plans a little, don't you think?" he held up the Genie's lamp and said aloud: "This is my first wish, Genie! I wish for you to hide this lock from all those who are in league with the Heartless!"  
  
"Let me see where I can find this lock first, sir..." the Genie murmured, as he looked at some charts that he had created, just for the fun of it... "Oh, I see! There it is! In a small room that still stands in the Cave of Wonders! Don't worry, Al! I'll put up a magical wall right in front of it so that only you and your friends will be able to see it!" he said, and snapped his fingers.  
  
And as he did this, a strange light appeared on the desert. Aladdin, Abu, the carpet, and I turned to look at it as it illuminated the sands for an instant and then disappeared.  
  
"Cool!" Aladdin exclaimed.  
  
"Indeed!" I added. Suddenly, I began to heard a low rumbling, and the palace began to shake... Fear invaded us, but only for an instant, for then, we saw that the sky was being cleared of the evil clouds that Jaffar's power had created. "Look! Everything is returning to normal!" I yelled happily, as the dark, peaceful night fell over Agrabah. "Then it is done. We have triumphed over the evilness that haunted this place... Well, perhaps 'we' is very much of a word for me. You have ended with it, Aladdin."  
  
"Come on, I couldn't have done it without your help..."  
  
"Nonsense. You fought bravely and better than I could ever have..."  
  
"Nah... Hey, that reminds me, what about our friends?"  
  
"Good question. Let us get out of this palace..."  
  
"Wait, don't go!" yelled a voice. We turned to it and saw a short little man with white hair and black mustaches running to us. He wore a royal outfit and had a grateful look in his eyes. I guessed that he was the ruler of Agrabah himself, and I was not mistaken. "My good boys, you can't go yet! Please, I have to thank you for saving Agrabah from that traitor, Jaffar! I thought that I was done for, when he had bound me and left me in the care of his cursed bird, Iago! I had never been forced to experience such a horrible torture! The taste of those filthy crackers still lingers in my mouth! Yuck!"  
  
"Sultan?" Aladdin asked. "What...? I mean, of course... But..."  
  
"But, now that I've seen that you are indeed heroes, I must ask you to, please, get my dear daughter back! I don't know where she is!"  
  
"That's what I was about to say..." the man said. He looked at the Genie and asked: "Genie, do you know where Jas... I mean, the princess is?"  
  
"Sorry, Al, no..." the Genie replied. "It seems that she is in some darker place than the ones that I can see from here..."  
  
"Oh, no!" the Sultan whimpered.  
  
"Do not worry, oh, Highness." I said. "Though we do not know where the princess is, I promise to you that we shall find her. My friends and I are travelers who are looking for our dear ones, so I can assure you that we will look for her through the stars."  
  
"Are you certain, boy?" he asked, and a grateful smile spread on his face. "What is your name, lad?"  
  
"Wilheim, sir."  
  
"Wilheim... and Aladdin... Do you swear to me that you'll get my daughter back?"  
  
"Yes." Aladdin and I replied.  
  
"Thank you!" he exclaimed. "If you do this for me, I will reward you greatly!"  
  
"We do not need money... Or at least I do not." I replied.  
  
"No... neither do I." Aladdin added. He paused for an instant and then confessed: "But I would like to ask something else of you..."  
  
"Whatever!" the Sultan said.  
  
"If she agrees... Would you let me marry her?"  
  
"What?"  
  
They were interrupted by Abu's frantic jumping, who was pointing at the streets. I glanced at them and saw, to my dismay, that my friends were walking towards the palace, and some of them were badly injured. I could even smell the blood that came from their wounds, and became very upset.  
  
"Oh, dear God!" I exclaimed, as I ran out of the stance to meet them...  
  
***  
  
"What happened?" I asked with a desperate breath, as I ran to them.  
  
It was truly a horrible sight. Ryoga and Felicia were holding each other as they walked, for their legs could barely hold their weight. Their faces were twisted in pain and a trail of blood ran from their mouths. Morrigan and Camille were not very wounded; they only had a few scratches in their bodies and maybe one or two nasty cuts, but nothing lethal. Surprisingly, the one who was less injured was Merryck. I suppose that it was because of his great agility and his small size that he had saved himself from the fatal attacks of the Heartless. Vincent was not hurt too badly... but Sakura, who was lying still in his arms, seemed to be on the verge of breathing her last breath. Her eyes were closed tightly and she moaned in a low voice as the pain shot through her crippled arms and legs. Tish lay in her stomach, fast asleep. There was not a wound in her body, but she looked exhausted. Tifa walked without much trouble and held her broken arm. She was hurt very badly, for I could even see how her bone ripped her skin and showed itself...  
  
"What, in God's name, happened to you?" I asked, but I already knew the answer.  
  
"The Heartless were simply too much for us to handle..." replied Camille, and fell to her knees. "It was an endless army. It seemed to me that every shadow of the world rose from the ground and attacked us mercilessly..."  
  
"I guess that it was a miracle that they suddenly vanished." Felicia said with a weak voice. "We owe it to you and to Aladdin, Wilheim... I assume that you beat Jaffar. Otherwise, we would practically be six feet under, if you know what I'm talking about."  
  
"The battle isn't over yet, Felicia. At least, not for her..." Vincent whispered, as he put Sakura on the ground, and caressed her cheek with her metallic arm. "Damn it..." he growled. "I... I don't know if she's going to make it."  
  
"Tish is too weak." Merryck intervened. In his face, I saw fear, for he had never witnessed the horribleness of a bloody battle. "If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't have lived. All she did was to fly about us, casting healing spells on us. The wounds that you now see are actually quite recent... But I'm afraid that her little body cannot withstand so much power."  
  
"And I was not there to help you..." I murmured. I could not help but to blame myself for poor Sakura's cuts. I kneeled by her side and held her head. "Sakura, be strong... You can make it."  
  
"That's easy for you to say..." she giggled, with a weak breath. "You're... you're not hurt at all.."  
  
"Isn't there... Oh, crap!!" Tifa complained, as a horrible pain shot through her shattered arm. She shook her head and asked: "Isn't there something you can do to heal her?"  
  
"Not a single thing..." I replied.  
  
"Why don't you try to give her some of your blood, Wilheim?" Ryoga suggested, and I noticed desperation in his voice.  
  
I turned to him, and answered, with a bit of rage, I must admit:  
  
"Are you mad? Certainly, that would heal her body, but it would destroy her soul. I will not turn her into a vampire. If it would be a blessing, then I would not hesitate to do so. But to me, it is a curse! And I do not want to pass it unto an innocent girl like Sakura!"  
  
"There has to be something we can do to aid her!" Morrigan said.  
  
"Oh, man!" Aladdin yelled in a loud, shocked voice as he saw our friend's crippled bodies. "Oh, man, I don't believe this!"  
  
"Sakura is dying!" I exclaimed. "Aladdin, please! Make your second wish and heal her!"  
  
"What are you waiting for, Al!?" the Genie shouted. "Come on!"  
  
"OK!" Aladdin said. "Genie, I wish for you to heal my friends! Go, go, go!"  
  
With that being said, the Genie quickly flew around all our companions, and released a blue mist that went into their wounds, and began to close them. The blood that ran through them ceased to do so, and their flesh was once again pink and healthy. Tifa's bone was absorbed by her arm, and her skin covered it again. An amazing, though somewhat repugnant, phenomenon to witness, it was...  
  
We all let out a relieved sigh. They had been saved. Sakura let out a low chuckle, and murmured:  
  
"I feel... good..." and suddenly, she fell asleep.  
  
"What!?" Ryoga exclaimed. "I thought that she was better!"  
  
"She is, she just fainted." Vincent cleared, while he put his finger on Sakura's neck, and felt her pulse. "Thank God..."  
  
"Thank you, Genie." Aladdin said, and patted the Genie's back. "Thanks for saving them."  
  
"You wished for it, pal." He replied. "I didn't have much of a choice..." he joked.  
  
"Well... it seems that our job here is done." Morrigan said. "I believe that it is time to leave, once again..."  
  
"We'll have to return here, eventually, if we are going to seal the Keyhole." Vincent said. "But I think that you're right, Morrigan. It's time for us to get out of here."  
  
"Can I come too?" Aladdin said. "After all, I did promise the Sultan that I would bring Jasmine back..."  
  
"Yes, but I think it would be wiser if you stayed here..." Vincent suggested. "Just in case that the Heartless return, so that there will be someone to fight them off."  
  
"What?"  
  
"He's right, Al." The Genie agreed. "Look on the bright side. You can stay here with me, and kill some time, while they're at it..."  
  
"But..." Aladdin began to say. However, he looked at Abu and at the carpet, and then turned to the palace, where the Sultan looked at us from one of its windows. He sighed and nodded his head. "Do you promise that you'll look for her?"  
  
"I swear it." I said. "Trust me."  
  
"Okay... I trust you." He replied, smiled, and shook my hand.  
  
***  
  
Sakura and Tish did not wake up when we left Agrabah. Aladdin used his last wish to free the Genie... I could not help but to smile as I looked at his happy eyes. I imagined that that could be my face. I thought about regaining my humanity, and about finding Ukyo again, and this strengthened me. As a gift, the Genie used his powers to build another Gummi ship. There were too many of us, and we would not be able to fit in just one. Vincent, Morrigan, and Felicia took both Tish and Sakura on their ship, while the one in which Ryoga, Camille, Merryck, and I were was piloted by Tifa. We said good - bye to the city of the desert, and hoped to come back to seal the evil that rested within it.  
  
As for now, we could do nothing but to visit other worlds, in hopes of finding the wielder of the Keyblade, the only weapon able to seal the shadows away, and our dear ones... 


	14. Chapter Thirteen: A Place Like No Other

Chapter Thirteen: A Place Like No Other 

It had been nearly three weeks since we had left Mount Olympus and had joined the blackness of space again. I assume that you would expect my friends and I to be on the verge of killing ourselves because of boredom. Luckily for us, we didn't stop our talking for one second and were saved. We also learnt a lot from each other...

Sora told us about all what he and his friends did on the island which they used to visit during the day. He told us how he, Riku, and Kairi used to run from one end of the island to another as fast as they could, just because it was a fun thing to do. Usually, Riku won all the races, but, from time to time, Sora managed to get to the end line before he did. He mentioned that Kairi almost never won a race, but she did not care. From time to time, they met with these three other kids, named Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka. Sometimes, they played a little volleyball match or battled against themselves. It turned out that this is why Sora was so skilled with his blade, because of those harmless fights...

Donald finally mentioned his beloved gal, Daisy, who was waiting for him in the castle which he, Goofy, and Jiminy had left behind. As he talked about the little cricket, I realized that I hadn't seen much of him lately. In fact, I think that we all had last seen him when we were at Wonderland. The duck said that he had been hiding in Goofy's pocket all along, and had been taking notes of the journey for his journal. I suddenly wanted to read it, to see our adventure in the form of words. I got excited at the very thought that our quest could become a legend, eternally retold by the flow of time and wind... Donald was excited by this as well. He told us that, if something happened to him, then at least Daisy would now how hard he had fought for their future, and that he had not left her in vain. We all smiled at his words and told him that we wouldn't let that happen.

Ran – Chan, Akane, and I talked about our life in Nerima. We talked about our friends, mainly, about Ryoga. We all missed our forever – lost companion, and wanted to see him safe and sound. Akane mentioned that he was the third daughter of Soun Tendo, and that his father had agreed to engage him with Genma Saotome's son, Ranma. Of course, I mentioned about Ran – Chan's pop's cruel promise, and how he had broken it. He didn't care. Even though I know that he loves his dad, I'm sure that he's aware that he's the vivid example of a sick opportunist. I told our friends that I had forgiven him, because I knew that Ranma would be very happy at Akane's side (they both denied this, as you may have expected), and that I was now blessed with the tender, noble heart of my Wilheim – honey. As soon as I brought him up, we all told our friends about the deadly battle that we, along with Ryoga, Shampoo, and Mousse's help had waged against the eternal evilness that incarnated the body of a hellish vampire, named Magnus. We then mentioned our victory over him and I said that, since then, I had been waiting for Wilheim to come back to my arms.

Something a bit odd happened when I said that Wilheim was a vampire. Octavius, who was the only one on the ship that wouldn't speak, since he would only sit in the pilot's seat and take over the ship's controls, suddenly turned to face us as soon as he heard the word 'vampire'. He frowned and gazed into space again, without saying anything. At first, I was very confused by this, but, eventually, I found out why he had reacted in such a way... But we'll get to that later.

Demean was the one who talked the most, mainly because he had been (or so we all thought) the one who had lived the most, and had had an incredible life, full of dangerous and wonderful experiences. Some of his stories I already knew, since Wilheim had told me about him in his letters, but his magical voice engulfed me with its spell and I listened to the stories for the first time. It was just as my Wilheim – honey had said... when you listen to the elf talk, you can only see his words and hear his breath, for you are no longer where you used to be: you are in Feanorth's Forest, and all that surrounds you are the trees and the elf's tale.

We also got to know Hyoga and Ikki a lot. The later one was a slightly arrogant person, but he was a good friend, and it was nice to have him for company. Hyoga was even friendlier than Ikki, and talked much more. He told us about how hard he had trained to acquire his saint's clothes, and, before that, he told us about his mother, who lay buried within the deep, frozen waters of Siberia. He said that he had visited her many times, and that she was as beautiful as the day she had died, for the tender touch of the cold hadn't let her skin melt, and had kept her lips shinny... Hyoga mentioned that she had died during a shipwreck, and when he did, he showed us a beautiful, golden crucifix, which had been her gift to him before she passed away. Ikki's story was an even sadder, more tragic one. Apparently, his master was a very mean man, that treated him worse than a slave. He wanted him to know hatred, and Ikki refused to do so. Only when his evil master killed his own daughter, Emerald, who he treasured dearly, had he been capable of slaying him with anger. He said that, because the change he had suffered, he had even tried to kill his own brother and his friends, who were saints as well. That explained what had happened in the tournament... Either way, it had been the righteous fists of the Pegasus's saint and his brother's undying love that had changed him. He had sacrificed himself to save him, and had later resurrected, because the Phoenix bird always reemerges from its ashes.

It was because of this stories that we all lived through the apparently eternal journey. But I don't have the slightest idea of how Octavius managed to get by, because not once did he try to speak to us... Until the last day of our trip, that is.

"So, Ukyo... What are you gonna do when you meet Wilheim again?" Sora asked, with a smirk on his face.

"I'll probably hug him so hard that he'll beg me to let go of him. But even still, I'll keep my arms around him, and I'll kiss him a hundred times." I replied, with a giggle.

"That's very sweet." Akane said.

"What say you, Ukyo?" Demean said. "Do you think that, when we meet him, we shall see Wilheim, the Caitiff vampire who roamed the world in search of humanity, or we shall meet the Wilheim that once was and was killed by the dark fangs of the wretched Magnus?"

"I don't know." I muttered. "I hope it will be the later... But I really don't care that much. As long as I'm with him, it doesn't matter."

"I understand. I can only think of seeing him again, as well as the sweet fairy who always keeps me company... And I cannot help to think of Merryck Goldengrass, the silly hobbit that is always looking for adventures, and everyday seeks a being unknown to him."

"'Feline reflexes'... Boy, I still laugh at the thought of Beorn saying that!" Ran – Chan chuckled.

"Well, he was convinced that he would be able to get by the goblins and the orcs without being noticed. Of course, he was wrong." Demean said, and laughed along with Ranma.

"Well, for my part, I really want to find Shun." Ikki said. "I know that he'll survive without me, but he's always been a bit of a crybaby, and I feel that I've let him alone for a long time."

"I miss Seyia." Hyoga added. "And your brother and Shiryu. I wonder where they are, right now..."

"Probably together." Donald said. "And 'together' is how I want to be with Daisy. I just hope that we'll be able to live through this, so that I can see her again. We have to lock all the keyholes... Which reminds me that, sooner or later, we'll have to go back to Traverse Town."

"Yeah, I haven't thought of that." I said. "I wonder how the folks are doing there now?"

"I don't wanna know." Sora sighed. "Either way, we have to find someone that will tell us where to find the keyhole, don't we? I'd bet that I would be able to find it before Riku, though... By the way, what about you, Octavius? Isn't there someone you want to find?"

The were – bear looked at us and said nothing for a few moments.

"Yes." He finally murmured.

"Is it a friend? Or a girlfriend?"

"No, nothing of the sort."

"You must have someone... Look, Ikki's got his brother; Demean's got her fairy friend, Ukyo's got Wilheim..."

"I pray to you that you do not mention him." He interrupted, to my amazement, and we all froze.

When the silence that followed began to grow uncomfortable, I asked:

"Do you know who he is?"

"No." He replied with a stern voice. "But I do not like vampires. They are wretched creatures who wish to do nothing but to extinguish all life and beauty around them. Those things have every living being's blood running through their veins, except their own."

I couldn't believe his words. How dared he speak about him like that? If he wanted to say such words about vampires, then he at least could've waited for me to leave the room. I was about to speak again, but he interrupted me.

"I do not know why you are so upset, miss Ukyo." He said. "After all, it was this evil fiend, Magnus, a vampire, the being who tried to turn you into a vampire, so you could serve him."

"But remember that it is also a vampire the one who saved her." Demean replied.

"Perhaps..."

"Listen, no one hates just because." Ikki intervened. "If you despise vampires so much, there must be a reason to it. I can bet than even my master had his past."

"Though it isn't right to hate, it's often justified by something." Hyoga added. "What happened to you?"

The were – bear sighed and said:

"Many things have happened to me over my long life. There was one vampire who was in league with the one who turned me into what I now am... And, like this Magnus creature that you speak of, he was delighted by the sight of tortured faces and fear – filled screams. For the longest of times, he tried to murder a dear friend of mine, the only one who has been able to live as long as I have..."

"And, have you met any other vampires?" Sora asked.

"No, not really." Octavius answered.

"Well, there you go."

"You cannot hate an entire race if you have not met all of its integrands." Demean declared. "And you cannot simply... jump to conclusions if you have not talked with the one who you consider your enemy. Our friend, Wilheim, lived a similar experience once."

"He did?" asked Akane, Ranma, and I. I didn't know what he was talking about.

"When he fought with the _Garou_." He said, and so I nodded my head as I remembered. "Vampires and were – wolves hate each other, because they believe that each race wishes to end with the other. Wilheim is one of the few vampires that has spared a were – wolf's live. And, what is even rarer, he actually talked to him. It was not until then that he and the _Garou_ realized that they were different than what they believed. Have you talked with a child of Cain, Octavius?"

"No."

"Then I believe that I had made my point clear."

"Why are you so bitter?" asked Donald. I couldn't believe that those words were actually coming out of his beak.

Again, there was silence. After a while, Octavius sighed yet again, and said:

"If I am bitter, it is because of the curse that has been cast upon me."

"What curse?" we all asked.

"I cannot die." He replied. "I have longed for death for a very long time. But as much as I wish to abandon this world, I do not get old. There are some who say that immortality is a gift, and do not understand why I hate it so much. But I have had many friends, and have seen them live and fall into death's arms. Yet, I do not follow. Why? Because of this curse..." he paused for a second, and then he continued speaking. "Perhaps it would be accurate to say that I am afraid."

"Afraid of what?" Donald asked.

"Afraid of making new friends, of becoming fond of someone. Because I know that, unless that someone has been bestowed with the 'gift' of immortality, he or she will die. Is it not a tragic thing to think about? That is why I do not have any friends..."

"But you just said a while ago that you were looking for someone..." Akane murmured.

"That is true. The one who I seek is the one who cast this curse upon me. I look for him because my destiny shall be completed. In fact, I think that it is because of this creature that I have managed not to unsheathe my sword and to stab myself with it..."

"I'm confused..." I declared. "If this guy is not your friend, then who is he? What does he mean to you?"

"The elders declared that there could only be one immortal." He answered. "Hence, one of us must be slayed by the other. And I have taken a vow, that I shall not rest until I see his dead body at my feet."

We were all speechless. We couldn't believe his words. He only lived because he wanted to kill someone... I don't know how can I describe that: either it was lunacy or evilness.

"And do you want to complete this... destiny that the elders talked about?" Ikki asked.

"Yes. I want to kill him. Haken shall fall, either by blade or bullet."

"Wouldn't that be playing his game?" Ranma asked.

"Perhaps. But I cannot let him do any more harm."

"What do you mean?" I asked, and suddenly understood why he wanted to do this.

"He is an evil being. Maybe I want to slay him for revenge, for personal reasons, but be that as it may, one could say that I will rid the world of an infernal vermin."

No one said anything for the longest of times. My friends kept eyeing each other, while Octavius stared into space. I looked at him without moving or speaking for a while. And so, after taking a deep breath, I said:

"You and Wilheim have much in common."

"What?" he muttered and turned to face me.

"You know... He killed Magnus because he wanted to hurt me. And also because of all the harm he had done to him. You see, Magnus killed his best friend when they were both young vampires... because of him, he had to leave his first girlfriend, in order to save her life... which kind of worked for me, even though it sounds a bit selfish." I giggled. "And he had to leave the group of vampires that took him as one of their own. And that's not an easy thing to accomplish if you're a Caitiff vampire, or so he said to me."

"It is not that complicated, if you are Wilheim" Demean said, with a smile.

"Well, I agree." I chuckled. "Because of all this, he wanted to kill him. And when he finally did so, he freed the world from his evilness... And it just isn't that. Wilheim also hates the fact that he's a vampire. He doesn't like to drink blood from others, and hates the thought of living forever... That's why I don't blame you."

Octavius didn't smile... but I could see a small glitter in his eyes. As if they had shinned with hope for an instant...

"Perhaps I have misjudged this Wilheim fellow." He said, and gazed into space again.

I put on a relieved smile on my face, and sighed.

All of a sudden, the ship began to shake back and forth, and most of us fell to the ground. A menacing sound reached our ears in the form of an explosion.

"What happened?!" Hyoga yelled.

"I do not know!" Octavius said. His face was then filled by fear as he looked at an entire squadron of Heartless ships. They were shooting at us! "Damn them!"

"How did they discover us, if we are riding a Heartless ship?!" Demean asked.

"I do not know!" the were – bear replied. "I do not know if they felt our presence with their shallow spirits, or if they found out that I stole it from one of them!"

"Whatever!" Ranma screamed. "Just get us out of here!"

"I will do my best!" Octavius exclaimed and quickly grasped the ship's controls and tried to escape the fleet's shots.

But our ship wasn't fast enough. And what was worse, the fleet had blocked our companion's ship's path, and they were unable to help us from the merciless strike that they unleashed on us. Octavius did his best and tried to dodge the beams by doing barrel – rolls and by flying up and down. Unfortunately, even though he was a good pilot, the turbines of our ship weren't as powerful as the ones of those birds of prey. In other words, we were just easy meat for them to chew.

Soon, another blast hit us, and Octavius began to lose control. We all thought that we were done for but then, Demean exclaimed, and pointed at the vast space:

"Look! There is a world we can land on over there!"

"Yes, I see it!" Octavius replied.

We were quickly engulfed by the magical essence of the new land, and the blackness of the universe turned into a lively, cheerful green. Tall trees began to rise from the ground to welcome our ship as it crashed into the grass...

"Won't it shrink?" Donald asked, as he looked at the enormous ship.

"I does not seem to do so." Octavius said, with a sigh. "It appears as if it has lost its magic..."

"Luckily the Heartless didn't follow us." Hyoga said, as he raised his head, and looked at the sky. "Well, whatever. Even if they would have come after us, we would've beat them in an instant."

"Yeah, but the damage is already done." Ikki grumbled. "What are we going to do now? Can you fix the ship?"

"I am no mechanic, but I suppose I could give it a try." Octavius replied.

"What I wouldn't give to have Cid here..." Donald said. "I hope that he and the rest of our friends find us."

"They will... we just have to be... patient." Sora said.

"Guys, I don't like this place." Akane intervened, while she looked around us. She couldn't take her eyes off the huge forest that surrounded her. "It's really creepy in here."

"I kind of like it." Ranma said, and shrugged his arms.

"I reckon that we should do some exploring." Demean suggested. "Why do not you, Ranma, come with Sora, Hyoga, and me? Let us find out what kind of place is this, while the rest of our friends..."

"The rest of us?" Donald asked. "No way! Someone's gotta stay here and watch over the ship!"

"I will stay." Octavius said. "The rest of you go ahead."

"No, I'll stay with you." Ikki said. "Meanwhile, we can try to repair the ship, though I think that this will be an impossible task..." he turned to us, and added: "Don't get lost, okay? This place looks big, so it would be wise to take something with you..."

"Some bread crumbles, perhaps?" Sora asked.

"You read too many stories, Hansel." Donald replied, and rolled his eyes.

"We won't get lost." I said. "Come on, guys." I added, as I turned to Donald and Akane. "Let's go. We have to find out where we are... And if we have to worry about it or not."

Although we had arrived to the new world when the sky was still clear and blue, twilight soon came. We had been walking for about an hour through immense passages, which were actually the hollow trunks of gigantic trees... There were no light posts anywhere nearby, and we didn't have any flashlights. However, we were lucky enough to have the beautiful, full moon to appear in the sky and save us from the shadows. Not only that, but it seemed that the night called a vast variety of gorgeous, harmless insects, such as fireflies, and what appeared to be... floating glow worms... Their glittering lights scared away the dark, and were soon joined by the chants of the crickets that lurked in the tall grass and by the squeaks of the nocturne birds that were hiding in the trees. All the more merry animals to make the place the less terrifying. Akane was still pretty scared, though...

How were we going to manage not to get lost, you might ask? Well, Donald happened to have a miniature, pocket – compass with him, and I had a pen... So I took note of all the passages that we had taken, and in which direction we had gone. Since I didn't have a piece of paper, my arm had to do the job. It was not long before Akane started to beg us to return to where Octavius and Ikki were.

"Let's just do a bit more of exploring." I insisted. "Come on, Akane, this place isn't that scary."

"Yes it is." She whined. "Come on, Ukyo... I wanna go back to the ship. I'm sure that Octavius and Ikki have fixed it by now."

"Yeah, right. Not even you can believe that."

"Whatever! I just want to go back."

"It's getting pretty dark..." Donald said. "I think that she's right, Ukyo. We don't we call it a night and get back to the ship? Besides, I'm a bit sleepy and I want to get some rest. And what's more, we have to stay there just in case our friends get here, right?"

"Oh, all right." I finally agreed. "Okay, come on. Let's get back..."

But before we could take a step, a strange music began to play... It was a merry melody that seemed to came from a flute. Its notes were magical and inviting... And what was more, it seemed to me that the fireflies and the glowworms began to dance along with the tune. It echoed its way through the hollow trunks, and reached our bewildered ears.

"What... what's that?" Akane murmured, and I noticed fear in her voice.

"It's music, Akane. Isn't it obvious?" I said.

"Yeah, but... Where's it coming from?" she asked.

"Good question." Donald said. "Let's see..." he began to walk about the many mouths of the trees, and carefully listened. Suddenly, he stopped and kept still and silent for a few moments. Then, he smiled, and turned to us. "Yup." He said. "It's definitively coming from here."

"Good hearing, Donald." I said. "OK, then, let's go."

"What?!" Akane cried. "What do you mean 'let's go'? I'm not going in there! If you want to find out where that's coming from, then let's go get the other guys! I'm not going with just the two of you!"

"Aw, phooey!" the duck grumbled. "If we go get the others, by the time we get back, the music will probably be gone, and we will never know who was playing it! I don't care about what you say, I'm gonna go and find out! Let's go, Ukyo!"

"This time I'm with him, Akane." I said. "Come on. There seems to be no Heartless around here, and the night is so peaceful... Besides, we're strong enough to beat enemies, right?"

"And even if we're not, we can shout for help!" Donald added.

"Wheee..." Akane muttered, and let out a frightened sigh. "Okay..." she finally said, though I noticed reluctance in her voice.

"Okay, come on!" Donald urged, and began to follow the merry tune, with us behind him.

The merry flute kept on playing the melody, as if it wanted to make sure that we would get to the source of it. Donald carefully stood at the entrance of every passage and quietly listened for the tune. Then, he would run into the passage, not before telling me in which direction we were heading, so I would write it down...

"East! North! East! North! North! West! North!" he yelled, as he glanced at his compass and led us into a new clear, which we barely looked at, and then went into another tree.

We ceaselessly ran, and the music grew louder and louder which each step that we took. The melody's source began to grow clearer, and we realized that it wasn't a flute, but an ocarina that was emitting that lovely music. The fireflies and the glowworms began to dance with more vigor, and the ravens and the crickets began to sing more fiercely.

We ran through the grass and the trees, leaving small ponds and high, thin trunks behind us. We were very close... I could even feel how the notes of the melody were beginning to caress my body... And as we came closer, the music grew louder, and played faster, and faster.

It was not long before Donald didn't even have to study our surroundings to know where the music came from. After a few moments, we all knew where it played from, and only turned right, and left, or ran straight ahead, without turning back, while the duck yelled the direction to me, and I quickly wrote it down in my already riddled – with – directions arm.

At long last, we finally crossed the final hollow trunk... and the music stopped. It had led us to a place like no other... It appeared to be a natural labyrinth, made out of rock and grass, from which the sweetest of fragrances came. The fireflies stopped dancing and flew about us in a peaceful way, and the glowworms hid under the grass and behind the great, greenish stones. Many sounds came from the labyrinth, and all of them seemed to be animals hiding under bushes. There were many footsteps at first, but they quickly vanished under the delicious air that blew from the maze. It was all very magical, and beautiful... I was really delighted and, to a certain extent, happy to be there.

"What was that?" Akane whispered in my ear. "Is this a trap? Don't you think that this was something that something did to trick us, Ukyo? Didn't you hear all those footsteps? What if they were Heartless?"

"They can't be." I answered. "Because the little ones don't make any noise when they walk, and the knights sound like clinking metal... and these footsteps sounded more like the ones of a rabbit, don't you think?"

"She's right." Donald said. "Let's go and check it out. Maybe there's something beyond the maze..."

"But, how can you tell that there is...?" Akane started to ask, but she then fell silent, as she noticed how some stairs led up to higher ground at the very end of the labyrinth. They seemed to be between two great rocks, and appeared to be untouched...

"See?" I said. "Let's go. They don't seem to be that far away... I bet that the maze is a very small one."

"You think?"

"I'm sure. Come on, Akane. Stop worrying about everything."

And so, we went into the labyrinth. The natural corridors that the rocks and the high grass created were very narrow, but we were able to walk through them quickly. The maze seemed to be very straightforward, and we didn't get lost many times. Sometimes we even crossed through the grass and reached another corridor. There were also a couple of deep ponds that we had to jump across to reach the exit, but nothing extraordinary or impossible to achieve. There is really no other word to describe it... It was a child's play.

"We made it." Donald said, with a triumphant breath, and looked at the stairs that lay in front of us. "I wonder where they go to?"

"Let's find out." I said.

We lost no time, and went up the stairs. These ones were actually very long, and their steps were very narrow, and hard to set foot in. Isn't it funny? The maze was supposed to be the hard part, and turned out to be a straight corridor, while these stairs were the most difficult path that we had ever encountered. The grass grew between step and step, and got in the way of our legs. Many were the times in which we almost tripped and fell, but luckily, we managed to keep our balance.

Finally, we reached the summit of the place, and entered into a little clear. There was a tall tree in front of us, and next to it, lay a lonely, little trunk, which appeared to be waiting for someone to sit one it, for someone other than the other tree to keep it company... And there was also a high platform that lead into what appeared to be some sort of a fortress, only that it was so high that we couldn't reach it.

"At last!" Donald exclaimed, with a quack. "Those stairs were really something evil! I almost broke my legs down there!"

"Well, we're through, so don't worry." I said. "I wonder if this is were the music came from?"

"Whatever." The duck grumbled. "Either way, we were too slow. Now we'll never know who was the one who was playing that tune."

"Hey, guys..." Akane muttered. "Look. Isn't that...?" she stopped talking and walked to the little trunk.

By it, lay an instrument that we hadn't seen until now. It was a tiny, wooden ocarina. Many fireflies began to fly around it, as if they wanted us to look at it. We followed Akane and then stood still as she lifted the musical instrument from the ground and stared at it with wonder.

"This must be the thing that it was playing..." she inquired. "Don't you think so?"

"I'm almost sure." I said. "But even so, where is the one who was playing it? Do you suppose that maybe he or she heard us and left in a hurry? Maybe we were a bit too loud..."

"I think so too." Donald sighed.

"It's lovely." Akane murmured, with a smile, while she gently caressed the ocarina's wooden skin. After a few moments, she carefully blew on it and moved her fingers about the little holes, and played different notes. "It's beautiful... I think that it went something like this..." she said, and, to our amazement, began to play the same melody that had led us there.

Every breathtaking, merry note was played by her soft lips and her quick fingers. I couldn't believe that Akane could play an instrument so well... and with so much ease! Even Donald was shocked by her tremendous skill. She may be a horrible cook, but she does have a talent...

"That's it, Akane!" I exclaimed. "You're doing it! That's the melody!"

"AARGH!!" suddenly yelled an unknown voice, and we all leapt in surprise when we heard it. There was no one around... Where could it have come from? "Who? Whoo?" it continued. "Who is the one who is playing that cursed thing? I came here to find peace and quiet, and all I find is three confounded brats that only care about the noise of that ocarina! Stop playing, and let me be!"

"Who... who is there?!" Donald asked, with a trembling voice.

"Oh, you are truly dull – witted!" the voice answered. "Look up here!"

We all obeyed and, after looking for a moment, found a little owl perched on the branch of the big tree that was in front of us. Its feathers were brown and his eyes were yellow and a bit comical, if you ask me... He seemed to be very upset about the music. I guess that we had wakened him from his sleep, though we surely didn't mean to do that.

However, I then looked at the sky and noticed that the night had completely taken over it. Aren't the owls supposed to be nocturne birds of prey? If so, then why was this lazy bum doing there, sleeping and not hunting?

"Who are you?" I asked in a loud voice, without fear. After all, I had lived through Donald, and Goofy, and I was no longer afraid of talking animals, for there seemed to be plenty of them all around the worlds.

"Me? I am Arquimedes, a highly educated owl!" it replied. "And who are you?"

"We are Donald, Akane, and Ukyo." I said, as I pointed at my friends and me as I named us.

"Well, Donald, Akane, and Ukyo... Will you please be quiet?!" the little, irritable owl shouted. Why were all the talking birds we encountered so neurotic? "I am trying to get some sleep here, but that seems an impossible thing to do with you chatting and playing that thing!"

"For a highly educated owl, you don't seem to know that you are supposed to be active during night time, do you?" Akane asked.

"Oh, how clever!" Arquimedes grumbled. "For your information, I happen to be very sleepy, because Merlin, the magician who I come with, will not let me rest with his many, interminable incantations and his noisy potions! That is why I tried to get away from him for a while and sleep. But with you here, I cannot do that!"

"Then go somewhere else!" Donald answered, with anger. "We're not going to go away! And you can't do anything about it!"

"What...?! I...! Why, I...! You...! Humph! Oh!!" stuttered the maddened, little owl, without knowing what to reply to the duck. "You barbaric duck! I have always known that the ones of your race were not very smart... But you are the vivid example of that statement, you hooligan!"

"Why, I'll...!" growled Donald, as he began to walk toward the tree, with an furious step. However, I stood in his way and kept him from going any farther.

"Calm down." I said to the enraged duck. "Do you know where we are?" I asked Arquimedes, without caring about his bad mood.

"Oh, for Heaven's sake!" he said, and let out a long yawn. I suppose that he had finally given up in trying to sleep... "You are in a forest. Is that so hard to tell? Do not the tree's around you give you a hint?"

"They tell us what kind of place this is, but they do not tell us their name."

"Humph! Maybe you are not as uncivilized as I thought you were... At least not you, girls."

"What?!" yelled Donald. "Fly down here and tell that to my face!"

"Do you think I would fall for such a stupid trick! I am comfortable up here, thank you very much!"

"Why, I... I... I'll roast him!" the duck growled, and got ready to fire a little fireball from his hands, but Akane stopped him by saying aloud:

"Quit it, will you? Work your magic on some enemy, and not on a little owl!"

"Oh? So you are a magician..." muttered Arquimedes, as he eyed Donald. "Well, you should do best by staying put! Merlin is the most powerful wizard of them all, and he will... he will... Err... come to my aid!" Obviously, the little owl was merely... bluffing, so to speak.

"Just try to call him, and I'll..." Donald started yet again.

"Oh, shut up!" I ordered. That duck was really good at making me lose my patience... Donald obeyed as soon as he heard me, but I could still see in his eyes that he wanted to turn the little owl into an appetizer with a fire spell. I then turned to Arquimedes and asked: "Where are we? And how is it that you got here?"

"Well, it is a bit of a long story, but I suppose that I could summarize it to you, as long as you keep that psychopath away from me."

"Deal, but you must stop bothering him as well." I said, as I, along with Akane, held Donald and kept him from running up to Arquimedes, who had now landed on the small trunk. "So, how is it that you got here? Was there a big, black hole that swallowed you?"

"There was, but it did not bring us here." He replied. "We first appeared in a place called Traverse Town, and came here after we found out the location of a magical seal, a keyhole."

"You know where Traverse Town's keyhole is?" Akane asked. After a pause, she added, with an excited voice: "We too appeared there, in that very place! We know all about the keyholes and the Keyblade, which is the only weapon capable of locking them... And what's more, we have the bearer with us!"

"You do?" Arquimedes asked, and put on a surprised expression. "Well, in that case, the story will be much shorter..."

"Yeah, that speeds things up." I added. "Either way, if you know about all these things, then you certainly must know about the Heartless..."

"Yes, and they are the reason why we had to leave Traverse Town. When Merlin found out where the keyhole was, an army of Heartless rose at night and tried to kill him. But Merlin is very powerful, and withstood most of the Heartless' attacks. Even so, we had to run away, because they just kept growing in numbers... We came here on one of them Gummi ships, and settled here. Meanwhile, Merlin has been trying to find out, by making use of his magical powers (which can be very noisy most of the times), where the rest of the keyholes are and where the Keyblade bearer is. I guess that he must already know that he is here, if he came with you."

"He is not among us, but he is here, alright." Akane said. "In that case, we have to get your master, and..."

"He is not my master!" Arquimedes grumbled. "He is just... just a friend! That is all!"

"All right, then, take it easy." I said. "Either way, we have to get back to Merlin and tell him that we know all about these things. It will do us much good... Let's go, for the chilling wind of the night is starting to grow menacing... Boy, each day, I speak more and more like Wilheim. By the way, did this Merlin fellow ever knew a man named Arthur?"

"Arthur? Oh, yes, the Wart! But he was only a kid, when we last left him... Actually, we are looking for him, as well. How is it that you know of him?"

"No special reason." I replied, with a smile. How could I be surprised? We had encountered mythical beings in the Olympus Coliseum... Why not the First King of England and the legendary sorcerer?

The little owl flew to me and perched on my spatula.

"All right, then. Let us go!" he urged.

But before we could move, a loud, booming voice called us.

"Hoot, hoot! Where are you fellows going? How is it that you came here, and why are you now leaving?" it asked.

We turned to it and saw yet another owl... Only that this was a king – sized one. It was as big as myself! It was very similar to Arquimedes (in a much bigger version), for it had also brown feathers covering its body and black little dots on its chest, and a yellow gaze. However, his expression was much more serious than the one of the little owl, who, by the way, was terrified to see such a large animal. He hid behind my head, with his body shaking.

"What sort of joke is this?!" he exclaimed, with terror.

"I am no joke!" the huge owl replied. "Hoot, hoot! I am here because I heard a magical piece playing... It must have been you who played the ocarina, for that instrument does not play by itself! Hoot!"

"What... who are you?" I asked.

"I am just a friendly owl! Hoot!" the animal answered. "I mean no harm. You see, I heard a song... Saria's Song, it is called, and came as fast as I could, for I believed that the legendary hero had returned home. I thought that the time to defeat the Great King of Evil had come, and hurried here, into the Lost Woods. However, I see that I was mistaken... Hoot! Or was I? Where did you learn to play that song?"

"I... I just listened." Akane stammered. "It came from here... And we followed the melody and found this ocarina. I played it and... well, you came, I think."

"So you found no one playing?" The owl asked. "That is quite strange, hoot! Maybe it was one of them naughty skull kids, who also like to play the ocarina. Either way, I have been mistaken."

"I... I guess so." Donald muttered. "Well, now, with your permission, we have to..." he then yelped as he fell on his back. He had tripped with something on the ground.

"How very amusing! This duck has no wits at all!" Arquimedes laughed, since he was now much more relaxed after the huge owl's words. He laughed for a long time, and lost his breath, and began to convulse on top of my spatula, while Donald cursed him and jumped up an down in anger.

What can I say? I wanted to tell Arquimedes to be silent, but I simply couldn't do that, because I was also laughing my head off... The little owl's chuckle's were even funnier than Goofy's.

"Come on, guys, quit it." Akane said, after a while, with a smile on her face, which quickly vanished as Donald turned to look at her.

"Yeah, she's right. Hush, Arquimedes." I giggled... but suddenly, something caught my eye. "Look at that!" I exclaimed, as I pointed at the thing that had caused Donald to trip.

It was a flat, big rock, which had a crest inscribed on it. It was a crest that I had seen before: three triangles that formed a whole...

"Where?" I asked myself. "Where have I seen that before? I know I have seen it... That's it!!" I exclaimed, as I remembered. "That's the same symbol on Link's sword and shield!"

"You're right!" Donald and Akane exclaimed, as they recognized the crest.

"Oh, Link! Then you do know the Hero of Time!" the huge owl cried out. "That is amazing!"

"The Hero of Time?!" I asked. "So this is Hyrule, the land which he claims to be his home?"

"Yes, indeed it is!" hooted the owl. He was about to say something else, but he then fell silent, and gazed to the stairs that had led us there. "Do you hear that? Hoot!" he asked. "There is someone coming... Hoot! They are the Great King of Evil's forces!"

"What?!" we all shouted.

"You have to hide!" The owl said. "Hoot! You will not be able to fend off such fierce foes by yourselves!"

"Then get help!" Donald yelled. He turned to him and to Arquimedes and said: "Our friends are someone near here! Go get them, please, before it's too late!"

"We shall do this!" The owl said. "Until then, stay alive and do not let yourselves get captured! Come on, little one! We must hurry, if we want to save your friends!"

"Why did I get myself into this?" Arquimedes whined, as he flew along with the huge owl. "I should have stayed next to Merlin! A few hours of non sleep would not have hurt me at all!"

"Go!!" Akane, Donald, and I urged.

And so, they disappeared behind the huge trees. We stood still and raised our guards, as we began to hear the low rumbling that came from the Great King of Evil's servants... A thousand growls and howls broke the silence of the forest and menaced to end with us... We could do nothing but to stay there and wait for our friends, or wait to be slayed...


	15. Chapter Fourteen: Dragons in the Second ...

Hello again. I've decided to add yet another character to the story. This one doesn't belong to me, but to a very dear friend of mine, Cecilia Sanz. Also, she created the realm of Yakowleiche, it isn't mine. I thank her for letting me use her character, and for letting me mention her realm (even though the things that I say are not entirely accurate with her story. Well, that's why this is called fan fiction, right?). Okay, on with the story.  
  
Chapter Fourteen: Dragons in the Second Star to the Right  
  
It was indeed a marvelous thing, to have my dear friend Camille by my side again. I had truly missed her much since I had left her in her castle, in the outskirts of Urthalien. Sadly, and fortunately at the same time, ever since I had told her about my dearest Ukyo, Camille had stopped seducing me, save for that little instant right before the battle against Jaffar. She was rather very busy harassing my good friend Ryoga. I say fortunately, for the purity and the truth of my love for my dearest would no longer be tainted. And I say sadly because. Well, to be looked in an erotic way by a beautiful woman gives my body quite a cozy feeling. I do not lie to you when I say that I missed the old days a lot, the days when Camille lustfully sat on my lap and rubbed her soft lips in my ear. The way she caressed my chest with her naughty hand was something that drove me out of my mind in those days. Ah, how I longed for that playful touch again.  
  
As for Ryoga, he was suffering the same fate that I had suffered (or enjoyed, depending on your point of view) a long time ago. Camille would not stop toying with his hair, and with his hands. She was like a bee that longs for honey, and sees the men around her as her food. And Ryoga tried hard to run away from her. but her lust - filled breath and her erotic arms managed to get my friend's attention time after time.  
  
Merryck did not find himself in such a. predicament. Strangely, Camille saw him as a little stuffed doll, so to speak. She treated him caringly and with the pure touch of a worried sister. I had never seen her behave like that with anybody else, but me. And, to a certain extent, it made me jealous, for I thought of my self as Camille's only little brother. I knew that, if I asked her, she would caress my hair with her beautiful hands, and she would rub her lips against my forehead. But I could not do that, for she would also seduce me again. And I could not betray my love for Ukyo. But, and I pray for your forgiveness for saying this, God, how badly I needed my beloved's erotic gaze on me to feel satisfied!  
  
And what was worse was the fact that, from time to time, Camille would try to seduce Tifa. Even though she obviously rejected her every time, some times by even trying to kick her, there were occasions in which the controls of the ship kept her hands from fighting against my dear succubus. During such times, Camille would smile and caress Tifa's body with her lustful fingers. Tifa begged for us men to help her, but Ryoga and I were too. stunned to do anything. Only Merryck, a true gentleman indeed, was strong enough to drive the succubus away from the fighter. Strangely enough, Tifa did not hate Camille. They got along very well. And perhaps that was what aroused Ryoga and I the most.  
  
***  
  
"Camille, get out of my face!" Tifa shouted, as my friend playfully caressed her long leg. "I mean it! I'm three seconds away from kicking your butt!"  
  
"Is that what you really want to do, my dear Tifa?" Asked my friend, with lust in her voice. "When will you give up this silly fight? Will you not play with me? Just like you used to toy with me in the deep caves of Agrabah? Do you remember? When we were under the cover of the dark shadows. When you longed to taste my lips, and I longed to taste your flesh."  
  
"What the.? Oh, that's a lie!" Tifa exclaimed, with a laugh, as she turned to face us. "That's a major lie! We did nothing of the sort!" she looked at Camille and said: "Not in your dreams!"  
  
"In my dreams it is possible. And so it is in yours."  
  
"No way! Hey, guys--! Hey! Will you stop looking at us like that?! Damn it, boys! Do you men ever think of something else that isn't sex?"  
  
I could not blame her. After all, Ryoga and I did have an idiotic expression on our faces.  
  
"I am terribly sorry!" I said, with a gasp. "I was not thinking what you think I was thinking!"  
  
"Yeah, sure." Tifa said, and rolled her eyes. "You were obviously thinking what I think you were thinking."  
  
"You silly boys cannot get that image off your minds, can you?" Camille asked, and her tone was an erotic one. "You are all so easy to trap. Just a mere sigh and you are already coming up with a wicked story in those little, yet imaginative minds of yours. Just a little gasp and you beg for me to take you, is it not that way?"  
  
"No, no, no!" Ryoga stuttered. "You're wrong! I can't think those things! I can only think of. Akane! Yeah, I can only think of her!"  
  
"Do you picture her with me, perhaps?"  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
"And what about you, Wilheim? Has your innocent heart spawned a hidden desire for me and for your beloved? Do not you wish to have us both?"  
  
I am ashamed to admit that, at that time, I was quite happy to hear those words from her mouth. Again, my old friend was arousing me, like before.  
  
"What are you talking about?!" I said, doing my best to sound offended. "Do not be ridiculous! I will not tolerate this insult! My love for Ukyo is pure, and it is her whom I wish to have, and her alone!"  
  
"Please, Wilheim. You know best that even seeing Tifa and me in a lustful union would. how do they call it? Oh, yes. It would make your day."  
  
"I beg your pardon?!" I yelled, but my voice trembled at the mere thought of her words.  
  
"Okay, I want you to clarify something for me, guys." Tifa interrupted. "What is it with you, men? What's so exciting about seeing two women together? It doesn't excite me to think about two guys together. For instance, I would find it rather repugnant to see you two together."  
  
"Well, you would not be the only one." I assured.  
  
"Likewise." Ryoga added.  
  
"Then, what is it?" she insisted.  
  
"Hello, everybody!" greeted Merryck, who had just woken up from a long nap. "It is nice to see that everyone is discussing so energetically! But, I wonder, what are you discussing about?"  
  
"Merryck, you are a decent one!" Tifa said. "Come on, tell these guys that it isn't nice to see two women together."  
  
"I take it that Camille has set this little racket off." The hobbit chuckled, as did the succubus. "Well, I must be completely honest. For us men, seeing two women together means something very exciting. Perhaps it is the fact that the woman has always been considered a beautiful creature."  
  
"Well put, Merryck." I said. "And if I may add so, women have always been associated with eroticism, and gorgeousness. Men, however, are related to power, and strength. Maybe that is the reason that we find it very appealing to see you girls in such a lustful embrace."  
  
"Okay, I'll buy that." Tifa said.  
  
"As will I." Camille added. "Well, it has been quite fun. However, I think that I will let you rest for today. I would not like to know that your hearts cannot think of your darlings, because of me and my devilish manners."  
  
Her breath was filled by lust, and she got up, and gave us an erotic gaze. However, her words had been true. For even though Camille did not cease for one moment to torment us with her beautiful body, she did not mean to steal our souls. Not mine or Ryoga's. Because she loved me very much. She wanted me to be happy. She had told me that, if the day came when I wanted to make love with her, she would gladly make me surrender to her. But she would never force me, nor think about stealing my heart from Ukyo's breath. And I knew that she would not harm my friend, because I cared for him. And I sensed that she was starting to care for him too, and for the rest of my friends.  
  
We all stayed silent for a while. It was Tifa who spoke again.  
  
"Wow!" she exclaimed. "Wow, I don't believe that!"  
  
"What? What is it?" asked Camille, as she turned to face her.  
  
"I'm sorry. You guys didn't see that." she said, and there was amazement in her eyes. "I. I didn't tell you about it sooner, because I couldn't speak. It was so surprising and sudden. and so. so."  
  
"What happened?" asked Merryck.  
  
"I saw a dragon. It flew around that little white star two times and then vanished. I was too surprised to say anything, but I saw it. You've got to believe me! I've seen dragons before, and none other looked like this did. It had a green, large, scaly body, and a pair of enormous wings. But what was the strangest about it were its eyes. They actually looked like the eyes of a person who has emotions, if you know what I mean. I had never seen that in the dragons that I have fought before."  
  
"A dragon?" I asked. I had always wanted to have a look at one of those fantastic creatures. Though I did not want to show too much enthusiasm about it, for the last time I had mentioned that I wanted to see a dark being, Camille had scolded me. But, are all dragons truly dark creatures? At that moment, I thought so, but did not know that I was wrong.  
  
"Yeah." Tifa said. "I don't know about you guys, but I'd really like to go over there and check it out. Besides, that looks like a place where we can land the ship. What do you say?"  
  
"You are the one who is piloting this thing." Camille answered. "However I must warn you that I am not too thrilled about the idea of bolting off after a dragon. I dread to think of its sharp teeth and its menacing claws."  
  
"Don't say those things, Camille!" Merryck exclaimed, with a gasp. "Your words are chilling! And the stories that Demean has told me do not help much either! Confounded lizard - like creatures! I cannot help but to feel that we are marching into its jaws!"  
  
"Nah, don't worry about it." Tifa said, and got a hold of the transmitter that allowed us to keep in touch with our friends. A gift from the Genie. And a very useful one at that. "Vincent, are you there? Come on, answer!"  
  
"The captain has taken a break from the arduous flight. This is the co - pilot speaking, HQ. Over." Replied the voice of our ever - childish friend, Felicia.  
  
"Felicia?! I thought that Vincent would never let you touch the ship's controls after what you did last time!" Ryoga yelled.  
  
"The captain has reconsidered and has let the ship under the command of the best star - fighter in the fleet. Do you know who she is? Yours truly, over." Said the catwoman.  
  
"But."  
  
"Save it for later, Ryoga." Tifa interrupted. "Felicia, I'm going to go into that little star at two o'clock. We'll all be there, all right? Are you coming with us, or are you going to investigate another world?"  
  
"Coordinates received, HQ. I think that we'll sit this one out, HQ. Over."  
  
"Felicia, cut the Starcraft* crap!" the fighter said. "Are you guys coming or not?"  
  
"Negative, HQ. You're on your own, over."  
  
"She's not going to stop, is she?" Tifa asked Ryoga. Clearly, she had run out of patience, even though I thought that the catwoman's game was very comical.  
  
"Nope." He said, with a giggle.  
  
"Okay, then. We'll land over there, Felicia. Make sure to tell Vincent and the rest of the guys about it. We'll talk to you in two hours, and let you know how things are there. We'll see if there are any of our friends. Either way, you just keep someone close to the transmitter. Got that?"  
  
"Roger, HQ. Go ahead, and God speed. Over and out." Felicia said.  
  
"Why did you not mention that you saw a dragon, Tifa? Or have you forgotten what your eyes have captured? I would be very surprised to learn this, for a dragon is not a creature that one gets to get a glimpse of everyday." I said to the fighter.  
  
"I didn't want to alarm them. Besides, I'm not in the mood of playing right now, and it seems that Felicia will give me a very hard time if she comes with us." Tifa replied.  
  
"Be that as it may, we could certainly use her help. Her claws are sharp, and I reckon that they could go through metal. A very powerful weapon. And it would be wise to use it against a dragon, if you ask me." the hobbit said. I could see that he was very afraid of the mere thought of standing in front of a dragon. And why not? After all, their mighty bodies can intimidate even demons with their magnificence. And Demean's stories had not build up Merryck's courage against these beings.  
  
"Hey, I'm here." Tifa said. "There's nothing to worry about. Besides. Something tells me that that dragon is not exactly our enemy." She added, with a grim tone in her voice, and quickly stirred the ship towards the twinkling star.  
  
A few seconds later, we found ourselves being engulfed by the atmosphere of the new world. I was lucky, for the sun was resting, and the night reined the land. There it was, a beautiful green island, surrounded by clear, black water. I say black, for you have to remember that I can only see when the moon is in the sky, though I assume that the water was blue and beautiful, like the eyes of my beloved Ukyo. Not far from the shore, lay what seemed to be a pirate ship. Its sails were downed, and its crew slept a heavy sleep as it was rocked by the gentle waves.  
  
"That looks cool." Tifa muttered. She made a small pause, and then said: "Let's look for a place to land. After that, we'll separate into two groups and search the area, OK"?  
  
"Do you think that that's wise?" Ryoga asked. "What if there's trouble? Why don't we wait for Vincent and the others?"  
  
"We'll be alright." She assured. "What do you say, guys? Are you coming or not?"  
  
"Since we are already here, it does not seem that we were given much of a choice, my friend." Camille said, with a chuckle. "But I trust in my powers, and in yours. The night seems peaceful and the inhabitants of this island seem to be resting under its cover. Only one thing I fear, and that is the day. Not for myself, for my skin can withstand the rays of the sun, but for Wilheim. What if the day ambushes you, dear? Would it not be wise to stay in here, and wait for it to come and vanish?"  
  
"I will not stay put again, not after what happened to me and Morrigan in Agrabah." I said. "Besides, the dawn cannot ambush anyone, for it announces itself with the paling sky."  
  
"Indeed it does. But will you be able to find cover before it burns you?"  
  
"I am quick and resourceful, Camille. Do not worry about me."  
  
"Okay. Just to make sure nothing happens to him, I'll go with him." Tifa said. "Merryck, you should come with us too, while Camille and Ryoga go on by themselves."  
  
"Well, I reckon that I shall be safe with you." Merryck giggled. "All right, then. Just find a place to land, and I will follow you. Perhaps we will be able to approach the pirate ship. After all, I have always wanted to see buccaneers. This is a great opportunity!"  
  
***  
  
We hid the ship under one of many big trees that created a vast sheet that impeded the moonlight from touching our bodies. Darkness engulfed us as soon as we came out of the ship. Luckily, Tifa was prepared for this kind of situation and quickly took out a pair of flashlights.  
  
"As far as I can tell, the pirate ship is that way." Tifa said, and pointed to our left. "So, Merryck, Wilheim and I will be going that way. You guys just. try to find a way out of this forest. Then, explore the land, and. we'll see you here. How about, right before dawn? So that Wilheim won't be in danger."  
  
"Okay." Ryoga muttered, and raised an eyebrow. He was not too sure or thrilled about the decisions that the fighter was making.  
  
"Let's go then." Said Tifa, and began to march into the depths of the shadowy forest, with Merryck and I following her. And as we walked away from our friends, I heard Ryoga say to Camille:  
  
"She isn't much of a leader, is she?"  
  
"Certainly not. But let her have her fun. At least for now." Replied the succubus.  
  
I sighed, and followed my friends more closely.  
  
A sudden thought had invaded my mind. What could have become of Halloween Town? Could it now lay devastated by the multiple and ceaseless attacks of the Heartless? Or was it still standing? I wondered if Jack Skellington had been able to hold back the menacing beasts. He was very powerful, but I did not think that he could withstand an attack as strong as the one we had faced in Agrabah. I could only hope that the town itself was in one piece, and that the Heartless had not been causing any more problems.  
  
"What's up, Wilheim?" Tifa asked, as she noticed me thoughtful. "What's on your mind?"  
  
"Oh, it is nothing." I answered. "Tifa, are you certain that this is the path that we must follow in order to reach the pirate ship? Because you are leading us as if this was a forest that you used to walk in the days of your childhood."  
  
"Don't worry, I know where we're going. You just have to watch your step, 'cause I can't guarantee that there aren't any pits in the ground, or poisonous critters."  
  
"Those are quite relieving words." Merryck murmured. "And what is even more relieving is the fact that we have come here in search of a dragon, no less."  
  
"Why are you so scared of dragons, Merryck? Have you ever seen one?" Tifa asked. "Because I have. I have even fought against them. And all sorts of dragons, too. Snake - like dragons, two headed dragons. You name it. And all of them have fallen before me. Of course, none of my friends is here to help me beat one of those things right now, but we've got Wilheim. He's a strong fellow, isn't he? You've got nothing to worry about, Merryck. Besides, like I told you, something tells me that this dragon is not exactly like the other ones. It had a strange look in its eyes. I only saw it for a moment, but that was more than enough to realize that it was different."  
  
"Well, then, I hope that we can trust your instincts."  
  
"It'll be okay. Everything is cool."  
  
"Everything is cool." I said, and smiled. "I take it that you are the friend that Vincent mentioned the first time we met. Are you the one who taught him that phrase?"  
  
"Oh. no, it wasn't me. His name is. Cloud."  
  
"Oh. Well, though they may be simple, they are nice words. I have tried to remember them during our journey. Sometimes I forget, but does not everyone? The important thing is to keep them echoing in your mind when you remember them."  
  
"That's true."  
  
None of us said another word until we left the forest behind us and peeked from a row of thick bushes at the pirates' ship. It was very close to shore. So close to us that, in fact, we could hear the crew's racket and screams. Fortunately, the only two pirates that were on watch seemed to be a bit dull - witted, and did not see us at all. They were too busy yelling at each other to pay any attention to us, silent observers.  
  
"What is yer problem, mate?" yelled one. "Hand me that stinkin' bottle! Yer not going to leave me without some of that wine, are yer?"  
  
"If you want some wine, get yer own darn bottle!" replied the other. "I am giving nobody this bottle! It's me bottle, and I'm going to drink every last drop of this wine!"  
  
"As if having those nasty bugs on board isn't enough, now I've got to put up with yer rudeness!"  
  
"Aye, those critters are something that we've got to watch out for. They make me hair stand on end. And what's worse is that we've got to be on the look out for that nasty, little brat. He could be flying right above our heads, and we wouldn't notice with this stinkin' night. It's too darn dark. All we've got is a couple of torches, and that isn't good enough. We need more light. Why don't yer get your butt inside and ask the captain for some more torches? Or better yet, for more men?"  
  
"More men? You stupid bum! Have you forgotten that everyone has left for the island to look for that brat and his friends? We are the only ones on board, monkey! It's obvious that the wine has taken its toll on you. That's why yer have to give me that bottle, before yer hurt yourself. Or before I hurts yer."  
  
"Is that a threat? Yer won't get a drink of me wine did yer hear that? And I am not drunk. I still know that we have that woman on board, and that we are supposed to guard her. And even if someone manages to get over our bodies, those Heartless things will be waiting for them inside the ship. So it doesn't matter if I get drunk, does it?" the pirate cackled.  
  
"If that is the case, then give me the bottle! I want to get drunk too!" screamed the other one, and began to fight with his companion over the bottle. Pathetic, if you ask me.  
  
"Well, we now know that the Heartless are here as well." Merryck whispered. "And that they seem to be in a league with those pirates. That is quite unfortunate."  
  
"If all the pirates are like that, I don't think that we'll have much trouble in getting rid of them." Tifa said.  
  
"Just because they are now drowned in alcohol does not mean that their skill with the gun and the sword is not something to be feared." I said. "Be that as it may, the Heartless alone are terrible opponents that are not to be underestimated, as you may have realized in Agrabah. But, right now, what concerns me the most is the fact that within that ship lays a woman. I reckon that she is a hostage. Of course, I could be mistaken."  
  
"I wouldn't think so." The hobbit said. "But what concerns me the most is the fact that we have not seen the dragon at all."  
  
"Perhaps it is because you have not looked everywhere yet." Said a grave, gentle voice at our backs.  
  
We quickly turned around and froze in both awe and horror as we realized that we were standing face to face with the dragon. Its scaly, green body cast a shadow over us, as if it were another tree. Its wings were spread, and were as big as myself. It had sharp claws on its four paws that shinned with the moonlight that managed to caress them. But in spite of all of this, he did not seem to be an evil creature. His eyes reflected his good will... Just like Tifa had said.  
  
Even though our mouths were wide open, no sound came from them. I could sense that Merryck was the one who was most scared. All those stories that Demean had told him suddenly came rushing back at him, and he began to tremble at the mere thought of being devoured by that dragon. And so, the dragon spoke.  
  
"Why are you so afraid?" he asked. "I am not your enemy. I thought that by now you would know that. What is it of me that scares you so much?"  
  
"Perhaps it's the fact that you're a dragon." Tifa answered, and smiled. Clearly, she was beginning to lose her fear. "But it's okay. I believe in your words, and I believe that we can trust you."  
  
"How can you be so sure?" Merryck stuttered, while trembling.  
  
"Because, otherwise, he would have eaten us by now." I inquired.  
  
"Maybe you are right." The dragon laughed. "But eating creatures such as yourselves is not something that I like to do. Rather, I use magic spells to suit my foes. I am a dragon mage, and a rare one at that."  
  
"So. you are not going to eat us? Or put a spell on us, if you are a magician?" Merryck asked, with fear in his voice.  
  
"Not at all." The dragon answered. "I would have if you would have been allied with the pirates or the Heartless. But your talk has told me otherwise." he smiled and walked to us. With a sigh, he looked at the pirate ship and added: "From the looks of it, it seems that those two have told you a great deal of what is happening in this little island. However, not all is known to you."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" I asked.  
  
"I have stayed here for some nights, listening to the pirate's conversations silently. All of them, those two specially, do not know when to keep their mouths shut, and I have learned many things because of their carelessness. For instance, I know that you are the vampire called Wilheim."  
  
"What?!" I exclaimed. I then quickly covered my mouth with my hands. My yell had been a loud one. Fortunately, the two pirates were drunk enough to not heed it. "How is it that you know of me? What tales do these pirates tell?"  
  
"Many." The dragon said. "I know only that the one that controls the Heartless, an evil woman called Maleficent, wants you dead. And this is because, apparently, one of his most recent and precious pawns, a young boy named Riku, has run away from her, claiming that you told him that you would help him find his friend without asking anything in return, whereas she had asked him to kidnap a princess and to serve him. Without the boy, Maleficent's plans have been ruined. She holds you responsible for Riku's leaving." He paused, smiled, and added: "As you can see, the pirates do have big mouths."  
  
"Well, I must say that I did not expect him to do what he did. I am happy that he came to his senses, even though he may have not fully understood what I told him... These are good news. I think it would be now a good thing to ask you your name, for we do not know it, kind dragon."  
  
"And I do not know the ones of your friends. As for mine, it is Wilgrathnedfredolthx."  
  
"What, what, what??" Tifa blurted. Indeed, the dragon's name was somewhat difficult to... learn.  
  
"I know that you are not used to hear such names." Wilgrathnedfredolthx laughed. "But you can call me Will. I assume that you will have no trouble with that."  
  
"I... yes, I do guess that it is a lot easier." Merryck said, and gulped. "My... my name is Merryck Goldengrass, from the hobbit Town, the one which is not that far away from the forest of Fingoth..."  
  
"And I'm Tifa, from Niebleheim. Nice to meet you." The fighter added.  
  
"It is my pleasure. I come from another realm, which, I assume, is unknown to you, the land of Yakowleiche."  
  
"Nope, never heard of that." Tifa said.  
  
"I thought so. Be that as it may, listen carefully, for I have yet important things to say to you... These pirates are on the lookout for you. They are aware that you might be nearby. The news of your victory against the Heartless army in Agrabah (a place that is still unknown to me), traveled far, and reached the ears of the captain of the pirates. As a matter of fact, I have heard that most of the worlds that are found throughout space are actually riddled with Heartless who want to kill you. Therefore, it would be wise for you to stay low, for now."  
  
"It seems that Maleficent really needed this boy for something. Otherwise, she would've stopped seeking us by now." Merryck inquired. I noticed that he was not so scared anymore.  
  
"I agree." I said. "However, one question still remains unanswered. Will, do you know who is the woman that is onboard the ship? Is she another pirate, a member of the crew? Or is she a captive?"  
  
"She is the later." Will replied. "Her name is Wendy, and she means a lot of trouble for the pirates and the Heartless as well. For this girl is a dear friend of this little Island's most daring adventurer... A boy by the name of Peter Pan. But that is not all. Even though these stupid pirates have talked much, they have not said all. It appears that there is another woman on board. A little girl, whose name is Kairi."  
  
"Kairi?" I stuttered. "This is ill news! Is Riku aware of this?"  
  
"No, he is not, as far as I am concerned."  
  
"If the pirates find Riku and show him Kairi, he will surely go back to their side..."  
  
"That's not pleasant." Tifa murmured. "What is it that they want with her? Just give her back to Riku, in order to keep him as one of their pawns?"  
  
"Their plans are not as simple. You see, there is a dark door in another world, Hollow Bastion, which is the source of all the shadows, of all the Heartless. If this door were to be unlocked, I fear that all the worlds would be overrun by an army greater than any other. Greater than the ones which I have encountered in my own land, and those armies were something to be feared. In order to unlock this somber gate, seven princesses, chosen by destiny, the Princesses of Heart, are needed. As I have heard, they have already captured three of them. One is a little girl named Alice. The other is a fair princess, named Jasmine, who hails from Agrabah. I suppose that you have heard of her, for your doings in that place were not unheard of."  
  
"Yes, that is the princess that Riku stole." Merryck said. "The girl that Aladdin wished to see... We promised her father, the Sultan, that we would bring her back to him."  
  
"I hope that you will be able to keep that promise. However, she is not here. She can be found in Hollow Bastion, along with Alice. Kairi, who is another Princess of Heart, was found here, and is now in the ship. They will soon leave this place, and depart for Hollow Bastion."  
  
"Hmm... I guess that none of us want that to happen, huh, guys?" Tifa said. "We have to get her back. If we do, then Maleficent's plans will be even more ruined, and what's better, Riku will join forces with us."  
  
"He will join us even if we do not get Kairi back." I said. "All we have to do, is find him before they do, and tell him about these important matters."  
  
"Thank you so much, Will, sir, err... Dragon..." Merryck stammered, and bowed his head. "I see that you are not what I thought you were, thank goodness."  
  
"I am aware of that. I tell you all of this because I also want the worlds to come together again. I long to return to my dear land, as you do." Will said.  
  
"Hey, Will! What news of the pirates?" asked another voice. It came from behind the dark trees, and we could not see who had spoken, until the shadows engulfed him no more.  
  
"Ah, there you are." Will said, and smiled, as he eyed the man that stood in front of us. This later stared at us with confusion.  
  
"Um... hello." He murmured.  
  
"Hello." We all replied.  
  
The man was tall, and had an athletic, thin body. His arms were muscular, as were his legs. He had dark, long hair. So long, that it even caressed its thighs when the wind blew. It seemed like a dark waterfall to me, a never - ending cascade that fell into the somber night. He had gray eyes that seemed to reflect both great strength and wisdom. He wore what appeared to be a green armor with the shape of a Chinese dragon, which glittered with the starlight. He had an immense shield attached to his arm, with a four - pointed star carved on it.  
  
"There is something that I forgot to tell you." Said Will, as he turned to us. "When I woke up in this Island, I found myself next to this fellow, who had been here some time before me. It seems that his friend was found by the pirates in his sleep, and taken as a captive. They hold him still, and he has asked for my help, and the one of the adventurer Peter Pan, to help him."  
  
"So, you are in league with this Peter Pan, and him?" I asked. "How fortunate. The Heartless are fierce foes, and the more help we can get, the better. Hello, then, good man. My name is Wilheim, and these are my friends, Merryck Goldengrass, and Tifa Lockhart."  
  
"Hello. If Will trusts you enough to speak of my friend, then I will trust you too. My name is Shiryu, and I am the Dragon's saint."  
  
"Where have you been, Shiryu? I thought that you might have been captured by the pirates." Will said.  
  
"Don't say that. Those weaklings cannot harm me... I was with Peter Pan, and the lost boys. They are still hiding."  
  
"I see."  
  
"The lost boys?" asked Tifa. "Are there any other characters that you still haven't talked about, Will?"  
  
"No." the dragon chuckled. "They are Peter Pan's friends. They have helped us many times."  
  
"Could I ask a question?" Merryck intervened. "If you, a dragon, this fellow, Peter Pan, and the rest of the boys have not managed to rescue your friend and the ladies, then what good could we do? You have obviously tried, haven't you?"  
  
"Yes, but now, the perfect time has come." Shiryu said. "Because only the Heartless remain on the ship... Are you the ones that the Heartless have been talking about?"  
  
"I believe so, yes." I replied.  
  
"Then you can help us." The saint went on. "We heard that you defended a place called Agrabah from a horde of Heartless. You might prove useful."  
  
"Yeah, but we didn't do that alone." Tifa intervened. "Our friends helped us, and they aren't here right now. Only two more, but that's it..."  
  
"Two more would be enough." Will said.  
  
"That's right." Shiryu added. "If we strike at the right time, then it doesn't matter if we are outnumbered, as long as we have more power. Please! My friend Seyia is in there, and so are those two women! I need your help to get him back... Please, help us!"  
  
"Okay." Tifa agreed. She turned to us, as if to consult us, even though she had already spoken. We nodded silently, and so she said: "But you'll have to wait for us. We have to get our friends, and I'm not sure where they are... Besides, how much is it 'til dawn?"  
  
"About three hours... maybe a bit more." Shiryu guessed.  
  
"That is enough time." I said. "But we must be quick... Before we do this, I must ask you: have either of you seen in this place a young girl with gorgeous, cascading, brown hair adorned by a white ribbon, beautiful body, white skin, and precious blue eyes?"  
  
"No." they both replied.  
  
"Fine." I sighed. "Never mind. I shall go and find Camille and Ryoga before the pirates do. In the mean time, I assume that you will go and assemble your troops."  
  
"Troops? Oh, the kids. Right." Shiryu said.  
  
"All right. Let us meet here in an hour. We must act quickly, for the cover of the night will prove most useful. Besides, if the sun comes out of the mountains, I will be doomed."  
  
"Then let's go." Tifa urged. "We'll go with Will and Shiryu. You go get Camille and Ryoga."  
  
"Yes." I said, and bolted into the forest, placing my entire trust in two beings who I had just met...  
  
***  
  
It did not take me long to find both Camille and Ryoga wandering about the forest. I spotted them near a waterfall of clear, blue water that poured into a small, tranquil pond. Many tall trees and dark green bushes surrounded it. There was no sound, save for the rushing water. No crickets emitted their chant, and no owls hooted in the dark.  
  
"Camille! Ryoga!" I called.  
  
They turned to face me and an expression of surprise spread in their faces.  
  
"Wilheim! What are you doing here?" Ryoga asked.  
  
"We thought that you were traveling by Merryck and Tifa's side. Did you get lost?" Camille added.  
  
"No. I was looking for you, actually. There are many things that we have learned. It seems that Tifa's idea was not such a bad one after all. Finding the dragon was much more rewarding than I would have ever dreamed of." I replied.  
  
"What news do you bring us, then?"  
  
Before I could answer the succubus's question, Ryoga let out a startled gasp. He had been hit by a tiny stone on the back of his head. He was not wounded, but this sudden attack had caught him by surprise. And then, a rain of small rocks began to fall on us apparently from nowhere. We quickly ran to one of the nearest trees and hid behind the raging storm.  
  
"Come out from where you are, pirates! Fight like men!" a little voice suddenly yelled. It had been a child's scream.  
  
"What?! What are you talking about?! We're not pirates!!" Ryoga yelled back.  
  
"Yes you are!" the voice answered. "All grown - ups are pirates!"  
  
"No, we're not!"  
  
"You're too! You are 'times ten'!"  
  
"Oh, yeah? Well, we aren't 'times a million'!"  
  
"That was quite a powerful statement, Ryoga. Worthy of one of the world's greatest philosophers." I murmured, unable to contain my laughter.  
  
"What?!"  
  
"I do not believe this." Camille added. "Cannot they tell that they are arguing with another child as well? Such answers could never come from the mouth of an adult."  
  
"Hey, stop that!" Ryoga whined.  
  
Suddenly, a young boy appeared over our heads. Flew over our heads, actually. We all looked at him in shock and in silence, while the rest of the unseen children yelled all sorts of infantile insults. He wore green clothes and a hood with a red feather and had a playful, merry face. His hair's color was some kind of reddish brown, as were his eyes, and I noticed that he possessed a small dagger, which was laying in its sheathe. When he saw us, he let out a chuckle and yelled at his back:  
  
"It's okay, lost boys! They aren't pirates! Stop throwing - Ouch! Hey, I told you to quit it!" he added, as he rubbed his leg from that last stone that had hit him.  
  
"I'm sorry, Peter!" yelled a little boy. He quickly stepped out of the bushes that covered him and the rest of his friends. They were all small kids who wore animal costumes... The one that spoke was disguised as a yellow rabbit. There was also a big boy that wore a bear costume. Two identical twins wore raccoon's clothes, another one wore a skunk's, and the tallest of them all wore a fox's. "I didn't mean to hurt you... But are you sure that they aren't pirates?" he asked as we left the tree's cover.  
  
"Of course not, you dope." The other lad, Peter Pan I assumed, said. "Look at them. Besides, there aren't any pirate women that work for old Captain Hook." He flew beside us and as he did, a little fairly came out of his hood. Although she was as small as our Tish, both fairies were nothing alike. This one had blue eyes and green clothes, and golden, glittering hair.  
  
As she flew about us, I noticed that there was only one thing that both fairies had in common: they seemed to dislike my dear succubus. When she saw Camille, her golden glow changed to a red one, and she began to fly about her angrily, as if she wanted to protect the boy from my friend's gaze. Although I am sure that Camille did not want to even tempt the lads...  
  
"Hey, easy, Tinker Bell!" Peter Pan scolded. He managed to get a hold of her wings, and said: "Sorry about that. Hi, I'm Peter Pan, and these are my friends, the lost boys. You appeared here, right? I mean, after a dark hole swallowed you, or something...? At least that's what happened to the others."  
  
"A dark hole did swallow us." Camille said. "But this is not where we woke up."  
  
"Oh, you didn't?" Peter asked.  
  
"See? They're pirates too!" the little boy dressed as a bear said. He swung his weapon - a club - in the air, and yelled: "Let's get them!"  
  
"Hey, didn't you hear me?" Peter shouted. "They aren't pirates! No pirates have a woman on board, unless she's a hostage."  
  
"Oh, yeah? What about that woman that we saw the other day, while hiding on the shore, huh? The one dressed in black with a scepter? What about her?" argued the boy dressed as a fox.  
  
Peter was about to say something, but then he fell silent. He stayed thoughtful for a few moments and then, he slowly turned to us and asked in a very low voice:  
  
"You guys aren't pirates, are you?"  
  
"No, we aren't." Ryoga insisted.  
  
"Ah, it seems that time is on our side this night." Will's voice suddenly said. The dragon sorcerer, Tifa, Merryck, and Shiryu appeared on top of the waterfall, and were staring at us. We all turned to them, and the dragon added: "Peter, I see that you and the boys have met our new friends. These fellows here are going to help us rescue your friend Wendy, the girl named Kairi, and Shiryu's friend, Seyia."  
  
"Uh... Wilheim... What's going on here?" Ryoga asked in a whisper.  
  
"As I told you, we found the dragon." I replied. "And learned many important matters."  
  
"So that's it, huh?" Peter said, and smiled, even though the little fairy, Tinker Bell, did not seem too thrilled about the idea of rescuing this Wendy girl. She was obviously too jealous... "See, boys? I told you that they weren't pirates."  
  
"Well, they could have been." The bear - boy said, and bent his arms in front of his chest.  
  
"How did you guys get here?" Peter Pan asked us.  
  
"On a Gummi ship." Merryck yelled from the waterfall. "You see, it is a very peculiar mean of transport that..."  
  
"Save it for later, Merryck." Tifa interrupted. "Why don't we get going? It's only two and a half hours until dawn. And we don't want to get caught by it. Right, Wilheim?"  
  
"Absolutely." I agreed. "Let us go, then. I trust that the boys know how to fight. Otherwise, it would be useless to bring them with us."  
  
"Hey, watch it, pal!" one of the boys said to me. "We're stronger than you think."  
  
"Take his word." Will said. "Now, let us move. There is not much more time left, and the pirates may return to the ship at any moment."  
  
***  
  
"Hey, guys, have any of you flown through the skies?" Peter Pan asked, as he flew in front of us, and stretched his arms. "It's so cool. And it's also very useful. Why don't you guys give it a try?"  
  
"Yeah, like that could happen." Tifa giggled.  
  
"I'm serious!" Peter said. "And it's easy."  
  
"I do suggest that you learn how to fly." Will intervened. "Specially because you will need to use this skill as soon as we end our assault. I do not want us to take our chances with the Heartless, and I think that a retreat might be the best thing to do once we have rescued the women and Shiryu's friend."  
  
"What about you, Shiryu?" Peter asked. "Want to fly now? Or later?"  
  
"I'll let Tink rest for now. Better save her dust for when we are near the pirates' ship." The saint answered.  
  
"Okay. It's your loss." The boy chuckled and began to fly around us over and over again.  
  
"How is it that you learned how to fly? I see no wings attached to your body, Mr. Pan, and I don't feel any wind current that is strong enough to lift anyone off the ground..." Merryck said.  
  
"What are you talking about? I really don't know how it happened... I've been able to fly for as long as I can remember." Peter replied. "But you and the rest of my friends need a little nudge. But it works. All we have to do is to sprinkle a bit of pixie dust on you. Tink will take care of that." He murmured, as he eyed her little fairy - friend. She only shrugged and sighed indifferently. "Then, you just have to think a happy thought."  
  
"That's it?" Ryoga said. "Sounds very easy. But the effects are temporary, right?"  
  
"What?" Peter asked.  
  
"Yes, they do wear off after a while." Shiryu replied.  
  
"Oh... Either way, it doesn't seem to be too difficult." Ryoga said, and smiled.  
  
"I am not entirely sure about that. At least not about that last part. I do not think that I might be capable to think a happy thought in these conditions..." I muttered.  
  
"Well, aren't we mister the glass is half - empty..." one of the lost boys said in a low voice.  
  
"He is right, Wilheim." Camille added. "I am sure that thinking about your dear Ukyo will not be a problem to you."  
  
"When I think of her, I only know that she is not by my side. That does not make me happy at all."  
  
"Then try to remember some merry moment with her." Will suggested. "I do not believe that it could be so hard. If you truly love this woman that you speak of, then I assume that you two must have shared many beautiful moments. Remember one of them, and that should take care of the problem. After all, it is almost unbelievable that such a resourceful boy cannot perform a simple task."  
  
"All right. I will try... But I do not know if I will be able to fly." I sighed.  
  
"You've got to. We will all have to, in order to escape to safety." Shiryu said.  
  
"In that case, I will either use the dark wings of a bat or the powerful wings of a gargoyle."  
  
"Give it a try, Wilheim." Tifa said. "Don't be so stubborn."  
  
"There's the pirates' ship." Peter Pan whispered. He waved us to follow him in silence and unsheathed his small, but sharp dagger. "OK. So, you'll give it a try, or not, guys?"  
  
"For my part, I do not need any pixie dust to be able to be carried away by the air." Camille whispered, and as she finished saying this, a pair of dark wings emerged from her back, almost identical to the ones that Morrigan possessed.  
  
"Wow, that's cool!" One of the boys said, with a chuckle.  
  
"And what about the rest of you?" Will asked.  
  
"I want to try it! Although I must admit that heights do not thrill me at all." Merryck intervened.  
  
"Okay, here goes nothing. Think a happy thought, guys." Peter said, as he grabbed the little fairy, and began to shake her gently. From her body, a magical, golden dust came out and fell on us. Even though the dust itself was fair and mystical, I did not feel different at all when it touched my skin. I assumed that it was because I could not find any happy thought in my head... "Well, come on! Think of something!" Peter insisted.  
  
"Okay..." the rest of my friends uttered, and closed their eyes.  
  
Suddenly, they began to levitate. Tifa was the first. The let out a startled cry and then burst out in laughter as she soared about us. Merryck followed. At first, he seemed quite frightened. But after some instants, he became accustomed to the feeling and smiled. Then Ryoga and Shiryu began to fly as well. For my part, my feet did not leave the ground. While the rest of my friends were already having fun in the air, I was still unable to levitate. I simply could not find my happy thought.  
  
"Wilheim, come on!" they all said. I took a deep breath, and tried harder. But it was impossible for me to think of something joyful.  
  
Or so I thought. For when the lost boys began to fly as well, I noticed how they all started to crash into my companions. Merryck's head was hit by the little kid dressed as a bear, and when this happened, the later turned to him in anger, and said:  
  
"What's your problem?! Get out of the way!"  
  
"What's that?! Just in case you haven't noticed, chap, I am quite new at this. Let me be!" Merryck replied.  
  
They kept on fighting, as did the rest of my friends, except for Shiryu. Such an infantile test of will finally won my heart and I burst out in laughter. And as I did, I felt how my feet left the ground.  
  
"Oh!" I yelled in surprise.  
  
"That's it!" Peter yelled. "Now that you're all flying, it's time to go and pay captain Hook's ship a visit."  
  
And so it was that, after Will, Shiryu, and Camille successfully calmed my friends and the lost boys down, we silently flew away from the shore and toward the ship. The tranquil sea also helped us approach with stealth. No fierce waves were crashing against the ship, and all was in peace. All that could be heard, was the singing - cacophonic yells, actually - of the drunken pirates.  
  
"Yo - Jo, Yo - Jo, a pirate's life for me!!*" they tried to sing.  
  
We crawled by one side of the ship and climbed on board. The pirates did not see us. Not even when we walked to them and caught them from behind. Shiryu and I covered their mouths with our hands, and they could do nothing but to let out a muffled cry as they saw all of us.  
  
"Hey, boys." Peter said, with a giggle. "We've come for the girls and for the other guy. I hope that you guys don't mind. Night - night!" he added, and hit both of their heads with a cannonball. Rather than yelling in agony again, they fell into a deep sleep and began to snore as soon as they closed their eyes.  
  
"Pirates..." the lost boy dressed as a fox muttered, with a triumphant smile.  
  
But he had celebrated too soon. We all had. For as soon as the two 'guards' fell unconscious, shadows of Heartless began to come out of the ground. We all stared in horror at our new enemies. This time, the army was a different, fiercer one, although not as huge.  
  
There were many Heartless that seemed to be evil pirates. Not like the ones that we had just defeated. These ones appeared to be much more skilled with the swords that they had. There were others that possessed a pair of wings and strong bodies: just the kind of evil needed to counterattack our 'perfect strategy'. And that was not all, for there were also many flying ships that had appeared in the dark sky, and that possessed terrible cannons and sharp, huge blades on board. The situation was much worse than any of us had thought. Even Will, the sorcerer dragon, seemed very disturbed when such an army appeared from out of nowhere.  
  
But none of my friends would give up. Camille, Ryoga, Tifa, and I began to fight as fiercely and as skillfully as we always did, while Merryck relied on his size to sneak under his opponents and attack them while they were unguarded. The lost boys fought together, and were not attacked by many opponents, thankfully, for they were not skilled fighters. Rather, Peter was defending them. He, on the other hand, was a fierce warrior. He swung his dagger time after time and flew like a lethal hawk all around his enemies. They never knew where he was until he slashed them with his weapon. Will began to cast all sorts of spells on his enemies, from simple, fire spells to raging blizzards and thunder storms. He was indeed a magnificent sorcerer. And what was more, he possessed the skill to cast healing spells. Whenever someone was hurt, his or her wound quickly disappeared under the dragon's words. And when his opponents gave him no time to cast an incantation, he swung one of his strong paws and defeated every foe that dared come near him. Shiryu was easily the strongest warrior on the battlefield. Even stronger than Camille, and that is saying a lot. With every punch that he threw, a strong current of magical wind came from his arms and annihilated every Heartless that was in front of him.  
  
"Dragon's Fury!!**" he yelled, time after time, and all his enemies fell before this cry.  
  
But in spite of our great rage, the Heartless kept on coming at us, and we began to grow weak.  
  
Shiryu suddenly glanced at the main cabin and found its door opened. He quickly ran at it as fast as he could. I lost no time, and followed him along with Camille, while the others did their best to keep the Heartless busy.  
  
"Seyia! Seyia!" he constantly called.  
  
We looked for this man for some moments. And his answer to Shiryu's call was a cry of his own, followed by a shower of blows of energy that came crashing through a door.  
  
"Pegasus's Meteor Punch!!**" he yelled, and then came out of the destroyed wall. Unlike the dragon's saint, he wore no armor and was in a very weak condition. His body was full of bruises, and his brown eyes stared weakly at his friend. He had brown hair and dark skin, and a faint smile drawn on his face. Clearly, the pirates and the Heartless had not fed him since they had captured him. He let out a low sigh, and added, in a murmur that hardly reached our ears: "It's good to see you again, Shiryu..."  
  
"Seyia!" Shiryu yelled and caught his friend before he fell to the ground. "He's alive." He said, after listening to the beating of his weak heart. "Seyia, don't give up!"  
  
"Perhaps we could leave the warm words for later?" Camille suggested, as a horde of Heartless marched down the ship's hall and began to attack us.  
  
"Help, please!" called a feminine voice from the same room that had kept Seyia's body.  
  
"What?" Shiryu muttered, and ran to where the woman was. Even though Camille and I were fighting fiercely against the Heartless, holding them off, I could hear him talk to her. "Are you alright, girl?"  
  
"Yes... Thank you for rescuing us." She replied. "My name is Wendy. Please, take us out of this dreadful ship!"  
  
"Isn't there another girl with you?"  
  
"There was... but a shadow with the shape of a boy suddenly came out of one of the walls and took her away."  
  
"Damn it!" I exclaimed, and let loose a fierce blow with Renamark. The blade's fire consumed all of our foes, and there was a moment of silence.  
  
Then, Shiryu came out of the room, while holding the girl's arm. She was as tall as Peter Pan, and wore blue pajamas. Her eyes were as blue as fair sapphires, and her hair's color was a dark brown. She had a scared expression on her face. I could not blame her.  
  
"The other girl's gone." Shiryu said.  
  
"We heard." Camille replied, as her dark wings turned into soft needles that carried the body of the fallen saint. "We can do nothing else here. We have to leave right away."  
  
"I emphasize on right away..." I muttered, as I saw a horde of new Heartless coming out of the walls, the floor, and the ceiling.  
  
"Good Heavens!" Wendy cried, and held on to Shiryu's arm.  
  
"Come on!!" The dragon's saint yelled and we all began to run after him as he made his way to the ship's deck.  
  
And as we finally left the cabin behind us, we saw all our of friends again. I could not believe what my eyes were looking at. Even though the army of Heartless had become a huge shadow, our companions were still fighting fiercely and seemed only a little wearied. I assumed that all of this was because of Will, who constantly kept casting healing spells on the rest of our friends. If it had not been for the dragon, our companions would have surely died by now.  
  
But our luck was running short. We had to leave the ship or be swept away by that horrid darkness.  
  
"Wendy!!" Peter yelled as he saw her.  
  
"Peter!! You've come to rescue me!"  
  
"Right! Let's go!" he yelled, grabbed her by the waist, and flew far away.  
  
We lost no time and did as he. Will and Camille flapped their wings and flew away as quickly as the wind, with the lost boys following close behind. The rest of us, however, were... 'new' at flying, so to speak, and were not as fast as our friends. We did leave the ship, but unfortunately, the Heartless were not letting us get away that easily. A sound that was as terrible as the roar of a hungry lion came out of one of the ship's cannons and hit me in the back. Thankfully, my body was strong, and I withstood the blow. But I could not fly anymore. With a pain - filled cry, I fell to the ground, and another cannonball soared through the sky. This one hit Tifa and she fell right beside me. The rest of our friends managed to get away, but we had been left behind. I let out one final breath before I fell unconscious.  
  
***  
  
"So you've wakened up. I was beginning to think that you were dead."  
  
I opened my eyes as I heard this strange, unknown voice, and looked around. Tifa was still unconscious and was still laying by my side. But we were not on the shore anymore. I realized that we were inside the little cave that the waterfall that we had seen when we first met Peter Pan and the lost kids hid. It was now day, but the sun's light did not harm me. I let out a soft groan as I rubbed my back. Even though it was no longer bruised, it still hurt. I raised my head and looked at the man who had saved us.  
  
"What...? Thank you." I managed to say.  
  
"Of course." He replied in a grave voice, and smiled.  
  
"I thought that we were as good as dead."  
  
"And you were. If I wouldn't have saved you, you and your beautiful friend would have died..." he paused and his eyes studied Tifa. "She's so pretty. So very pretty." He murmured, and I noticed a bit of malice in his voice. This, as you may have expected, disturbed me much.  
  
The man was tall, and was clad in a black cloak. He had black boots and gloves, and wore two grayish shoulder protectors. A thin, but extremely long sword hung by his waist, and his body was strong and athletic. He had long, silvery hair, which glittered with the sunlight. He seemed only a few years older than my unconscious friend. And he had deep, green eyes. Evil eyes. And a wicked smile. I could sense much evil coming from this being. But I could not attack him, for I was very weak, and I could also sense an enormous power that was beyond peer. And even though I felt all of this, he had still saved our lives...  
  
"Who are you? What is your name?" I asked, in a low voice, and stared at him without blinking.  
  
"Sephiroth. My name is Sephiroth." He replied, and a chill ran down my back.  
  
*As you may have noticed, there are some things that are known to all characters despite the fact that they hail from different worlds. Don't pay much attention to it. =)  
  
**As I have said before, I'll let you know what the saint's trademark moves in Spanish are called (though I'm sure that it doesn't make up, but it might be fun to know how they're called in another language), since I don't have the least idea of what they are in English.  
  
Dragon's Fury: La Cólera del Dragón  
  
Pegasus's Meteor Punch: Meteoro de Pegaso 


	16. Chapter Fifteen: The Great King of Evil

Chapter Fifteen: The Great King of Evil  
  
I woke up to the sound of a creaking door. Everything lay in shadows. I could hardly open my eyes and my head, my arms, and legs hurt horribly. To me, it seemed as if a curse had been put on my blood, and with every pound that my heart gave, all my body ached as if it were burning on the inside.  
  
The battle had been disastrous. The first thing that we had seen coming up the stairs that lead to the quiet place where we had found Archimedes, had been a fearful lizard - like warrior, armed with a sword and a shield. Behind him, came a horrible pig, as tall and as muscular as the were - bear himself, armed with a halberd. And after him, came an army of those and many other terrible creatures. There was nowhere to run. We could do nothing but to fight them. At first, Donald's spells, Akane's fists, and my spatula proved to be quite dangerous to our opponents. They fell to our angry blows and did not get up. But they were too much, and our strength began to fade. It was Akane who first fell. A terrible hit on the back of her head sent her flying high up in the air, and then she fell to the ground. Then, Donald was defeated by a tremendous kick that came from one of those lizard - men. Finally, one of those pigs yanked my spatula from me and cut my leg with the tip of his halberd. The wound was deep and I fell to my knees, with a howl of pain, and I then waited for a thousand blades to pierce my body. It was not swords, but fists and feet that fell on me, and beat me to unconsciousness.  
  
Now, I lay half - dead in a dark room, lightened only by a small frame of light that poured through the opened door. I was terribly bruised and cut, and I could do nothing but to wander what had become of my friends. I tried to talk, but when I opened my mouth, I could not close it again. I didn't even bother to move my body, because I felt that my wrists and my ankles were chained to the wall that was behind me. I used the little strength that I had left to lift my head and looked at the man who had entered the room. I only saw a glimpse of him, and then, the door closed and everything was covered by shadows once again. But suddenly, the room - the dungeon - was illuminated by the flames of five torches that had come to life.  
  
There he was. A tall, muscular man with evil eyes. He wore a dark suit and a white cloak. He had big, menacing fists, and his flesh possessed a dark, reddish color. His eyes were red and macabre, and he had a long nose. And in his forehead, there lay what seemed to be a yellowish orb. I shook with fear as I saw his evil grin...  
  
It was then that I realized that I wasn't alone with him, for he wasn't looking at me. Next to me, were Akane and Donald. They were still alive, but they were as bruised as myself. He wasn't looking at either of them, however. Next to Akane, lay a very big man. He too was chained to the wall. He didn't seem to be beat up, but he did seem to be very weak. He wore a red shirt and a pair of blue jeans. His body was as strong and as muscular as Ryu's. He had golden hair and brown eyes and thick eyebrows. He could best be described as a weary lion that has been defeated in a fight. But the evil man wasn't looking at him either.  
  
He was staring at a young woman, whose beauty could even be compared to the heroine of a fairy tale. She was the only one of us who wasn't chained to the wall. She wore a fair, pink dress and had plenty of golden adornments, worthy of a legendary princess. She had a thin, enviable body and pale skin. She had big, pointy ears and deep, blue eyes. Her faced seemed to be filled by fear, despair, and sorrow. And on her dress, I noticed the triangle mark that we had seen on the forest. That could only mean one thing...  
  
The woman looked first at the man, and then about her, and found us. Her concern grew even more, and she said, in a shaky voice:  
  
"Ganondorf, you evil fiend! Who are these people? What do you intend to do with them, devil?"  
  
"What I intend to do with your hero when I find him." He replied in a dark, booming voice. "Unless if you are willing to tell me his whereabouts, that is."  
  
"Is this what you have lowered yourself to, demon? Hostages?" the woman said, and in her voice, there was both fear and anger.  
  
"Lowered myself?!" the man replied, and let out a cackle. "What are you talking about? You should know best that the means always justify the end." He paused for a moment, and then he went on. "This one was found in the outskirts of my tower. He seemed to be asleep, so we got a hold of him quickly." He pointed at the other man, and then walked near us, and added: "And these three were found by my army. They were scouting the Sacred Forest Meadow, in search of your hero. He has caused plenty of trouble, and I will not underestimate him again. But instead of him, these little rats were found. They put up quite a fight, they tell me. But in the end, they were captured." He finally stopped in front of her, and concluded by saying: "It is you who will decide their fates, princess Zelda. To save them, you must only tell me where the boy is. Do that, and I shall spare their lives."  
  
"You are a monster!" she answered, forgetting her fear.  
  
"Silence!" he roared and slapped her face. She covered her cheek and let out a sob.  
  
"Damn you! You son of a bitch!!" yelled the man that was next to Akane. "Nobody does that to a lady and gets away with it! Unchain me and face me like a man, bastard!"  
  
"You are a feisty one." Grumbled Ganondorf. Then, he went next to him and hit him on the face with a furious fist. The man grunted in pain and Zelda let out a startled cry.  
  
The man only raised his face and looked at the fiend with fury. He spat blood and grew angrier.  
  
"And a resilient one, too." Added Ganondorf. "Let us see how much pain you can take..."  
  
"No, Ganondorf! Please, do not do it!" Zelda begged.  
  
"Then speak!" yelled the evil one, and kicked the man's knee. The later let out a muffled cry and shook in his chains.  
  
"Please, no! I do not know where he is!" the princess claimed.  
  
"You lie!! Speak! Speak!" the fiend roared, and kicked the man again and again. Soon, he began to howl in pain and grasped his own chains as if he were trying to make his wounds disappear.  
  
"Stop it!! Stop it!!"  
  
"End it now! Leave him alone!" screamed Donald, Akane, and I. But the more that we yelled, the harder his attacks grew.  
  
Soon, the princess began to weep and covered her face with trembling hands.  
  
"Please... stop..." she pleaded, while the rest of us saw how the man's leg had been broken in two. He bit his upper lip and kept his tears to himself. Nevertheless, it seemed that he was about to break into a furious cry.  
  
Ganondorf quit torturing him as soon as he noticed that Zelda was crying and walked to her side.  
  
"Tell me where he is." He repeated.  
  
"I do not know..."  
  
"And if you would? Would you speak?"  
  
And all of a sudden, she stopped crying and uncovered her face. Tears still ran down her reddened cheeks, but she didn't sob anymore. She kept silent for a few moments, and then she answered:  
  
"Yes. I would tell you. For I know that Link's sword is far too strong for you. He would surely defeat you. I would tell you where he is... So that he could finish you."  
  
"You are very naive, dear princess." Ganondorf cackled. "Yet, I believe you. Very well, then. These prisoners will remain at your side until I find that little rat. You see, I am very generous. I can tell that some company may do you good."  
  
And so, he headed to the door. Neither of us had dared to speak a word about Link. We didn't want to let him know that we knew him and that we had a vague idea of where he could be. It would have surely been worse... He closed the door behind him and left us alone. Still, the torches burnt brightly. No one said nothing for a few instants. Finally, the man let out a long, low groan, and rattled his chains.  
  
"I am so sorry!" princess Zelda exclaimed and ran to his side. She began to cry again as she carefully placed her hands over his shattered knee. "I... I regret this so much... I am so sorry... Please forgive me..."  
  
"Hey, it's not your fault." He replied in a weak voice, and forced a smile on his face. "Don't worry. It's not as bad as it looks..." he sighed, and added: "If only I could free myself of these chains... Then, that bastard would get his."  
  
"No, you do not understand." Zelda sobbed. "That evil man is very powerful... There is only one who could defeat him, and he is not here... Curse him."  
  
"Are you talking about that guy, Link? Why does he want to find him so badly?"  
  
"Because he is the carrier of the Triforce of Courage. Because with him, the sacred triangle will become one again, and whoever touches it, will have his or her wishes granted. Because if he defeats him, the world will be consumed by his warlock's evil magic, and by his putrid thoughts..."  
  
"And where is he?"  
  
"I do not know... It was some time ago. I saw him in front of me... And then, there was a billowing, gigantic black hole that devoured everything. I fell into a deep sleep and when I woke up, I was laying in this very prison. I do not know what happened then, and, even though I ask for the goddesses help to answer this riddle, this is all a mystery to me..."  
  
"It's all because of the Heartless..." Donald interrupted.  
  
"What?" muttered both Zelda and the man, as they turned to face him.  
  
So, Akane, Donald, and I decided to explain everything to them. We told them about how Akane, Ran - Chan, and I woke up in Traverse Town, about Sora, the Keyblade, the Heartless, and our meeting with Link, which astonished Zelda. Well, how could I blame her? Either way, After a long talk, Akane finally concluded:  
  
"And that's what's happened. Link thought that maybe Ganondorf could be behind all this, but we don't know for sure."  
  
"He cannot be." Zelda assured. "For the last time that he and Link met, they were about to let loose a battle. I doubt that Ganondorf would have done that at that time. It only hurt his malevolent plans..."  
  
"And where are the guys that you're talking about? And who are they?" the man asked. "Why didn't they help you?"  
  
"They didn't get to where we were on time, I guess..." I muttered.  
  
"There are many of them." Akane said. "There's Ranma, Goofy, Sora, Link... an elf, named Demean; a sorceress, called Aeris; a very strong man, called Ryu..."  
  
"Ryu?!" the man interrupted, and we noticed that there was amazement in his face and his voice. "Ryu's with you?! Well, I'll be!"  
  
"Do you know him?" Donald asked.  
  
"Know him? We trained in the same dojo for over ten years, in Japan!"  
  
"You're the one he's been talking about!" I exclaimed. "You're Ken Masters!"  
  
"Yep!" he said, with a chuckle. "None other..." but then, he stopped smiling and uttered: "If only he were here, he would help us escape this mess. Actually, I've never thought of Ryu as a rescuer... But I guess that the saying's true: there is always a first."  
  
"There has to be something that we can do to get out of here." I said. "I fear that, the next time that Ganondorf comes around, we won't be as lucky..."  
  
"Donald, can't you use your magic powers to heal us?" Akane asked.  
  
"No way! I'm still too weak." The duck complained.  
  
"There has to be something that can be done..." Zelda whispered to herself. She got up and began to walk to and fro. She had now stopped crying and was desperately trying to come up with some crazy idea to lead us out of there. "If I could only use my own magic powers to get you to safety... But Ganondorf has found some way to seal my spells. If it were not that way, I could call upon Farore's Wind... She would surely help us escape this ghastly place."  
  
"Yeah, but that's not the case, princess." Ken said, and used his one good leg to get up from the ground. "I can't crush these chains... They're just too resilient. It seems as if that bastard put a curse on them. I don't know what else can we do, but to wait and see if your friends come to rescue us." He added, as he eyed us.  
  
"Ganondorf's army is far too great." I replied. "I don't think that they'll be strong enough to beat all of it."  
  
"But Link can..." Zelda intervened. "For Link holds the Blade of Evil's Bane. That sword cuts through Ganondorf's evil forces as an axe chops wood."  
  
"Yeah, but we don't know where he is." Donald said. "Did you forget?"  
  
"Oh... that is right." She sighed and sat down as despair filled her face again. And then, we stayed silent for a long, long time.  
  
***  
  
The dungeon's door opened once again. The dim lights were swept away by the wind that came from the outside, and everything went dark. But only for a few moments, for then, Ganondorf lit the torches again. Their flames illuminated his evil face, and he didn't look too happy. And that was something that filled me with fear...  
  
"What do you want now?" Zelda asked. Even though she was furious at him, she didn't reveal her anger in her voice. I take it that she didn't want to endanger us. However, she didn't achieve anything, as you'll find out...  
  
"It seems that Link is not the only threat to me now, princess, and I would like to know who your new friends are." He replied with a grim breath.  
  
"What do you mean? I have no other friends, save for the ones that you keep next to me."  
  
"I am talking about those creatures that have been attacking my castle." He explained. "The ones that have a shattered heart carved on their clothes, armors, and skins. I know that they are your warriors, princess Zelda. After all, your heart is broken too, for your valiant hero is nowhere around here."  
  
"I know he will come." Zelda replied, and her eyes glowed with anger. "Those monsters are not mine. I would never summon such creatures."  
  
"You know what they are, don't you? Then speak!"  
  
"They are the Heartless." I intervened. "They have been appearing throughout all the worlds, and attack those nearby, whoever they are. They don't have anything to do with her."  
  
Ganondorf turned to me and I felt his cold glance. There was so much evil in his eyes that as he looked at me, a chill ran down my back. He walked up to me and stood still and quiet. My explanation had not satisfied his curiosity, and he wanted to know more. But I was afraid to tell him, and so I spoke no word.  
  
"All the worlds?" he asked, at last. "You should better tell me something that makes sense, girl."  
  
"I wish I could." I replied, and then added, to my own surprise: "I only know that they're evil beings. At first, we all thought that you might be their leader."  
  
I made a big mistake. I should have kept my mouth shut. But I had to speak. And as a reply, the Great King of Evil punched me in the jaw. No one had ever hit me as hard as he did. I felt how my world shook up and down, as if a tremor were attacking it, and felt how a horrid pain shot through my entire face. I heard a little whistling for a few seconds, and this was followed by Zelda's scream, my friend's gasps, and Ken's filthy mouth.  
  
And just like that, my fear vanished, as it was replaced by anger. No, it was more than anger. It was hate. I had never hated anyone before, but Magnus... Never. And this hate came together with despair. My eyes were filled by bitter tears, and I slowly turned my head to face the fiend. My breathing sped up and I rattled in my chains, as I murmured in a low, menacing voice:  
  
"Screw you."  
  
"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked, with an evil grin on his face.  
  
I gulped and began to sob. Suddenly, all hope left me and I felt nothing but bad things. But most of all, I remembered that there was someone that wasn't by my side, someone whose fair light could undo the thickest of darkness.  
  
"If my Wilheim where here right now..." I whispered, as if my words were going to summon him, to bring his righteous body to my aid... As if he were actually going to rescue me. "He would cut you to pieces."  
  
"But there is not anyone to help you, is there?" he cackled, and my despair grew. And then, without any warning, he grasped my hand and twisted so hard, that he broke my wrist.  
  
I yelled and tried to kick him with anger, while Zelda tried to pull him away from me, Akane and Donald were begging for him to stop, and Ken was making the walls shake with his wrath. But he didn't let go. Not until my scream became a tear - filled cry, the yell of a little girl that is in pain. I began to cry like I hadn't cried since I was six years old, when Ran - Chan's stupid pops left me behind.  
  
"May that be a lesson to you!" Ganondorf growled, as he walked out the dungeon. "I believe your 'Heartless' tale. But I will not tolerate insults!"  
  
"Come back here, and unchain me, you bastard!!" Ken wailed. "Face me like a man! I'll rip your head off your body!!" but the fiend closed the door.  
  
"Be at ease! It will only hurt more if you keep on moving your hand like that!" Zelda said, as she tried to grasp my wrist. She tried to sound calm, but she too was crying: she clearly didn't like to see people in pain.  
  
"It hurts! It hurts so much!" I sobbed, and, forgetful about everyone else being there, wailed: "I want my Wilheim! I want my dad! It hurts! Make it stop, make it stop!"  
  
Ganondorf didn't break my wrist. He had broken my hope. I was now shattered, and didn't want to continue the quest any longer. I only wished to be swallowed by the earth, so that the pain would stop. Both Akane and Donald tried to comfort me, and Zelda tried to heal my wound with her soft touch, but I was beyond salvation at that moment. And this only made Ken angrier.  
  
***  
  
After a long while, I managed to stop my cry, but I was still sobbing silently. Zelda embraced me gently and ran her fingers through my hair, and her tears wet my pale face. My hand hurt like hell, and it was now black and swollen. Ken only looked at the door in silence and with an outraged expression on his face. Akane and Donald seemed thoughtful, as if they were trying to come up with some escape plan. But I felt it useless. There was no sense: fate, it seemed, wanted us dead.  
  
But then, something happened. We overheard some of Ganondorf's guards talking outside the dungeon, and then, we listened to Ganondorf's voice itself...  
  
"Another prisoner?" he asked. "Where did you find this one? Is it him?"  
  
"No, my lord. We have not found him yet... But I assure you that everyone of our sentinels is scouting Hyrule in search for him." One of the guards replied.  
  
"Blast that wretched kid!" the Great King of Evil grumbled. "Then who is this one? Is he a Hylian? A Sheikah? A Kokiri? A Zora? Speak up!"  
  
"We don't know. I think that he is the same as the ones that are in there. He wears a bright armor and a pair of chains are attached to his arms."  
  
"Are they?"  
  
"Yes. We found him wandering near the castle, my lord. He is nothing but a weakling: when he saw our blades, he quickly knelt and begged for us to take him prisoner. Nothing like the others. Those did put up quite a fight."  
  
"Interesting. A coward, you say? Then bring him here."  
  
"Yes, my lord."  
  
The only sound that we heard then where footsteps. And after a minute or two, Ganondorf spoke again.  
  
"Not even the old knights of the Royal Family wore such ridiculous armors." He said, with a somber laugh. "And no knight ever surrendered without first putting up some resistance. Is it that you want to die?"  
  
"No. I want to live." Said another voice. It had been a man's voice, a gentle, soft voice. "That's why I gave up. Are there any other prisoners?"  
  
"You dare speak to me that way?!" Ganondorf roared. We then heard the man's grunt as he was punched by that lunatic. "You should do better by watching your mouth, boy! Lock him with the others, and chain him to the wall with his own chains! This little weakling will prove to be quite resourceful next time I speak with the princess."  
  
"Damn that evil man." Zelda grumbled, and her hands shook in anger.  
  
The door opened, and a lizard - man came in with a young man clad in a purple armor. He was very thin and had a delicate face, that could best be described as the one of a porcelain doll. Nevertheless, he had an athletic body and seemed strong. He had long, green hair and eyes. He was very beautiful. Perhaps a little too much. He certainly lacked Ken's manliness... And around his arms, where two chains. One ended in a triangle, and the other one in a circle. And it was then that I realized that that was none other than Shun, the Andromeda's saint, and Ikki's younger brother.  
  
"So there are other captives..." he whispered, as he eyed us. "Just as I thought."  
  
"Shut up!" the guard - a pig - squealed. "Stay still! And don't make a sound."  
  
He obeyed and leaned against the wall. However, after some moments, when Ganondorf had left and the pig was beginning to leave, he said:  
  
"You have never heard about the Nebula chains' have you?"  
  
"What?" growled the pig.  
  
"I command them."  
  
"I don't care!"  
  
"Oh, I think that you should."  
  
And then, that which Akane, and I (at least) had been expecting to happen, happened. The chains suddenly covered life, and threw themselves against the defenseless pig. Like hungry snakes, they wrapped themselves around its body and tightened around his throat, choking his yell. The man got up and walked to the pig. A sweet smile spread on his face, and he added:  
  
"I won't kill you. But don't yell, OK?"  
  
And having said that, he zapped the pig with electricity. The guard collapsed on the ground and smoke rose from his unconscious body. Then, the saint turned to face us and shook his chains. The two beings turned into a horde of chains that ate through our bonds like rats eat through wood. In a matter of seconds, we all fell to the ground. He carefully closed the door and walked to us.  
  
"Are you all okay?" he asked with a concerned voice.  
  
"Yeah." Said Akane and Donald.  
  
"No." Replied Ken and I.  
  
"That's a nasty bruise you've got there." The saint said, as he looked at Ken's knee.  
  
"I know." He said. "Thanks for that, man. I had heard about the Nebula chains, but I had never actually seen them. They're much more spectacular than I thought. Ryu would be delighted if he had been here to see this."  
  
"Ouch..." I muttered as my hand dangled above the ground. The more I tried to keep it still, the more it hurt. "It... it hurts." I murmured. Even though I had been freed from the chains, I was still dead inside.  
  
"You shall be fine. We will all be, now that this lad has saved us!" Zelda assured, and embraced the man. Unlike me, hope had returned to her. "Thank you, stranger! You are indeed a miracle born from the goddesses breaths!"  
  
"Um... no problem." He giggled, and hugged the princess back. But then, his smile faded, and he said: "My name is Shun. Listen, I only yielded so that I could save you. I had a hunch that there were prisoners in this evil castle, and I didn't go wrong with that. But we have to leave now. That man, Ganondorf, has terrible evil powers. I don't think that I will be able to beat him by myself. Not even with the power of the Nebula chain."  
  
"It's okay." Ken assured. "At least we're free now. Let's run away, or try to get some help."  
  
"Thanks, Shun." Akane said, and patted the saint's shoulder. She had a big smirk on her face. I guessed that it was because of what she was about to tell him. "You are Phoenix's brother, aren't you? Ikki? We know him, and he came with us!"  
  
"What? My big brother?" the saint exclaimed, with happiness in his voice.  
  
"Right now, he must be somewhere in the Lost Woods." Donald assured. "But why don't we talk about that some other time? Like, when we are the heck out of here?!"  
  
"Good idea." Ken agreed. "Let's go."  
  
"I'll help you out." Shun offered and let him put his weight on his shoulder. Meanwhile, Zelda helped myself to my feet. But, strangely, I didn't want to leave. Not even when it meant death.  
  
We slowly opened the door and crawled out of the dungeon and into Ganondorf's castle. The guards that dwelt there were no problem for Shun. We only stood still behind a wall, and the Nebula's chains did the rest. Like shadows that crawl out when the night overthrows the sun, they quickly caught our foes and left them unconscious without giving them a chance to call for help. Then, we would move onto God knew where.  
  
As I looked at Shun's chains, my sadness grew. Because, part of my depression was due to the fact that I had lost my spatula in the battle. A wise man had crafted it for me and I had used that weapon ever since I was very small. It was the weapon that saved my humanity, and Wilheim's life. And now it was gone.  
  
Shun kept clearing the way for us, even though we didn't know where the blazes we were at that time. There wasn't a window to show us the rest of the world. All the walls were made out of solid, black rock, and the more we traveled through the castle, the more we realized that this was nothing but a cursed prison that would not let us leave. There was no exit or escape route...  
  
"Cursed be that fiend!" Zelda exclaimed in a low voice. "He brought my father's castle down and in its place, put this wretched abomination! If we only were in my own castle, then I would know which way to go."  
  
"This man you talk about, Ganondorf, is quite a pain..." Shun said. "It's a shame that you're all in bad shape. I heard, from the guards, that you are all very strong. Maybe if we joined forces we would be able to defeat him..."  
  
"I don't mean to brag, but I assure you that I could kick that bastard's butt myself if I weren't in this condition." Ken said, with a cocky air. "And if Ryu were here, he would make things much easier. When we are together, we are undefeatable."  
  
"That's so very interesting, I would very much like to hear the whole story, but right now, all I want to do is to leave!" Donald quacked. "Listen, I saw some stairs back in one of the rooms that we passed. They led to the upper floor, and I understand that dungeons and prisons are usually in the low levels."  
  
"But that's not a rule, Donald..." Akane muttered.  
  
"It's good enough for me." Shun assured and headed back to the other room. "Let's try the upper floor."  
  
And so, we went up the stairs and into a new floor. Many enemies were there, guarding entrances to other rooms and corridors with jealousy. But none of them proved to be a threat to the saint's amazing chains. There was no defeating him with those things on his hands.  
  
We soon realized that all the guards were not after us, but after a little groups of Heartless that had crept inside Ganondorf's castle. We came across them and Shun defeated them in no time at all. After all, they were the little bug - like Heartless. What could ten of those things do against Shun's chains? But after a while, things began to get a little out of hand. The guards began to grow in numbers and in strength and Shun had a hard time in concentrating in all of them, not to mention that the invasion of the Heartless to the somber castle seemed to be at hand as well. Soon, we started to face not only those small, bug - like beings, but dark knights and those big, fat Heartless as well, and later, little flying mages. And what was worse was that we were actually helping those critters on their attack. The castle had practically been surrounded...  
  
As for the rest of us, we were still pretty weak to help Shun. Perhaps Akane was the one who could have done something, but she was too amazed to do anything. The power of the Nebula chain had completely mesmerized her. Donald was not very good at fist fights and at that moment, lacked the strength to cast any of his magic spells. As for me, I didn't even have the desire to run away. I only followed them because Zelda was holding my hand and dragging me along.  
  
"Look! There are some more stairs!" Shun said. "Should we keep going up?"  
  
"There is not any door that leads to freedom yet." Zelda replied. "So yes, let us keep going up. It shall not be an easy task, but we will get out of here sooner or later."  
  
"And what about the Heartless?" Akane asked. "They keep growing in numbers. They will overrun the whole place... Not just the castle, but the rest of the land itself."  
  
"There isn't anything we can do right now. Sora isn't here, and neither is Link." Said Donald. "Like I said before, let's worry about running away. Then, we'll think of something to do with both Ganondorf and the Heartless. Now, let's leave, please!"  
  
And so, we kept going up and up, and up. There was not any door that lead to the outside of the castle, and this began to worry my companions very much. How deep on the earth could we be? We had easily gone through five floors, and we were still looking for the exit. It seemed like the cursed castle's rocks themselves didn't want to let us go.  
  
We went through several rooms in which the enemies started to wear thick armors and broad shields, resilient enough to withstand some of Shun's attacks.  
  
"Iron - knuckles!!" Zelda yelled at the sight of five enormous foes that came running our way, armed with gigantic, heavy battle axes.  
  
Two of them crumbled under the Nebula chain's electricity, but the others were very quick and evaded the magical snake's attacks. So it was that our turn to attack came. Ken started to deal out many fierce blows that were capable of bringing down a wall, in spite of his broken knee. Even the armored foe that stood against him stumbled back as his iron fists fell on him. As for Akane, she used her quick reflexes to dodge her opponent's attacks and attacked him from behind and from the sides. Her blows were directed to the body parts that lay unprotected, and she harmed her enemy many times. Then, Donald used all of his strength to cast a lightning spell to put those two foes down. My turn came and I used one of my little spatulas to hit the opponent's neck, which had no protection. However, my aim was a little off, and I had to use three of my projectiles to finally kill him. I then picked my spatulas off the ground and let out a small sigh. Yet, I didn't feel victorious. Even when Zelda put herself under my shoulder again, helped me walk, and whispered in my ear:  
  
"You are a great warrior, Ukyo. Worthy of being mentioned in Hyrule's legends."  
  
I gave her a quick smile, and my face was covered by shadows again.  
  
And as we went on, the enemies grew stronger, and the Heartless that we faced grew in numbers. We were lucky enough that none of them wounded us, but still, they were ending with the little strength that we had left. Shun was using much of his concentration and power to control the chains' movements, and would not be able to do this much longer.  
  
It was then that we got to a great, red stair, adorned by many windows. It indeed was the way that lead to a royal chamber. And all was tranquil. The only sound that we heard, was the somber melody that came from an organ. We stood still for a long while, and waited for the melody to end, only that it didn't. It was as if it were inviting us to go to it. And I wondered if this was not by any chance, Hamelin's flutist and we were the rats that were about to fall on a fatal trap...  
  
Zelda finally freed herself from the spell and walked to one of the windows. She gazed down and noticed that we were not under the earth anymore.  
  
"Look..." she muttered. "There lies Hyrule's former market, and the old castle courtyard. I remember it still, when its color was green and beautiful, and when flowers bloomed and the sun caressed them. It is all an ancient tale now..." she paused for a moment, and then added, in a grim voice: "We are inside a tower."  
  
"And I can guess where this road will take us." Donald said. "So let's go down."  
  
"I agree." Shun said, and opened the door. Or tried to open it, actually. For it had magically been sealed. "It won't budge!" he exclaimed, as he rammed it with his body.  
  
"So... you mean there isn't anywhere to go but up?" Akane asked, and there was fear in her voice.  
  
"It... looks like it." The saint stammered. He was clearly afraid to face the Great King of Evil... and who could blame him?  
  
"Then let's go." I said, dryly.  
  
Everyone turned to me in shock and fell silent. But after a few moments, Ken smiled and said:  
  
"I like your spirit, Ukyo! You're right. Let's kick that bastard's butt once and for all!"  
  
But that wasn't what I meant. I didn't care if our doom lay in the room that was above us. I just wanted to find out if our time had come.  
  
And so, they all reluctantly agreed. Zelda seemed very concerned. I take it that it was because Link wasn't at her side. And I felt the same way. Well, almost the same way. Because in her eyes, I saw a little light of hope. As for me, there wasn't any.  
  
We got to a huge golden door and when we stood in front of it, the organ began to play louder, and the door opened all of a sudden. We all leapt back in surprise and wondered if we should go in or not. Finally, Ken took a step forward and entered the room. And so, we all followed him.  
  
A red rug led to the organ that still loudly played. And in front of it, stood Ganondorf, gently stroking the keys. The door closed behind us, and for a moment, we thought about fleeing, but it was obviously too late. I wondered what would he do with us. Would he kill us all? Or would he just threaten us? I was certain that the first thing would happen, but wasn't at all scared.  
  
"You are all much stronger than I actually thought." He finally stated, and the music stopped. "I am now certain that those monsters are not with you, for you have been attacking them as fiercely as you have been attacking my own guards. And now you are here, in the same room as me. What should I do with you, I wonder? Even though you have proved to have a great boast, you are in no condition of defying me. Still..." he stopped talking for a moment, turned around and put a wicked smile on his face. "I see in your eyes that you will not give up. Is this really how you want to die?"  
  
"Shut yer hole." Ken snapped. "I said that I would beat the crap out of you. And I'm here now. I don't care if you broke my knee; I don't need it to use your body to wipe the floor."  
  
"How cocky. I think that I am beginning to like you."  
  
"Well, I most definitively hate your guts. Now, defend yourself. Believe me, you won't be able to fend off against all of our attacks..." he tightened his fists and put a confident smile on his face, as he added: "Attack me if you dare. I will crush you!"  
  
"That we shall see..." he muttered and suddenly, a gigantic dark sword appeared on his right hand. He waved it in the air and a somber wind fell upon all of us, as if it had been the sword's evil sigh that asked for blood. "I will kill you all, and then I will lock the princess in the dungeon again. I need her alive..."  
  
"I would rather die a thousand deaths than to be your captive again, you fiend!" Zelda exclaimed with a valiant voice. "I will fight you too, and I will defeat you! In the name of the sacred land that you violated with your blasphemous hands, I will avenge Hyrule!"  
  
"I swore Saori that I would never fight again..." Shun muttered. "But I have used my chains this day to put an end to the evil that you have brought here. And my task hasn't ended yet. I may have broken my oath, but I don't regret doing it. Prepare to defend yourself against the Nebula storm, dark one!"  
  
"Then attack me, and die!" Ganondorf yelled, and a cloud of darkness fell on all of us as his evil laughter echoed on the walls. 


	17. Chapter Sixteen: Messages From the Deep ...

Chapter Sixteen: Messages From The Deep Jungle  
  
It had been nearly six hours since Felicia had talked to our friends, who were now somewhere within the twinkling stars. At that moment, it seemed unimportant to me. For I had been brewing a question in my mind ever since we had left Agrabah, but I hadn't dared to ask it, because I knew that my companions would be put off by it.  
  
However, I knew that at least one of them as thinking of it too. Either way, I decided to keep silent. But, thankfully, to a certain extent, it was Morrigan who finally asked:  
  
"Why are we doing this? Why are we traveling throughout the worlds? I have forgotten what is it that we are looking for."  
  
"We are looking for our friends." Felicia replied. "Well, at least you guys are. I don't have any friends."  
  
"And that is precisely my point, Cat - woman. I don't have any friends either. As for those of you who do have someone, why are you looking for him or her, or them? Have you not noticed that there are many worlds out there? There seem to be more twinkling stars in the vastness of space with each passing night. You try not to find a needle in a haystack, but a mere insect in a forest, for they are constantly moving."  
  
"But we've picked up their trail..." Felicia started, but Morrigan continued speaking.  
  
"We know where they have been, but we don't know where these places are. And even if we knew, it would not do us much good to get there. Like I said, your friends are constantly moving. I reckon that it would be better for us if we just stayed still in one of the many worlds." She then paused and added, with a sigh: "It is hopeless."  
  
"Do not say that." Tish intervened, as she eyed Sakura, who seemed to be deeply disturbed by Morrigan's words. "Perhaps it is not your friends who you are seeking, but your homeland. Have you not thought of that? You have said that you come from the realm of the Makai. Do you not want to go back there? Or is it that the thought of never seeing your home again does not trouble you?"  
  
"It does trouble me, little fairy." The succubus replied. "But I simply believe that, one way or the other, I will not see it again. I may have lost my homeland, but I haven't lost anything else. For there has never been anything terribly important to me."  
  
"Morrigan is right." I finally said. "There are some of us who are not in need of finding anyone. Why, I wonder, should we still keep on traveling? My homeland is unimportant to me. There is nothing in this life that matters to me, save for one person, and she is dead, for all I know."  
  
"What about your friends? Isn't Tifa important to you? She would feel very discouraged if she listened to what you just said, Vincent." Sakura said.  
  
"I don't think that she would mind, for she knows that I love her." I replied, and then added: "Don't take it the wrong way. She is very important to me. But she is not someone I would spend my entire existence looking for. I am sorry."  
  
"Are you saying that... you'll stay in a world and will leave us alone?" Felicia asked, with a worried voice.  
  
I sighed and said nothing else. Morrigan fell silent and added nothing. For moments, it seemed that she was nodding her head, but then, she would shake it. It was clear that we were tired. This quest of ours seemed to be useless. One of the few good reasons that I thought that we could keep up with this madness was to find and protect the Keyblade bearer. If we could do that and help him clear the darkness that had fallen on the worlds, then all would return to normal. I didn't want to say it, but I did miss Nibelheim. I would be glad if I could spend the rest of my days in someplace known to me. But I believed that it was not meant to happen. Either way, we could spend as much time looking for the Keyblade master as we could look for our friends, and it was very unlikely that we would find any of them. What if he was already dead? None of us knew if this boy, Sora, was strong enough as to withstand the Heartless's malice. He too was a kid who was looking for his buddies. We knew because of what Wilheim had said about the other boy, Riku. What if his strength was fading? For young men don't only need bread to live, but companions and friends as well.  
  
"Why are you doing this, if not for yourselves?" asked Tish.  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Morrigan.  
  
"If you are determined to forget about your homelands and those people who have met you, then at least do this for those who care about someone." She went on. "I do not wish to spend the rest of my days parted from Demean's side. I wish to fly about him as I always did, to sit on his shoulder to chat with him, and to have him carry me in his hands when I grow weary. Sakura wishes to be with Ryu again, and Wilheim wishes only to be with Ukyo, for all else is vain to him. If you are not eager to see the joy in old faces, then at least do this for the ones who have a homeland, and dear ones. Do this to vanquish the evil that has fallen on the worlds..."  
  
And that was all that it took to answer my question. Morrigan and I kept silent for just a few instants longer and then, I sighed and nodded my head.  
  
"You are right." I said. "Very well, then. If not for us, then at least I will do this for you. I don't wish to see my sadness haunting other people."  
  
"I have never thought of it that way." Morrigan added. "But I believe that you are right, little fairy. After all, I do need some thing to do. I have never liked to be still and do nothing. Good battles always prove to be most entertaining."  
  
For a moment, I had thought that all that we had been doing was but in vain. For my part, at least. Because I would never recover what I once lost. Even though I hadn't mentioned it, all what I wanted was to be with the woman that I loved. I wanted all the worlds to cease to exist, so that only Lucrecia and I would be together and alone. But that was an impossible dream. For, as far as I was concerned, Lucrecia had vanished like the star in the sky that lights a lost sailor's way. And without her, everything was darker than usual. I would never be with her again... So why bother doing all of this?  
  
Tish had given me the answer. And besides, even though I didn't act like it, I did miss my friends. I had recovered Tifa, who I cared about deeply, but there were still several missing. I thought about Nanaki, whose strange appearance made me feel a little less alone; I remembered Barret's hastiness and my heart leapt with a bit of joy; I then thought about Cid, Yuffie, and Caith Sith. I wondered if I would ever see them again. And suddenly, I remembered Aeris and Cloud. Those two were probably the ones that I missed the most. I needed Cloud's confident thoughts and cocky words to keep me company. Not that I didn't like my companions, but I did need another friend who had more enthusiasm than Wilheim. But when I thought about Aeris, I let out a sad sigh. Just like Lucrecia, she was but a lost memory. Not only to me, but to the rest of my friends as well. I didn't know if I would be able to see all of them again. But, fortunately, I started to care about it. And a slight sadness befell on me as I thought about Aeris again.  
  
"Hey, Vincent..." Felicia said, and my thoughts were lost. "It looks that we're getting to a new world. What do you say? Should we disembark? Should we go check it out?"  
  
"Hmm..." I muttered. "I don't think that it shall be much of a problem. Maybe we can be there for a few hours, say, and then we go back to where our friends went."  
  
"If that is your plan, then I suggest that we do this quickly." Tish said. "I do not wish to leave them alone. Tifa seems to be quite an impulsive warrior, and that can be somewhat dangerous. And I am most concerned about Merryck. He is a good little hobbit who is not meant for fighting, as far as I am concerned..."  
  
"We'll be quick." Sakura intervened. "Don't you want to see if Demean's over there?"  
  
"I most certainly do, but not to the cost of Merryck's life." The fairy answered.  
  
"Don't be so dramatic, little fairy." Morrigan said in a low voice. "You will meet your little friend again. Besides, I am bored to death. And this little place is where I need to go frolic in."  
  
***  
  
We landed the ship in the midst of what appeared to be a gigantic jungle. An army of quiet, green, tall trees rose highly and proudly above the ground and covered the light of the sun with their leaves. The soil was humid and the smell of all that was green penetrated our nostrils as we got out the ship and it shrank to the size of an acorn. An orchestra of natural sounds incessantly played and welcomed us to this clear paradise. We could hear the soft screeches of monkeys, birds, and whatnot, and the melodic echo of a nearby waterfall. There was only one thing that we did not like about that new place: the heat. Though not as hot as the land of Agrabah, this new world could certainly melt our bodies if we didn't find any refuge soon or escaped from it in our Gummi ship.  
  
"I can't stand this!" Felicia whined. "Let's go look for the waterfall! Otherwise, you'll find yourselves carrying a dried rug once named Felicia."  
  
"I agree with you, this time." I said. "I don't think that we'll be able to stand this heat for much longer. You have the beast hearing, Felicia. Why don't you lead the way?"  
  
"My pleasure..."  
  
"Wait!" exclaimed Sakura. She was standing on top of a gray rock and was pointing at something that the trees hid from us. "Come here and take a look at that..."  
  
We went next to her and saw that she was looking at a tree house, which was standing on top of the widest and tallest of trees. Its wooden walls seemed resilient and safe. Many ropes were tied about it. Some seemed to form a kind of a safety net, and some others seemed to be used for lifting up heavy things. Who could live there? I wondered. And I'm certain that I wasn't the only one of my friends thinking this.  
  
"Should we go there?" Sakura suggested. "Why don't we check it out?"  
  
"Yes, why don't we?" Morrigan added. "Let us go. There might be someone there. I reckon that we deserve a nice, warm welcome."  
  
"Warm we've had, but not a bit nice." Felicia grumbled. "I want to go to the waterfall! I'm roasting here!"  
  
"Felicia, our goal here is to find out our friends whereabouts, not to take a bath." Tish said to the cat - woman. "You may go there later. Right now, all that I want, and I think that I speak for all of us (including you), is to find out if staying here is truly worthwhile, or if we should head back to aid our friends."  
  
"Okay, okay." She replied, with a sigh, and while rolling here eyes. "Let's go, then. Let's hope that Mr. Hermit - of - the - tree - house is a nice fellow, or I will use him as a punching bag."  
  
And so, our journey to the tree house began. The road seemed short, but it proved to be quite tiresome, for we had to walk uphill and to climb some steep walls and some trees. Felicia had not trouble in doing this, for she was as agile as a legendary tiger. Tish flew effortlessly the whole time and Morrigan mimicked her when she encountered an obstacle. But Sakura and I had to use much of our energies in grasping razor - sharp rocks and raspy trees. The succubus wouldn't carry us, because she claimed that we were too heavy for her. I didn't quite believe her; specially when she would stand at the edge of a gap and see us climb it with a mocking smile on her face, but I chose not to say anything. For my part, I could have turned into Chaos, the mighty creature that incarnated my body in the battle of Agrabah: a terrifying gargoyle as strong as a centaur and as quick as a hawk. But I would then leave poor Sakura alone, for I knew well that she would refuse to be carried by a monster.  
  
After half an hour walk, we got to our destination. I was the first one to set foot on the tree house, and as I did, the wooden floor creaked under my weight. I stayed still for a moment, and then took another step. The creaking quieted. I let out a sigh and signaled my friends to follow me. There seemed to be nobody inside the house. As we looked through the glassless windows, we noticed that there were many cobwebs hanging by the ceiling and the walls. There were also many boxes piled in the corners of the squared room. Apparently, they hadn't been used in years, for they were all dusty and their wood was rotten. When we entered the room, a humid wind received us and we coughed as it went inside our bodies.  
  
"Great!" Felicia growled. "Just great! We come all the way up here to find Mr. Hermit, and guess what? He's not home! What do you call this sort of trips? Oh, yeah. Useless! A waste of time! And of energies!"  
  
"Stop complaining." I said, calmly. "You are hardly tired, Felicia. But, be that as it may, you are right. It was a mistake to come here. There is nobody here."  
  
But before we could turn back and leave, a soft growl made me realize that I was both right and wrong: there was something there, and it had been a mistake to enter the tree house. For as I looked to the direction from where the growl had come from, a fierce leopard pounced on me. My companions' gave it away, but I barely dodged it. The girls jumped away from it and from its sharp claws.  
  
"Wow!!" Felicia yelled. "That was close! Hey, take it easy, kitty! Come on, I'm on your side!"  
  
"I don't think that it thinks that anyone of us is on its side, cat - woman..." Morrigan muttered as it looked into the eyes of the feline and slowly began to flap her dark wings.  
  
And I knew exactly what she meant. For the leopard was not attacking us because of hunger. I know that those animals aren't stupid enough to attack a whole pack of foes stronger than they are. But this one seemed different, as if it only wanted to fight with us just to see if he could kill one of us or two.  
  
It looked about it for a few moments, trying to pick a prey. And so his head spun towards Sakura and Tish, who were cornered against one of the walls. The leopard licked its lips in a malevolent fashion and then pounced on the girl and the fairy. Even when I didn't want to, I had to take out my gun and shoot it. I was certain that it would not be a pretty scene, especially for Felicia, who was, in a way, bound to that creature.  
  
But to my surprise, the bullet of my gun hit the feline on the head as if it were but a mere rock. The leopard stumbled and fell on his back, but only for an instant. Sakura and Tish smartly took this opportunity to get away from the creature's reach. It got up and looked at me with anger, whereas I stared at it in awe. How could that thing had survived one of my bullets? I had slain tougher foes with that gun, and it hadn't been able to shoot down a mere cat?  
  
With an enraged roar, the creature threw itself at me, its fangs aiming at my neck. I jumped over it and shot it again, but in vain, because it didn't die. It turned back and tried to ram me again. This time, Morrigan's dark and magical tentacles intervened. She wrapped them around the cat's legs and threw it away from me. But the feline was not yet willing to give up. It began to circle the succubus while her wings turned into shields that were ready to protect her from the leopard's next attack. It leapt at her all of a sudden, but was received by a tremendous kick from Felicia. The feline flew to the other side of the room and crashed against one wall, and a pile of wooden boxes fell on it. It kept still for a while, and we thought that we had finally won the battle. But it was not so, for the leopard rose again, this time, completely consumed by rage.  
  
"Why won't that thing die!?" exclaimed Sakura with a desperate voice.  
  
"It seems as if it were being protected by a dark spell that is otherwise invisible to our eyes." Guessed Tish.  
  
Either way, I was getting tired of the little game. I got ready to fire another shot from my gun again, and this time aimed directly between the animal's eyes. But to our surprise, a sudden shadow came through one of the windows and hit the leopard with great speed. Then, the shadow fell on the ground and light engulfed him...  
  
He was a strong, young, and athletic man, with no more clothing than a piece of cloth around its waist. He held a spear in his hands and pointed it at the fallen feline. His muscles were broad and strong. He had long, lank, brown hair, as deep as Sakura's. And his eyes were blue and angry as he looked at his adversary, while a wild expression was formed on his manly face. What was most peculiar about him was the way in which he stood. His legs were parted to the sides and he was very, very hunched, almost as if his back could barely hold the weight of his torso.  
  
And when the leopard saw this man, it only let out one final roar and then escaped the tree house. When it left, the man's face emptied from anger. He sighed and left his spear on the ground. And when he did this, he put his fists on the wood, like a gorilla. He turned to face us and let out a groan. It had not been an aggressive groan, but none of us had known what it meant.  
  
"Huh?" Sakura uttered. "I don't think that none of us understood what you're trying to say, mister... But thanks for the help."  
  
"Sabor... danger." The man replied in a guttural voice.  
  
"What is it that you're trying to say, wild man?" asked Morrigan, with a lust - filled voice and an erotic smile in her face. "Use complete sentences, if you please."  
  
"Uh... Hmm." He answered.  
  
"Something tells me that he does not speak our language." Tish said. "Let me try to talk to him."  
  
She then spoke in a tongue unheard by all of us. It was ancient, beautiful, and poetic, but none of us could understand a word of what she said. Not even Morrigan, who was the oldest of us, knew what the little fairy was saying. The man appeared to be even more confused by Tish's words and tilted his head to one side. She realized that she was not making any progress and decided to stop.  
  
"It is useless." She said, while shaking her head. "I thought that the language of the elves could help us, but I see that I was mistaken."  
  
"Elves..." muttered the man.  
  
"It's as if he was trying to learn how to talk..." said Sakura.  
  
"Well, whatever." Said Felicia and took some steps forward. Slowly, she put her hands on her chest and muttered: "My name is Felicia. Fe - li - cia." She kept silent for an instant, and then turned to see us. "Go on, guys. Try it."  
  
"Okay... I'm Sakura." Said the girl in a loud voice.  
  
"Morrigan." The succubus added.  
  
"Tish, the fairy."  
  
"Vincent. And you are...?" I asked and pointed at him.  
  
"Huh... Tarzan." The man said enthusiastically as he patted his chest with both fists and drew a smile on his face.  
  
"See? My method worked!" the cat - woman giggled.  
  
"Maybe." I said. "But, either way, we only know each other's names, and we still don't understand another word of what he's saying, as he doesn't know of what we speak."  
  
"Just for one moment, for one stupid, single moment, could you stop being mister - the - glass - is - half - empty?!" Felicia whined.  
  
"I only point things out. It isn't a matter about my attitude, Felicia."  
  
"Whatever."  
  
"I've never heard a language like the one he's speaking before." Sakura said.  
  
"I think, Sakura, that he speaks no language. Those are but guttural sounds and groans. It makes you wonder if he ever spoke the tongue of humans or any other, for that matter." Tish murmured.  
  
"Do you think that maybe he could tell us where we are?" Morrigan asked. "Clearly, he is unable to communicate, but it seems that he has learned a word of two. And this makes me wonder, who could have taught this wild man to talk?"  
  
"Perhaps there is someone else hiding under the vast cover of the trees..." suggested the little fairy. She remained thoughtful for a second, and then added: "This forest may not be as desolated as we first thought."  
  
"Then let's ask him." The cat - woman said.  
  
"But, how can you talk to someone who does not understand a word of what you say? Unless you can read this man's thoughts, I very much doubt that you will ever be able to communicate with him." Tish argued, and as she spoke, I noticed that, during the whole time, the man had been still and silent and had been staring at us with wonder, as if he were trying to learn our language. At first, I thought that he was trying to achieve an impossible task. How could someone learn something so complicated as a language in a matter of minutes? But, as you will later see, this Tarzan character was incredibly smart and learned quickly. And so he kept on listening...  
  
"Let me try, okay?" Felicia insisted. She walked near the man, lowered her body enough so that he could see her in the eyes, and began to speak very slowly. "Where are we?"  
  
"Huh?" Tarzan uttered and arched his eyebrow.  
  
"Place." She continued. "This is a tree - house." She then looked around, and he mimicked her. Later, she pointed at the jungle and said: "Jungle. And all of this is...?"  
  
"Uh... Huh! A... Africa." He replied.  
  
"Africa?!" exclaimed Tish, Sakura, and Morrigan, in shock, as the cat - woman gave us a quick, triumphant glance.  
  
"Hmm. It seems that you are more skillful than I thought, wistful Bastet." Morrigan said, with a smile.  
  
"I know... OK, so this is Africa." Felicia said and faced Tarzan again. "Where is your home? You know, where you sleep?" she put her hands together and pretended to rest her head on them.  
  
He fell silent. There was something strange in his eyes... It was as if he understood her words, but hesitated to answer. And she knew this also, for she did not ask again.  
  
However, after the longest time, Tarzan drew a smile upon his face and muttered:  
  
"Huh! Camp! Follow!" and quickly went out of the tree - house and into the jungle.  
  
"Am I good or what?!" laughed Felicia as we all ran after him without asking any further questions.  
  
***  
  
We wasted no time and followed Tarzan throughout the jungle. He took many paths, which were darkened by the trees' shades, and many passages hidden in caves and under waterfalls. Felicia and Tish had no trouble in keeping up with him, but for the rest of us, it proved to be a hard task. Morrigan flew quickly, but Tarzan went through many twisted branches and small walls, and the succubus's size did not help her at all. I had to constantly help Sakura, who never stopped to fall behind. Tarzan and Felicia were incredible agile. So much, that in fact, whenever they leapt onto the tops of the trees, they seemed to surf their way down back to the floor once more. And Tish flew effortlessly right behind them.  
  
Luckily, we never lost sight of the three and managed to stay behind them until we reached our destination at last. We had, as the wild man had said, reached what appeared to be an English encampment. There were three yellow tents and plenty of boxes piled all around. There was a tea set in one table that stood close to one of the tents, and many of the cups seemed to have been broken. There were also many experimental tools, and all of them seemed to have been used recently. And as my eyes glared at all of this I couldn't stop wondering who could be staying there.  
  
Tarzan quickly went ahead and entered one of the tents. Once inside, we all listened to him groan and make more guttural sounds. And after a moment, a reply came in the form of the voice of a woman with an English accent:  
  
"Tarzan! I didn't expect you to come here! At least not today. But here you are! What is it that you want? What's gotten in to you? Why are you so excited?"  
  
"Out! Jane, out!" he answered, and a few seconds later, he came out of the tent while holding the woman's hand. She looked at us and her face was filled by surprise. Clearly, she didn't expect Tarzan to show up with some strange visitors.  
  
The woman was as tall as Sakura, and had dark, brown hair. She was skinny, and her flesh had a lovely, white color. Her face was filled with kindness and her eyes were blue and lively. Her nose was sharp and her cheeks were round. She wore a long, red skirt, and a white blouse. As I looked closely at her hands, I realized that they were covered with white chalk. And when I noticed this, I quickly turned to one blackboards that stood near us, and saw a drawn Tarzan on it...  
  
"Hello..." she muttered. "It seems that you are some of Tarzan's friends... Can you talk?"  
  
"Of course we can." Felicia answered, in a triumphant breath. After all, it was because of her that we were there. "We just recently met Tarzan. He helped us out back in the tree - house... But, anyway, who are you? My name's Felicia, and these are my friends, Sakura, Morrigan, Vincent, and Tish."  
  
"Nice to..." the woman started to say, but then her voice trailed off and her eyes grew big. She hadn't noticed the little fairy until then. She had been inevitably hypnotized by her glow. "My God!" she exclaimed, without breath. "Unbelievable! I never thought that I would live to see the day in which the mystical creatures of stories would cover life!"  
  
"Yes, there are indeed many things that one does not expect to see during their lifetimes." Tish said, with a smile. "But they exist, nonetheless. Some for good, some for ill."  
  
"And she speaks as well!" she uttered, and covered her mouth with her hands, as she grew more and more shocked. "I... Well, for starters, I believe that the name is an order. My name is Jane. It is a pleasure to meet all of you..."  
  
"I say the same." I replied. "It seems that Tarzan has known you for some time now."  
  
"What? Oh, yes. He often comes to the camp to spend time with me..." Jane answered, as she glanced at Tarzan with a blushing face, and he smiled at her and grunted. "You see, we've come to Africa to study the gorillas, and have found out that Tarzan actually lives with them... Yet, there is still one thing that's unclear to me. How is it that you got here?"  
  
"It's a very long story..." Sakura said. "But it all goes back to the fact that we were all swallowed by a gigantic black hole... as were our lands."  
  
"What?" Jane said, again shocked. "Do you mean that you all dreamt the same thing too?"  
  
"It was no dream." Morrigan replied. "By the looks of it, it seems as if you were fortunate enough to wake up in the same place. But it did happen. That nameless monster devoured all of us, and spat us in worlds that were unknown to us. Since then, we have been traveling all over the scattered lands in hopes of finding the one who can undo what has happened."  
  
"What? What do you mean? This... this is most confusing..." Jane said, and let out a long, tired sigh. It seemed as if troubled thoughts that had once parted from her mind had returned to haunt her. Tarzan noticed this and got up on his feet and held her by the shoulders, preventing her from falling to the ground.  
  
"Why don't we go into your tent?" I suggested. "We'll explain everything to you."  
  
***  
  
"So an army of evil foes known as the Heartless is trying to overtake the worlds..." Jane murmured, trying her best to believe our unbelievable story. "And there is only one who can stop them, and he or she possesses a weapon known as the Keyblade." She paused for a second, and then added, as she pointed at Felicia and Morrigan: "And you are a cat - woman, and you are a succubus. And I thought that those creatures could only exist in tales, and that you were only wearing... costumes."  
  
"Well, now you see that we are indeed fantastic creatures." Felicia said, with a dry giggle.  
  
We were silent for a couple of minutes, and then, Jane sighed and asked:  
  
"But, how is it that I have seen none of the creatures that you describe me? I know that you've said that they adopt many forms, but still, none of the beings that dwell in this jungle bear the emblem of the shattered heart of which you speak."  
  
"Perhaps you haven't seen them yet." Morrigan said. "They hide in the shadows and come out only when night falls. They hide from the sun's light, just like vampires do."  
  
"They exist, and they have been taking over many lands; that is a fact." Tish added. "Their hunger seems endless. They are terrible foes of great power. Yet they fell before us in the battle of Agrabah. We believe that there are other warriors who are fighting against the same darkness than us, for there seem to be a bit more stars twinkling in the nocturne skies of late."  
  
"Well, that is true." Jane said. "After all, I did notice that some of them were missing. At first I thought that it may had to do something with my telescope, but now that you speak of this, I can only think of the terrible truth..."  
  
"If we don't find the Keyblade bearer soon, the worlds will be overrun by the Heartless." I said, and everyone turned to face me, even Tarzan, who didn't understand what I was saying. "Have you seen any wanderer with a strange weapon, miss?"  
  
"No, I told you before." She replied. "You are the only strangers, besides Tarzan, whom I have met here."  
  
"Ms. Jane!" called a voice from outside the tent, and we then realized that someone was approaching. "Where are you? I told you to keep a look on..." the man came into the tent, and when he saw us, his voice trailed off.  
  
He was almost as tall as myself, but his face was even sterner and older. He wore hunter's clothes and pair of brown boots. He had a broad body, and carried a shotgun. He had a small mustache and two black, suspicious eyes. I did not trust him. Especially when I saw Tarzan frown and turn away from him...  
  
"What is the meaning of this?" he asked. "Who are all these people?"  
  
"It's a long story." Felicia said.  
  
"Clayton, please, be nice. It seems that these fellows have had a hard time, and the last thing that they need is someone to harass them." Jane said in a soft voice.  
  
"Perhaps... but who are they?" asked the man, and studied us carefully.  
  
"For now, I think that our names will suffice." I said, and faced him. "I am Vincent Valentine, and these are Felicia, Sakura, Tish, and Morrigan."  
  
"But how...?" he began to say, but then he fell silent.  
  
His eyes had fallen on Tish. He had not seen her until then. He was bewildered to see a little, magical fairy, and could not turn his head in any other direction. He stared at her for a long time, without saying anything. The little fairy began to grow uncomfortable and quickly flew behind my back. When the man's eyes fell on me, he spoke again.  
  
"Is that a real fairy?" he asked, in amazement.  
  
"Yes." I replied, dryly. I didn't like the way his eyes looked at Tish. "There are many magical creatures, Mr. Clayton. One has only to look for them."  
  
"Yeah, for instance, I'm a cat - woman, and she's a succubus." Felicia said, as she pointed at herself and at Morrigan. Sakura and I rolled our eyes and sighed unhappily. Hadn't she seen the man's face as he looked at our friend? And when she finished saying these words, Clayton's expression of amazement only grew.  
  
"Well, what a surprise!" he said, without breath. "And here I thought that such beings could only exist in fantastic stories. Where do you come from? Are there more of you?"  
  
"Yes, they are." Said Tish, before Felicia could add anything more, thank God. "But they are not around here. We are from a very distant land, and you are unable to reach it currently."  
  
"Why is that?" the man asked, filled by curiosity. The more questions he asked, the more that I did not trust him.  
  
"Huh!" interrupted Tarzan. We all turned to face him, and after a few instants of staying still, he got on all fours and began to sniff the air around him.  
  
"What... what is it Tarzan?" asked Jane. She still seemed shocked by our story. "What do you smell?"  
  
"Danger..." the wild man replied in a whisper.  
  
And just then, before I could even draw my gun, a dark shadow swept over us. All that I could hear were the loud screams of my friends and Jane, Tarzan's grunts, and my own. But not Clayton. It was as if that shadow had suddenly muted him. I tried to struggle, but I saw no opponent. And then, a soft chill sounded in my ears and I felt a hard blow. Then, I fell unconscious.  
  
***  
  
I woke up when the night was falling. My head still ached. I got up and looked around me.  
  
The camp was a mess. More than it was when we first found it. There were many broken boxes all over and the tents had been ripped to shreds. There were also many huge footsteps on the grass; footsteps of an animal which was unknown to me. I could not help but to think that we had been attacked by some dark beast; a minion of the Heartless. But that was impossible. The sun was still out when we had been attacked. I then shivered. Could it be that the Heartless had developed a resistance to the star's powers? If it was that way, then things were getting worse.  
  
But my bad luck was not over. As I gazed around, I found Sakura's fallen body next to Tarzan, who was now coming to. But the rest of our friends were missing, as was Jane. I didn't even bother to call their names, for they surely wouldn't answer. They would have probably been taken to some distant place inside the wild, unknown to all of us...  
  
I decided to think about that in a minute. I quickly walked next to Tarzan, and asked:  
  
"Are you hurt?"  
  
"Uh... Me no hurt." He said. "She hurt."  
  
"You catch on quickly." I murmured. I then kneeled by Sakura's body and shook her. "Sakura, wake up!"  
  
"Ohh..." she moaned and opened her eyes. She looked at me, and asked in a low voice: "Where are we, Vincent?"  
  
"We are still in the camp. But our friends are gone."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Jane!" Tarzan interrupted, in a desperate voice. "Where? Where Jane?"  
  
"If I knew, I would tell you." I replied. "She is probably kept with the rest of our friends..." I paused for a second, and then asked: "Do you know any place where they might have been taken as prisoners, Tarzan?"  
  
"Huh?" the wild man muttered.  
  
"Trapped." I insisted. "You know, trapped. Just like when the careless gorilla is trapped on the vanes of a tree... Trapped! For God's sake, try to work with me!"  
  
"Uh... Follow!" he said, and took off, although he did not seem sure to understand my words. Either way, he was the only one of us who knew the jungle, so we had no choice but to go wherever he went, and to hope to find our friends, and to have the necessary strength to rescue them for whatever danger.  
  
"Come on, Sakura." I said, as I dragged her by the arm and ran after him.  
  
It was not long before we found ourselves surrounded by the humid smell of the jungle and by the tall trunks of endless trees. The darkness grew and grew as we went on, for the trees grew taller and taller, and their leaves kept the dim moonlight from showering the land. We only stepped were Tarzan stepped, and we did this with difficulty, for we weren't as agile as the wild man. Sakura yelled him to slow his step three times, but he didn't listen and kept on running as fast as he could.  
  
We suddenly got to a clear, and Tarzan stopped. We walked up to his side and noticed that he seemed confused, as if we had reached a part of the jungle that he had never explored. This made Sakura terribly worried, and so she clinched to my arm. I looked around, trying to find some token of our friends, but saw nothing. And then, the wild man began to sniff the air around him again, and after a few moments, muttered:  
  
"Danger... Sabor."  
  
We heard a loud roar and ducked just before the leopard that had attacked us back in the tree - house pounced on us. It then turned around and stared at us with its fierce, feline eyes, while showing us its sharp fangs. I drew my gun and quickly shot it, in vain, because my bullet did only a scratch to its dragon - like skin. I could not believe it. Never had I heard that leopards possessed inhuman armors for flesh. And so it roared again and threw itself against us once more. We barely evaded its charge. But Sakura did not escape the animal's swipe, and was wounded by its fierce claws on the leg. She bled and pressed on the wound with her hands. When the leopard saw this, it seemed to smile wickedly, and attacked again. But Tarzan, who had taken out his spear, got in front of Sakura and scratched the animal's paw with the tip of its weapon. Surprisingly, it bled and growled with anger. Noticing that it was focusing on Tarzan, I quickly ran to it and kicked its rear as hard as I could. The leopard howled in pain and tried to scratch me, but not to avail. Tarzan then threw himself against the animal and managed to drive his spear through its body, but received a fierce bite from the being in the process. He took a few steps back and fell to his knees. He was badly hurt, but had succeeded in killing our foe.  
  
"Those are nasty cuts." I said, as I looked at Sakura and Tarzan's wounds. "What I cannot believe is how that animal was able to withstand one of my shots and you managed to skewer him with your spear."  
  
"That is because I put a spell on it as he drove it through its body." Answered a voice from behind the dark trees. We all heard it and turned to it in shock.  
  
We all fell silent and waited for the voice to speak again. Who could it be? It was certainly a woman, but I could not see her, nor my friends could. After a few moments, I said, in a loud voice:  
  
"Who are you? Show yourself!"  
  
And so, a beautiful woman came from behind one of the trees. She had long, golden hair and wore a white, shiny dress. Her skin was also white, as white as snow, but seemed as soft and smooth as silk. She had a very beautiful, slim body. Her face was filled by kindness, and an ancient power, and wisdom. And her eyes were brown. As beautiful as the humid soil that surrounded us, filled with life and secrets. I was shocked. Only Lucrecia's fairness could match this woman's...  
  
"Who are you?" Sakura asked, in a gentle voice, as she struggled to walk.  
  
"Be at ease." She replied, and walked to her. "You have a nasty bruise. Worry not about it, and rest. I shall heal it." She then turned to face Tarzan, and added: "You too, wild man. Come near, and I will mend your cut."  
  
"Uh..." he muttered, and approached her.  
  
The woman then raised her hand and spoke ancient, magical words. And after an instant, I realized that the words were almost the same as the ones that Tish had spoken when she had tried to communicate with Tarzan... And suddenly, the bruises on my friends' bodies disappeared.  
  
"You are an elf!" I exclaimed.  
  
"Not really." She replied, and giggled, as Tarzan and Sakura looked at her in shock. "But yes, I speak the tongue of the elves. And I know that you know because you have heard it before. But not from an elf, either, but from a little fairy."  
  
"What? How can you know that?" asked Sakura.  
  
"I see many things." The woman answered. She kept silent for a moment, and then said: "The leopard's skin was as hard as dragon's scales because of the Heartless influence. Their shadow fell over this animal and consumed him, just as it is consuming the man who you met earlier."  
  
"Clayton!" I grumbled, and Tarzan turned to face me with a questioning glance. "He is responsible for what has happened!"  
  
"In a way, he is." She said. "He is not far from here. You will meet him west of here, just at the foot of a rocky cliff. But he is not alone. He has an ally: a Heartless that is even capable of moving during the day. That creature is the one that attacked you. But that is not all, for this fiend can mend with the world around him, turning invisible. Just like a soft rain that falls in a sunless morning, he cannot be seen: only felt. You will need help if you want to defeat him."  
  
"How?" I asked. "Where can we get help?"  
  
"Your wild friend knows." She replied, and eyed Tarzan. Then, she walked near me, and said: "I will give you a gift. But it shall only work for this night. Make haste, and find your friends before it wears off."  
  
Then, she blew a gentle wind in my ear, and I felt refreshed. It was as if I had taken a long, comforting bath, and the warm waters were still clinching to my body. I let out a sigh and looked at her.  
  
"What gift have you bestowed upon me, lady?" I asked.  
  
"You will learn soon enough." She replied, with a smile. "But first, listen. I have more to tell you. I know about your deeds, and your adventures. But most of all, I know about your friend. The lonely vampire with the sad, violet eyes. He has sought me for the longest of times. He has sought my aid. But this darkness fell before he could find me. And now his hope is waxing. For the only one who can give him hope is parted from his side..."  
  
"Wilheim!" exclaimed Sakura. "So you must be the oracle of whom he has spoken! Gabrielle! That's your name!"  
  
"Indeed." She answered, and her smile grew bigger. "I know that he is in another world right now. And I know that you will meet him again. That is why I want you to give him this gift..."  
  
Out of nowhere, she seized a small ball of light, which was very similar to one of the little balls of Materia that Aeris usually carried in her staff. Only that this one seemed more like a glittering star. I felt a small chill when I grabbed it, but it was not an unpleasant sensation. I put it in my pocket, and Gabrielle added:  
  
"When the darkness in this and the other world have been weakened, go to Atlantis, the magical sea - world that hides somewhere among the stars. Only when the evil fiend there has been defeated can you give him this gift. Not before, for if you do, you will only endanger him."  
  
"I don't really understand any of this." I confessed. "But I will do as you will."  
  
"Thank you. I wish I could see him, but there are many things that must be done. For now, be wary, and be quick. Your friends' fate is now in your hands. Save them... For I know the little fairy well, and care about her much. I leave you, now. Farewell..." and so, she vanished.  
  
"What? Wait! Gabrielle!" called Sakura, while Tarzan looked for her with his eyes, but she was gone.  
  
I wondered where could she had gone to, but only for a minute. Then, I knew that we wouldn't meet her again, not there, at least. We had no choice but to press on and continue the search.  
  
"Let's think of our friends." I said, getting their attention. "Let's go to the west. To the cliff."  
  
But then, a mighty, thundering roar broke the quietness of the night, and we all noticed that a gigantic, black gorilla was running at us. It had silvery hair on its back and fierce fangs. His eyes were filled by rage, and his strong arms seemed to want nothing more than to fight.  
  
I braced myself and prepared to draw my gun, while Sakura put herself on guard. But Tarzan leapt against the Gorilla, while yelling:  
  
"Kerchak! No!"  
  
The gorilla and the wild man struggled for a while, and after a few moments, Tarzan finally got a hold of the animal's neck, and managed to keep him still.  
  
"Kerchak! Please, stop! They don't mean any harm! They only want to find their friends! And I only want to find Jane!" he exclaimed.  
  
* Strange. * I thought. * I believed that he could hardly talk. *  
  
"Get out of my way, Tarzan! I will not tolerate any more intruders in this jungle! Don't you see that the family is in peril? You stubborn whelp! Get away from me!" replied the gorilla, and I couldn't believe my ears. I could actually understand his speech.  
  
It was then that it hit me. That had been Gabrielle's gift. I could understand their language. If it wouldn't have been for her, I don't know what would have happened, because Tarzan could hardly hold the gorilla. He was as powerful as an angry thunder that shatters the earth with its might. Only one question remained in my mind... Was I able to speak that language also? I wouldn't know unless I tried to talk.  
  
"Please, don't fight! We don't mean any harm!" I yelled.  
  
And suddenly, both Kerchak and Tarzan stopped wrestling and fixed their eyes on me, and in their glance there was amazement. They understood me as well. I kept quiet and waited for one of them to reply. Finally, Tarzan asked:  
  
"Since when do you speak Gorilla?"  
  
"It is Gabrielle's doing, the oracle that just left us. She gave me this gift." I answered.  
  
"Vincent, do you understand what they're saying?" asked Sakura, as she carefully hid behind my back.  
  
"Yes." I said.  
  
"Enough!" roared the gorilla, as he threw Tarzan away from him. This latter landed on his feet and stared at him speechlessly, while he approached me and said: "I don't know how is it that you learnt how to speak our language, and I don't care. But since you understand my words, then heed them. I want you to get out of here, now. I don't want any intruders after my family."  
  
"I just told you that we don't mean any harm." I said. "Please, believe us. We don't want to hurt you, or your family. We are your friends."  
  
"Listen to him, Kerchak." Tarzan intervened. "Trust me, just this one time. Look at them: they are humans, like Jane, and me. And, so far, Jane hasn't hurt us, has she?"  
  
"I don't know about the woman, but that man has captured several members of our family." Growled the great gorilla, and stood tall over me. "I don't trust humans. Leave, if you don't want to..."  
  
"Clayton has kidnapped your family? Then we will help you free them." I said.  
  
"What do you mean, Vincent? What is going on? How can you communicate with him?" Sakura whispered in my ear.  
  
"You will help us?" Tarzan asked. "Kerchak! Please! If what you say is true, then we need help! Clayton wields a weapon, called a rifle that shoots fire. You can't see the shots until they've hit you, and they are powerful projectiles. I've seen him shatter the skin of the trees. This man, Vincent, wields a weapon of the sort. Maybe he can help us..."  
  
"Hmm." Murmured Kerchak, as he eyed Sakura and me with suspicion. "If you dare to harm anyone in the family, I'll kill you. I'll trust Tarzan, but only this time. Give me your word: tell me that you won't betray us."  
  
"I am a man of my word." I answered, firmly. "I won't turn against you. Count on that. And I guarantee that my friend here won't let you down either. But please, let's waste no more time speaking here, and let's go, before something horrible happens to your family, to Jane, or to our friends. Come on, now. Gabrielle said that Clayton was just west of here. If we hurry up, maybe we can still catch him."  
  
"Where is he, exactly?"  
  
"At the foot of a cliff."  
  
"I know that place. It leads to the waterfall." Tarzan said. "Let's go, then. I know a shortcut!"  
  
And so, the wild man began to run as quickly as he could into the jungle, with Kerchak, Sakura, and me following him closely.  
  
***  
  
"My companions and the Heartless should be arriving any minute now." Said Clayton to his captives. "Just hold on tightly. You will be on your way to England in no time at all, little gorillas. And you too, creatures. I can't believe that I was lucky enough to run into a fairy, a cat - woman, and a succubus! You'll all make me very rich."  
  
"Shut up!" Felicia yelled, with anger in her voice. "I can't believe that we trusted you! Besides, you can't get to England now. Don't you understand that the Heartless have totaled all of the worlds? The very same Heartless that you are waiting for right now!"  
  
"Don't say nonsense, cat - woman." Replied Clayton, with a grin on his face. "You'll find yourself in a cozy cage at a zoo very soon."  
  
"Damn you! Let us out of here, you fiend!" Tish cried, from inside the little cage that imprisoned her.  
  
Tarzan, Kerchak, Sakura, and I were hiding behind some bushes, and were waiting for the man to drop his guard so that we could attack him. He was holding many gorillas in many separate cages, and all of them were crying and roaring as they yearned freedom. Morrigan was trapped inside a cage as well, just like Felicia and Tish. And Jane was tied to a thick tree, and she stared at Clayton with fear and anger, but said nothing.  
  
When Tarzan and Kerchak saw this, they grew mad, and tried to go after the hunter. But I stopped them before they could do anything rash. For I felt a strange presence. There was a strange smell in the air: the smell of a reptile. However, he wasn't there. Or so it appeared. Because, once we looked at Clayton's side with more care, we noticed that the air about that space acquired an eerie look. Sakura trembled before the presence and grasped my cape with fear.  
  
I knew that we had to act soon, unless we wanted the army of Heartless to arrive. If they came, then we wouldn't stand a chance. But we had to be strategic. We couldn't just rush off to fight something we could not see. There had to be something we could do...  
  
Suddenly, Sakura had a brilliant idea. There were many agonizing leaves hanging from the trees above Clayton. If Tarzan could somehow swing there and let them fall on the unseen creature, then he would be revealed to us, and we would be able to attack.  
  
"Once we get to see him..." she explained. "Then we all attack it. I doubt that Clayton will represent much trouble. All that we have to do is to get rid of his rifle before he can fire it. If he can hit any of us with one of his bullets, then I could say that we're done for."  
  
"I agree." I said, and explained both Tarzan and Kerchak the plan.  
  
"Then I'll go after him." Kerchak said. "Meanwhile, you go fight that thing."  
  
"Agreed."  
  
"Let us go, Clayton!" Jane finally protested. "You can't treat any of us this way. What kind of monster are you?!"  
  
"The one that seeks money, my dear." Clayton replied. "But please, be quiet. Your friends' constant complaints are giving me a headache, and I don't want you to start upsetting me as well."  
  
"You are naive, Clayton." Morrigan said, calmly, but coldly. "You have underestimated our friends. They'll come soon, and will put an end to your madness, lest you spare us from these iron bars. Free us, and you will not be harmed."  
  
"I think that you're the one who is giving much credit to your fallen friends." The man answered. "They won't come..."  
  
"Guess again, pea - brain!" Sakura yelled, as she leaped from behind the bushes, held a vane, and swung through the air. While she did this, Tarzan quickly jumped at the tree that held the agonizing leaves and kicked it as hard as he could. The leaves all came down in a revealing rain, and covered a gigantic, transparent body.  
  
We wasted no more time, and jumped to the rescue. I shot at the thing as fast as I could, and wounded it many times. Soon, not only the leaves revealed it, but the green blood that it spilled on the floor as well. Kerchak threw himself at Clayton and got a hold of his shotgun before he could do anything. But when he was weaponless, Clayton quickly jumped on top of the creature that had now revealed itself, for it knew that it no longer did it any good to cloak. The thing was a gigantic chameleon, with the emblem of the Heartless carved on its tough, green chest. It roared furiously and began to attack us, while Clayton hid behind it like a cowardly, wounded dog.  
  
The enemy was quite tougher than we first thought. He shot many energy beams at us, and we barely managed to evade them. The more I shot at it, the harder its skin became, until at last, it turned black and was as hard as stone. I knew that this would be a very hard battle, and that we would need all the help we could get. Without losing another second, I shot at the locks that kept Camille, Felicia, and Tish within their cages, while Tarzan ran away from the monster for an instant. He released Jane, and left her somewhere safe. After that, he ran to the gorillas' cages and started to free all of them.  
  
"Terk!" he yelled to a little, black gorilla. "Get my mom, Kala, and the others out of here! This is a dangerous place to be!"  
  
"You don't have to tell me that!" replied the gorilla, as she got away from the fight, and lead Kerchak's family to safety.  
  
We were losing the battle, even with our friends' aid. Clayton laughed with a superior air from his ride and mocked our vain efforts of wounding him. The chameleon hit us several times, and nearly killed us with its blows. Luckily, Tish helped us to our feet with her healing magic, but her strength was slowly fading away. My bullets could not pierce the lizard's skin; Felicia's claws only drew lines on it, but did not injure it; Sakura's fireballs seemed to have no effect, and even Morrigan's deadly needles were ineffective. Tarzan and Kerchak could do nothing but to dodge the beast's attacks. Kerchak got beaten many times, for he was not as agile as the wild man, who bounced off the walls and from the trees. And what was worse was the fact that the rest of the Heartless would soon come to finish us...  
  
But suddenly, the little fairy came up with a great plan. She gathered all of her strength, and cast a mighty spell on the soil. A tremor shook the land and we all lost our balance. The chameleon and Clayton were standing at the edge of the cliff when Tish conjured the spell, and found their doom under collapsing rocks. The cliff came down, and fell on top of the man and the lizard, finishing them both. A horrid cry and an agonizing yell was all that we heard before they were lost in the rocky mass.  
  
"You... I can't believe it. You saved us!" Felicia said, and ran to the fairy, with a smirk on drawn on her face. "Wow! You really have amazing powers, Tish!"  
  
"Yes, but I did not want that to happen." Said the fairy, with a regretful voice. "I did not want it to end like this."  
  
"You had no choice, Tish." I said, as I wiped off my cold sweat. It had been some while since an enemy had scared me that much... "It was us, or them."  
  
***  
  
"Thank you, all." Tarzan said to us, with a happy smile on his face, while standing next to Jane and his gorilla friends. "We could have not done this without your help. Tarzan grateful. Kerchak grateful."  
  
Unfortunately, I could no longer understand the gorillas' language. Gabrielle's gift had lasted only for a little while. But it had been more than enough time. The rest of the Heartless did not come, and we had rescued all of our friends.  
  
"Thank you, Vincent." Jane said. "If it would not have been for you and your companions, who knows what might have happened. I know that you all have to leave, but I do hope that we will meet soon. After all, you have to save the worlds, don't you?"  
  
"Indeed." I said. "Either way, I hope that no trouble will come your way until then. Be wary."  
  
"You too." Replied the girl, and then we said good - bye to all of them as we headed to our ship.  
  
We entered it and sighed with satisfaction. We had triumphed over our enemies, and had freed all of the gorillas. Hope had returned again. We knew now that the Heartless were growing weaker, and that we would soon beat them...  
  
Once the ship had grown to its full size, Felicia grabbed its controls - I was no longer afraid that she would do anything stupid - and got ready to depart. But just then, Ryoga's voice was heard.  
  
"Guys! Are you there? Come in!" he yelled.  
  
"We're here. What's up, Ryoga?" asked an unworried Felicia.  
  
"You've got to come here, quickly!" the boy added, and we noticed that there was desperation in his voice.  
  
"Calm down, lad." Morrigan said. "What is it? What is needed?"  
  
"It's Wilheim and Tifa! They're missing!" he added, to our dismay. 


	18. Chapter Seventeen: Hyrule's Champions

Hey, again. Some important notes before the chapter begins... Gabrielle, last chapter's oracle, comes from my own repertoire of characters. Hey, I'd say that I would tell you this whenever one of my original characters appeared on the scene... so there you go. =)  
  
This other note goes mainly to the people who have reviewed the story. First of all, thanks a lot! But, guys... don't feel sorry for me! =) I admit that I haven't been getting as many reviews as I would like to get... But what I write, I mainly write it for myself, because I just like to write. If people like what I write and the characters that I include in that writing, cool! If not, it's okay. Everyone can like or dislike things, can't they?  
  
I promise you guys that I'll finish the story, okay? There are still many chapters missing here... Bear with me and be patient. School's become quite tough, and I need much time to focus on it. I would like to ask a favor of you, guys, however. If you really, really like the story, then spread the word with your friends; keep reviewing, and if you have any suggestions for a better summary to attract the readers' attention, let me know. But remember that I do this because I'm the one who likes doing it, okay? Again, thanks a lot.  
  
Either way, on to the story. =)  
  
Chapter Seventeen: Hyrule's Champions  
  
It had been a very long time since we had separated and had gone deep into the forest. It was getting very dark and very cold. I really wanted to go back to the ship and stay there. Not that I didn't like to be around Demean, Ranma and Hyoga. They were very cool and I liked to hear their stories. But I didn't want to fight any monsters that day. The forest at night was really creepy.  
  
Either way, I got to know a lot of stuff about Hyoga. Demean had told us all of his stories when we were on the ship, although I don't doubt that he had more to tell, because... Man! Has that elf lived a long life! Anyway, he and Ranma hardly said anything; Hyoga did most of the talking this time. He told us about the many battles that he and his friends had fought. He confessed (although he didn't seem very happy to do so) that he wasn't the strongest of his friends. When I asked him if Ikki was the one, he nodded his head. Because Ikki can resurrect from the dead whenever he wants. How cool is that? He can't be defeated in any way. But Hyoga didn't seem to be too thrilled about this. Oh, well. They obviously had their past, and I didn't want to know much about that... Well, I did, but not if he didn't want to talk about it.  
  
Anyways, that's all unimportant stuff. The thing was that the light of the sun had almost gone out, and we had found no trace of anything: neither of our friends nor of something that could tell us where we were. Only a bunch of really pretty fireflies and other bugs. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if some kind of monster jumped from out of the many trees that were around there. It was really late. We had to get back.  
  
To keep track of the passages that we had gone through, Hyoga had carved an icy number on the walls of the hollow tree trunks. He told us that the ice wouldn't melt, and we decided to trust him. I don't know how it is that he does that, but the numbers were waiting for us when we finally decided to go back to the ship.  
  
"I wonder if Ukyo, Akane, and Donald had any luck and have found out what this place is." Said Demean. "Be that as it may, I am sure that we will find out as soon as we get back to the ship."  
  
"Do you think that they maybe found some of our friends?" I asked. "I mean... It's possible, right?"  
  
"I doubt that they found anyone in this desert with trees." Ranma mumbled.  
  
"It is possible." Demean said. "Remember that your friends found me deep in the bizarre forests of the Queen of Hearts' kingdom."  
  
"But still, that place was a bit smaller."  
  
"Don't feel discouraged." Hyoga said. "I'm sure that we'll all find our friends sooner or later. Be it in this world or in another one. One thing that one of my own friends taught me is that you don't have to lose hope, and you have to see things on the positive side. If he would hear you, I guess that he would probably say: 'Don't say that you've looked for your friends in many worlds. Say that there are still many other worlds were they could be.'"  
  
"Somehow, that doesn't encourage me much." Ranma muttered.  
  
"Sure it doesn't. That's because you're taking it the negative way."  
  
"Well, in my opinion, there aren't many good things happening lately. And if there have been, then they're happening to somebody else, 'cause I'm still thinking that the Heartless aren't defeated, our ship is down, and our friends might be heading another direction as we speak, without knowing what ever happened to us."  
  
"What about if they saw us when we got hit?" I intervened. "What about if they turned around and came back? Who knows? Maybe they're waiting for us back at the ship, next to Octavius and Ikki. Or maybe they managed to fix the ship."  
  
"That I do doubt very much." Hyoga said, with a laugh. "I don't know about Octavius, but I can tell you for sure that Ikki doesn't know squat about mechanics, specially when it comes to unearthly ships. I don't think that neither one of my friends knows anything, by the way. And I include myself at that. But the fact that our other friends might be there doesn't sound as mad."  
  
"If that happens, then I'll shut my 'negative' mouth for good. You have my word." Ranma said.  
  
"Then let us hope for our companions to meet us there, for your constant complaints are giving me a headache." Demean added, with a giggle.  
  
***  
  
Well, in the end it turned out that Hyoga, Demean, and me had been a bit too positive. The ship was still wrecked and our other friends hadn't come. As I saw Ikki and Octavius standing by the fallen ship, I wondered if we would ever get out of there...  
  
"Any luck?" asked Ikki.  
  
"No, as suspected." Ranma said aloud, and glanced at us.  
  
"I am afraid that we have found nothing." Demean admitted. "This old forest keeps its secrets very well. Did the others come back?"  
  
"No, they have not." Octavius said, with a disappointed sigh. "What concerns me the most is that we have not found any mean of repairing the ship. I fear that we lack the skill to put the pieces back together. Unless it magically comes back to life, which I doubt very much, we will go nowhere until your friends find us or until we are lucky enough to have another of those pathetic Heartless bring one of their ships here, so we can steal it."  
  
"Oh, that's just fan - freaking - tastic!" Ranma exclaimed, with anger.  
  
"Be at ease, Ranma." Demean said. "Calm down. We will figure something out. What concerns me the most is that Ukyo, Akane, and Donald are still somewhere out there. I fear that they have lost their path, or even worse, that they have encountered some monster."  
  
"Don't say that!" I exclaimed.  
  
I really wouldn't be able to tolerate that thought. I was really worried about Riku and Kairi. And on top of things, now I was beginning to worry about Ukyo. She had been a very good friend to me ever since we had met. I had become very fond of her and didn't want to lose her, because she was the only best friend that I had left. What if I never saw her again? What if I never saw any of my friends again? That was one heck of a scary thought. And if Demean, who was the most positive of us, was already getting worried, then that only meant bad news. I really wished that Ryu would be there. Next to Octavius, Hyoga, and Ikki, he was the strongest one of us. He would know what to do. Well, that's actually a lie. He would probably be just like us: clueless, that is. But we would at least have someone pretty strong guy beside us, who would be able to rescue my friend should the need arise. I didn't know if I would be able to do it. I knew that I was very strong and all, but I don't think that I was a match for some of the monsters that we had encountered. I even wondered if some of the guys didn't think of me as a burden. I really hoped that it wasn't that way, and that they would encourage me to keep my hopes up... That they would encourage me to look for Ukyo, or something of the sort.  
  
"What should we do, then?" asked Ikki. "Do you guys want to go search for them?"  
  
"I believe that we should." Demean said. "God only knows what creatures lurk here at night. Even though the forest has proved to be very peaceful and somewhat welcoming during the day, I do not doubt that there are many hunters out there who only wish to eat a mouthful of meat."  
  
"Alright, then let's go. I'm a bit concerned about Akane, anyway." Ranma said, and took a step forward, but then froze as, suddenly, a pair of owls appeared over the trees that were to our right and swooped down to where we were.  
  
The first one was a really small owl that could even perch in my hand, and the second one was a mammoth - sized bird that made us take a step back. They did look kind of funny together, actually...  
  
"Hello! Hoot!" said the really big owl, to our surprise.  
  
"Uh... Hello." Ranma and I replied.  
  
"Excuse me, fellows..." said the little owl. "But you wouldn't happen to be the friends of two lovely young girls and a mad duck who was obviously raised by a family of hooligans?"  
  
"That's got to be Donald!" I exclaimed.  
  
"Yes, that's the one!"  
  
"How is it that you know about them?" asked Demean, and took a step forward. "Where are they? Are they alright?"  
  
"I doubt that very much." Said the large owl, to our dismay. "They were ambushed by the Great King of Evil's army. They told us to seek for your aid, hoot. When we left them, they were about to let loose a fierce battle against the fiend's hordes."  
  
"What?!" we all exclaimed. "Where are they?!" Demean demanded.  
  
"Follow us! Let us hope that they are still standing! Hoot!" exclaimed the great owl and then they both began to fly swiftly into the depths of the woods, with all of us running after them as fast as we could.  
  
We went through many hollow trunks and with every tunnel that we crossed, my heart beat faster and more desperately. I had but one question in my mind: How long had it been since the two birds had left our friends? What if we were too late already? I really wouldn't be able to bear that. And the more I thought about losing Akane, Donald, and especially Ukyo, I ran faster and faster.  
  
We finally got to what seemed to be a maze of green, leafy walls. The owls flew over it as quickly as they could. Demean jumped as high as he could and went over the walls as well. Octavius decided to be a bit more practical and smashed the walls down with great strength, and opened a path for the rest of us. We didn't care about nature at that time. The leaves could grow back in time. But our friends' lives wouldn't.  
  
When we finally crossed the maze, we faced some steep, long stairs. We went up them as best as we could, 'cause they had really horrible steps. I tripped about three times, and when I did, Ikki picked me up and made me go faster.  
  
"Oh, no!" cried the little owl, when he and the other bird had finally reached the summit.  
  
We got there a few seconds later, and saw only what appeared to be a stone temple on the top of a cliff, a strange platform in front of us, and an old tree. But our friends weren't there. My heart then gave a terrified jump as I saw something.  
  
"Good heavens!" continued the owl. "Look! It's the girl's weapon!"  
  
There it was, laying still and quiet, Ukyo's heavy spatula. But she wasn't anywhere near there. I quickly ran to its side and barely held it between my hands, without knowing what to think or what to do.  
  
We all fell silent for a long time. I mean, who could say anything in a situation like that? I then slowly turned to the rest of my friends, and felt very, very sad. I couldn't stand it.  
  
"Are... where are they?" Ranma asked, with despair. "Are they...?" but he couldn't say anything more.  
  
The owls looked at each other, but didn't answer. Hyoga, Ikki, and Octavius lowered their heads, while Demean approached me and put his hand on my shoulder. I thought that he was trying to comfort me, but as I looked at him, I noticed that he was really sad as well. I think that almost as sad as I was feeling...  
  
What the hell had happened? Where the hell were they? I couldn't believe that they had died. I didn't want to believe that they had died. I mean, it wasn't the way that it was supposed to be. We were all supposed to keep on searching other worlds; they were supposed to help me get rid of the Heartless. Ukyo was supposed to meet his boyfriend, Wilheim, again, so that they would be happy again. And when I thought this, I grew even more desperate and sad. What if I found him? What would I tell Wilheim? After all, I had promised to look after Ukyo. He would be crushed... Just like me.  
  
I did my best to keep my tears to myself. And when I was about to start crying, a grave voice said:  
  
"No, they are not dead."  
  
We all turned to it and saw a man. He wore a blue tunic and a pointy had that had many stars and moons drawn upon it. He had a pair of little glasses and a great, white beard. Still, he didn't look very old. He sort of had a mystical air to himself... We all wondered who could that guy be. It was the little owl who answered our question.  
  
"Confound it all, Merlin!" he exclaimed with apparent relief. "Where in the world have you been? And what mysterious entrance of yours is this? Do you know where the girls are?"  
  
"Now, now, calm down, Archimedes." The old man replied. "First, let me introduce myself to the travelers." He then said to us: "Hello, friends. My name is Merlin, and I am a sorcerer. I see that you have met my little companion. His name is Archimedes, and he is a highly educated owl."He HehhhhHehehehe  
  
"Yes... Hi." Ranma muttered. He paused for a moment, and later said, speaking for all of us, actually: "Mr. Merlin, I don't want to sound rude, but, if you know about the girls and the duck, could you please tell us where they are? Are they OK? Are they hurt?"  
  
"Easy, boy. Just give me a second..." Merlin said and approached us. Then, from out of nowhere, a magical ball appeared in front of him. We all jumped back in surprise, but then realized that he didn't mean any harm with that. It had just been... the shock. "This is a crystal ball." He declared. "Many others call it a fortune teller's tool, others call it a magical ball, and some others even call it a Palanthir. Whatever you may call it, it has only one purpose: to reveal me what is happening in other places." He walked near us, put the ball on the floor and sat next to it. "I have seen your friends. They are not dead. But they have been captured by the Great King of Evil's forces, and, as far as I'm concerned, they're being held captive in a dungeon."  
  
"But they're alive?" I insisted.  
  
"Yes, yes." Merlin said. "But it has been some time since I last looked into the magical ball. Let us see what is happening right now..." he then began to speak some magic words, or something... it was strange speech, however. The ball started to shine and got all cloudy. "Wait a moment... it is almost done. Be wary; what you may see will probably be something quite horrid."  
  
I gulped as he said this. I didn't want to see my friends tortured and bleeding. God, what I would give to be there, with them now, so that I could help them in whatever way.  
  
"Ah, here it is!" he exclaimed, and the ball showed us what was happening right now at the enemy's castle.  
  
The fortress was black, and huge. It had many towers around it. But the one that was on its center, climbed high into the sky. Its top part was shattered, and we could see that a tremendous battle was going on. There was a very big man, dressed in black, who held a great sword in his hands, and had evil eyes. He grinned to himself as he battled against many warriors. There was another big man; not as big as the mean one, but big, anyways, who seemed to have a broken leg. There was also a woman with golden hair, whose ears were very similar to the ones of Link. A third man fought against the enemy, and he wore some sort of purple armor, and had two large chains attached to his arms. And the other three were our friends.  
  
"Ukyo!!" I yelled, as I saw that she was badly hurt, and seemed to be on the verge of passing out. "NO! Donald!! Akane!!"  
  
"Ikki!! That's your brother!!" Hyoga exclaimed, and pointed at the man with the purple armor.  
  
We all turned to look at him as he quickly kneeled beside the crystal ball and looked at it with fear.  
  
"Shun..." he murmured.  
  
"Good heavens!" the big owl exclaimed. "They are all fighting against the Great King of Evil! Are they mad? No one can beat Ganondorf! Only princess Zelda's power is capable of shattering him! And she is very weak!"  
  
"We have to go help them!" I yelled. "Come on, come on! Let's go!! Come on!!"  
  
"Hold on, Sora." Octavius said, and grabbed me by my arm. I tried to break free, but he was very strong. "We do not know where this place is. How do you pretend to help them when you do not even know where your desperate footsteps will guide you?"  
  
"Then where are they?!" I asked the owls. "Where are they?! Please!!"  
  
"You will not be able to help them in anyway... Hoot..." said the large owl.  
  
"Of course I can help! I have the Keyblade! It's a great weapon, capable of cutting through scum, like the one there!" I added, and pointed at Ganondorf.  
  
"No, it is not. No weapon can harm him. Save for the Light Arrows, and the Master Sword... but..."  
  
"Master Sword?!" Demean interrupted. "Then there is no doubt! This is the same fiend that Link told us about! What rotten luck, to have him lost in the darkness of space!"  
  
"If he is still alive, I may be able to reach him!" Merlin said. "I can use my crystal ball to try to speak to him!"  
  
"Then do it!" Ranma wailed.  
  
"Meanwhile, I'll go...!" I said, but Octavius held me again.  
  
"You cannot beat him!" the owl insisted.  
  
"But at least I can distract him for some time!" I argued. The animal fell silent when he heard me, and I added: "We can all distract him. Come on, guys! We have to go! We can help them! We have to help them! You don't want to lose them, do you? I don't care what you guys say, I'm going there!"  
  
"You are right." Demean declared. "If the steels of our weapons cannot cut through his skin, then at least they will give Hyrule's champion time to get ready for battle. Let us go, lest we want our friends to fall!"  
  
"In that case, I'm staying here, and I'll wait for the others to come." Ikki declared.  
  
"What?" Hyoga muttered. "Ikki! What are you saying?! That's your brother there! How can you leave him like that?" he asked, for all of us, actually. I mean, how could he leave him behind?  
  
"I know that he's my brother, Hyoga." He replied. "And that's why I know that he'll be fine. Even though you may not believe it, Shun has great powers. When they wake up, even the fiercest of foes have a hard time fighting against him. Besides, I can't always be there for him. I've helped him many, many other times in the past. He's got to learn to take care of himself. You know that. Seyia and Shiryu know that as well..." he paused, and then said: "I will meet you there when the others arrive. You just have to focus on delaying that man."  
  
Hyoga froze for a second, but then nodded his head.  
  
"Then what do you want me to say to him?" he asked.  
  
"Tell him to be strong, and that I'll be there soon."  
  
"Very well, brave warriors." Said the large owl. "I will show you the way to the Great King of Evil's castle myself. Hoot!"  
  
"Can you take me?" I asked.  
  
"Carry you?"  
  
"Yeah! Please!"  
  
"Alright. Hang on, little one. Hoot, hoot, hoot!" he said, and grabbed my shoulders with its soft claws, and lifted me into the air.  
  
"What a brave boy." Said Archimedes. "He reminds me of the Wart... err, Arthur, I mean."  
  
"Indeed." Merlin agreed. "But now is not the time to talk about that. Come on, Archimedes! Concentrate! I need to reach this Link before things go ill!"  
  
"Fly, oh, great owl! Fly, and lead us to the fiend's summit!" Demean yelled, and began to run after us with great speed, along with Ranma, Hyoga, and Octavius, while we left Archimedes, Merlin, and Ikki behind...  
  
We flew over the forest with great speed, and soon, all of the trees and fireflies and else disappeared. The sun had gone down, and we were now facing the night of the land, which I assumed was Hyrule (assumed, 'cause no one had told me otherwise). My friends were running really, and I mean really fast. They kept up with us as we flew over a great, grassy field. Demean was the quickest of them, and was right below us. He held Ukyo's spatula in his hands; he wanted to return it to her. I had forgotten about it when Merlin had showed us the crystal ball. Either way, Hyoga, and Ranma followed him. Octavius was the one who seemed to be falling behind. He did keep track of us, however. At that time, I guessed that he was more brawn than speed, and I wasn't mistaken...  
  
I suddenly saw the dark castle in the horizon. Some evil clouds circled the tower in which our friends and Ganondorf fought. Lightning struck it again and again, and thunder roared fiercely. I took a deep breath and summoned all of my courage. The scenery was very ghastly. And what was worse, there was a terrible monster waiting for us there. A monster that couldn't be beaten except by one person, and he wasn't with us...  
  
I then noticed my friend's figures. All of them had fallen! The only ones that were still attacking the enemy were the blonde man and the princess. I let out a soft breath of chill as I saw Donald's motionless body hanging by one of the tower's edges. It seemed that he was the one who had been beaten the most (although I later realized that I was mistaken). The other man, Ikki's brother, was on his knees and was doing his best not to fall unconscious. Ukyo and Akane were lying together, and could barely move. Amazingly, this didn't fuel my fear. It actually made me very angry. I just wanted to get there and beat the living snout out of that jackass. I knew that I would be able to reach the tower in no time, but the rest of my friends would have to climb to its top. But I wasn't worried. I just wanted to fight against Ganondorf, and to defend my friends.  
  
"Hurry! Hurry!" I yelled.  
  
"We are almost there! Hoot!" cried the owl.  
  
At that moment, Ganondorf punched the man in the face, and he fell on his back. The princess threw herself at him, but he caught her face with his hand and tossed her away. And then, Ukyo got to her feet and threw one of her little spatulas at one of Ganondorf's legs. It bounced off him as if it had hit rubber. I heard Ganondorf laugh, and then, he threw a dark ball of energy at Ukyo. She yelled in pain and fell to the ground.  
  
"Damn it!!" I wailed. "Move, move, move!!"  
  
"I am flying as fast as I can!!" the owl replied.  
  
Ganondorf slowly approached Ukyo. She tried to get up again, but he put her foot on her back and pressed mercilessly. She cried a chilling scream that soon vanished under the man's foot. He wasn't letting her breathe! I had to stop him! And when things seemed like they couldn't get any worse, he raised his sword over her head and got ready to decapitate her.  
  
Luckily enough, we were already over him.  
  
"Good luck, boy!!" cried the owl and released me right on top of him.  
  
"LET HER GO, YOU BASTARD!!" I yelled and swung my blade at his head as hard as I could, and as I screamed, I could feel tears of rage and desperation coming out of my eyes.  
  
Ganondorf turned to see me and received my hit. He jumped back, and let out a grunt of pain. He covered his face and his eyes were filled with anger. I must say that Zeus's gift had been a blessing. I doubt that I would have even made him step back with my old keychain. But at that time, I didn't think about it. I just wanted a piece of him.  
  
"What is this?!" he roared. "Who are you?!" he paused, and then a wicked smile spread on his lips. "Oh... Are you this girl's knight? I thought that I would be facing something a little more menacing. But you are just a little more than a cockroach, Wilheim."  
  
"Sora..." Ukyo muttered and touched my leg with her hand. She was terribly wounded. I couldn't stand that.  
  
"It'll be okay, Ukyo." I whispered, and turned to Ganondorf. "My name is Sora! And I'm going to kick your sorry butt!"  
  
"Oh, a new contender?" he laughed. "How hilarious! Very well. I will put an end to you, just like I have ended with your friends."  
  
"Sora!" exclaimed Akane and Donald, as they saw me. "You're here! How?" asked the duck.  
  
"Long story. Don't worry guys. The cavalry is on its way!" I exclaimed. I thought that maybe I could intimidate Ganondorf by saying this... But instead, he laughed again.  
  
"Do you think that you and your weakling friends can beat me?!"  
  
"We are not beaten yet, you son of a bitch." Said the blonde man, and got up again.  
  
"I will not yield... Not with Hyrule's fate standing at the edge of a knife!" the princess exclaimed.  
  
"Your resistance is admirable, princess Zelda! You and your friends should be nearly dead, and yet, you still keep on fighting. I commend you for your skills. But they will not be enough to defeat me!" Ganondorf cackled.  
  
"That's what you think!" I said. I decided to talk a little more and to fill my friends with new hope, because, even though they wouldn't give up, they seemed quite desperate. "Demean, the elf, is coming here! He is a great archer! A legend among legends! Octavius will come, too! He's a were - bear! Stronger than any! And Ryu! The most powerful of all fighters! And the two saints - Cygnus Hyoga, and Phoenix Ikki! You can't beat them! And Link is coming also! You can never beat him!"  
  
"Ikki?" The saint asked, and a light of hope shone in his eyes. "My brother is here?"  
  
"He'll be here." I assured.  
  
"Link!!" Zelda exclaimed. "Nayru bless him! Our champion has returned."  
  
"At last..." Ganondorf mumbled, to my surprise. "At last the Triforce's shards will be one, and Hyrule will be under my reign! This is an opportunity of a lifetime. Enjoy your last moments, worms! I will crush all of you right now! I wish to chat with Link alone..."  
  
"I'm not going to let you do that, 'Ganondork'!" I yelled, and threw my blade at him.  
  
Ganondorf's smile grew bigger and he repelled my attack with one swift movement of his hand, and counterattacked with a dark ball of energy. I caught my weapon and barely dodged his projectile. He then flew to me and swung his gigantic blade as hard as he could. I parried his attack, but was sent flying all across what had become our battle ring.  
  
"Whoa!" I yelled.  
  
"Hmm. Not bad." Ganondorf said. "But can you counter this?" he asked and grabbed Ukyo by her throat.  
  
"NO!!" I cried. "Let her go!!"  
  
"Uh... Sora..." she spoke in a raspy voice, and her eyes closed as Ganondorf squeezed her neck. I was about to throw the Keyblade at him once more, but he put Ukyo in front of him as if she were a shield. Damn, I hated him for that, the coward!  
  
But suddenly, out of nothing, a chain attacked him. It snatched him by the neck, and he let go of Ukyo. The saint, who had thrown the magical chain, pulled Ganondorf toward him. He lost his balance and fell on his butt. Then, the saint ran toward him and, before he could get up, pushed his body with both his arms. Finally, he sprang into the air, using his back as a platform.  
  
"Argh!" the fiend yelled as the man got away from him. "You hurt my back! Now I will make you pay!"  
  
"I've been in worse situations!" he exclaimed, with renewed energies. I really did the right thing by mentioning his brother. He was livelier than ever.  
  
"We shall see!" roared Ganondorf, and threw himself at him. But before he could reach the saint, a projectile of blue energy hit him and pushed him all the way to the tower's edge. It had been the blonde man who had thrown it.  
  
"That's my Hadoken, bastard!" he yelled. "I'm not done with you yet."  
  
I let out a relieved sigh. Now there were three of us fighting against Ganondorf. Even though Zelda was still up, she was using some sort of magic powers to try to heal Donald, Akane, and Ukyo. Even though I knew that we wouldn't be able to beat him, I was conscious that we were buying ourselves sometime before the reinforcements arrived. And when they came, they would help us last long enough to see Link beat the crap out of Ganondorf. I just hoped that Demean, Ranma, Hyoga, and Octavius made their way to the top as quickly as they could.  
  
"So be it." The enemy growled. He wasn't as confident as he was a minute ago. "It is time to finish this!!"  
  
"Come on!!" I wailed and let out my best battle cry, along with the other two men.  
  
"Come on, Shun!!" said the blonde one. "Let's mop the floor with this jackass!"  
  
"Right on, Ken!"  
  
And as Shun finished saying these words, his magical chains multiplied by the hundreds and attacked Ganondorf mercilessly. They were like hungry snakes that only wished for a bite of their prey. The enemy let out a battle cry of his own and some sort of energy field stopped almost all of the saint's chains. However, some of them got through the invisible shield and cut through his body. He grunted and swung his sword, shattering several of them. His wounds regenerated almost as quickly as he began to bleed. This was going to be one very tough battle...  
  
Ken jumped at him right after Shun's attack ended and let out a yell that I had heard before...  
  
"TATSUMAKISEMPUUKIAKU!!"  
  
It was Ryu's technique! His leg spun in the air and hit his face with great strength several times. Though it wasn't as fierce as Ryu's move, it was definitively quicker. Ganondorf fell on his back, and Ken landed on the ground, right next to him. But when he did, he stumbled and nearly fell, because his other leg was still very damaged. Ganondorf quickly got up and got ready to attack our defenseless ally.  
  
However, I dashed as quickly as I could at him, with my blade pointing at his body, ready to stab him. Somehow, it seemed for a moment that I turned into a breeze of energy and passed right through him. As if some sort of hidden power had suddenly exploded in me... Whatever that was, I stopped Ganondorf's attack, and wounded his hand as well. At least I did something. When he noticed that he was out of danger, Ken jumped away from our opponent and right next to Shun and me.  
  
Ganondorf's cut soon vanished, and he let out a long, evil laugh.  
  
"Do you worms still think that you can defeat me?" he said, taunting us. "Then come at me, and take a good swing, if you dare!"  
  
"What do we do, guys?" I whispered. "We can hurt him all we want, but he won't fall. Should we try to grab our friends and run?"  
  
"Yeah, right." Ken said. "Are you going to carry them all by yourself? That's not a choice, kid."  
  
"Besides, I've sensed this man's power." Shun added. "He's much stronger than you could imagine. If he wants to, he can bring down the tower, with us standing on its collapsing top."  
  
"If he's that powerful, then why are we still fighting...? Never mind." I said to myself, and did my best to remember and to stick to our initial plan.  
  
"So neither of you cowards will attack me?" asked Ganondorf. "Very well. I will banish you all right now!"  
  
And as he finished saying this, he raised his arms and on top of him, a great ball of darkness appeared. It seemed much like the dark hole that had swallowed me on the island from which I came... But instead of absorbing things, this black ball emitted strong gusts of wind that pushed my friends and me to the tower's edges. Ken, Shun, and I could barely handle the drafts... But the rest of our friends were being blown off the tower! Even Zelda, who was the one with more energy among them, was being dragged to the abyss that was below us like a leaf in the wind!  
  
"Oh, no!" I exclaimed. "They're all going to fall!"  
  
"Damn!" Shun exclaimed and threw his chains at the sky. Lightning fell on them and they multiplied by the hundreds again. Only that this time, the chains didn't go after Ganondorf. Instead of that, they grasped all of our friends by the ankles, wrists, and waists, and kept them from falling down. I suddenly felt how the chains held me as well, and so did Ken. Then, they flew over Ganondorf and attached themselves to two pillars that were yet standing. Shun struggled to keep us on the top of the tower as hard as he could, but the winds were beginning to hurt his arms.  
  
"You are proving to be quite a nuisance, little man." Ganondorf cackled, as he saw the saint's tired eyes.  
  
At that moment, Ken braced himself and gathered all his energies to his hands. Lightning engulfed him, as he got ready to fire another of his projectiles. After a few moments, he released his power, along with a mighty yell.  
  
"HADOKEN!!"  
  
The ball of energy hit Ganondorf and made the dark sphere vanish. However, he was not hurt.  
  
"Clever." He mused.  
  
He then raised his fist and let it fall on the ground. It shook violently and began to break. Ken managed to jump right before the stones collapsed under Ganondorf's attack, but Shun and I weren't that lucky. His chains retracted to his arms and then shot off again, only to grab a pillar of stone and me right before we fell off the tower. I looked down and let out a yell as I saw how high we were. If we fell, we would be nothing more than a couple of craters on the ground. Suddenly, I heard Ganondorf's cackle, and looked up. He was standing right next to the pillar that held us both and threatened to break it with his fist. However, before he could smash it, Ken jumped at him and hit him on the face. He took a few steps back and then they both disappeared of our sight. We could only hear Ganondorf's confident groans and Ken's desperate battle cries.  
  
"Hang on, kid! I'll get us up!" Shun exclaimed and his chains began to drag us up the tower. However, they suddenly stopped as we both heard a scream that came from our right.  
  
"Sora!! Shun!!"  
  
We turned to the voice and noticed Hyoga, who was poking his head out of one of the tower's glassless windows.  
  
"Hyoga!!" Shun cried. "Thank God you're here! Where's Ikki?"  
  
"He'll come here later! But he'll come!" Hyoga replied. "Right now, get up there and keep Ganondorf busy! It won't take us much longer to get there!"  
  
"Okay!"  
  
With that being said, the chains yanked us up and we landed on the tower, only to see Ganondorf grabbing Ken by his neck and squeezing him. His face turned red and he opened his mouth to let out a yell, but the enemy's hand wouldn't let him scream. At that instant, Shun gathered all his strength. I turned to him and practically saw his energies. A purple aura of flames engulfed him. Lightning struck the platform and a new wind began to blow. Shun shot off a fierce gust of burning wind that engulfed Ganondorf and made him release Ken with a cry filled with pain.  
  
"Nebula Storm!!*" the saint yelled, and the gales turned even more aggressive. For my part, I quickly raced to grab Ken's hand and dragged him away from Ganondorf. After all, Shun storm wasn't affecting either of us. The enemy was having a really hard time in staying on the platform, because the winds that Shun shot of his fingers were even fiercer than the ones that he had shot of his black hole.  
  
I knew that we hadn't much time left. Ken was out of energies and had almost fallen unconscious, and Shun was beginning to faint as well. After a few moments, the storm stopped and he fell on the ground with a tired gasp.  
  
"Is that all?" Ganondorf roared, but I saw that his injuries did not heal as quickly as before. We had, after all, weakened him a little bit. But not enough...  
  
He began to run at us and with each step that he took, the ground shook under our feet. When he was about to reach us, the floor shattered, and rocks flew up in the air. It hadn't been the enemy, because he looked quite surprised. I turned to the hole in the ground and saw Demean, Hyoga, Ranma, and Octavius spring out. It had been the later who had broken the ground with a mighty punch.  
  
"What is this?!" Ganondorf exclaimed, now clearly pissed off. "You weaklings sprout like rabbits!"  
  
"You will find us to be much more of a match than a rodent, evil one." Demean declared, unsheathed his knives, and tossed Ukyo's spatula right next to her fallen body.  
  
"Akane!" Ranma exclaimed, as he ran to her side and held her head with her hand. "Oh, Akane! Are you all right? Please, tell me that you're alright!"  
  
"Ranma..." she whispered, and smiled at him sweetly. "I knew you would come."  
  
"Hold on, Akane!" he said. "Don't you go dying on me! Don't you dare die! Understood? Say that you've understood, Akane! I won't leave you alone again!" she nodded her head and closed her eyes, and he rose to his feet. His anger began morph into pure power and his eyes were filled by that rage. "Damn you! How dare you do this to her?! I'll get you for this, Ganondorf!"  
  
"Do not be too worried. You will follow her." The fiend replied.  
  
"Miserable coward!" Octavius exclaimed. He actually seemed kind of angry now. The emotionless man that had traveled along with us during so many days had finally shown some feelings. "If there is one thing that I cannot stand, is to see a defenseless woman hurt by the hands of an evil demon such as you! I shall put an end to you now!" He took out his shotgun and fired at Ganondorf's chest.  
  
However, the enemy didn't even feel the attack.  
  
"You are so naive, young man." He cackled. "I will teach you what the real meaning of power is!" And so, he shot a dark ball of flames at Octavius. The were - bear held it with both his hands and resisted its burning touch until at last it disappeared. A new wave of attacks on Ganondorf began, and this time, I put even more heart into it than last time.  
  
Demean was the first to attack. He quickly brandished his bow and shot an arrow at Ganondorf's heart. The fiend took the shot, thinking that he wouldn't even be scratched by it. But, although it did not kill him, Demean's arrow pierced his chest and carved a deep wound inside his body. With a pain - filled yell, Ganondorf extracted the arrow, and threw it back at the elf. However, he skillfully dodged it and got ready to attack with his daggers. Next, came Hyoga's turn. The saint summoned a chilling breeze and shot it straight at our enemy's feet. The ground became solid ice and Ganondorf noticed that his legs had been frozen. Then, both Ranma and I shot out a fiery projectile at him. He used his hands, while I used the Keyblade. Both fireballs hit Ganondorf hard, but he did not fall, because of his frozen legs. Finally, Octavius ran at him and let loose a great punch. When his fist hit Ganondorf's head, he let out a cry of pain and was sent flying across the platform, while the ice shattered into pieces. It had been one hell of a punch that would have even brought down a wall.  
  
Ganondorf quickly got up and shook his head, trying to get rid of the pain that Octavius had inflicted him with that jab.  
  
"You are a little bit stronger than I first expected." He said. "Very well. Then let me overcome your strength with my own!"  
  
And so, the coward began to fly. And while he was airborne, he shot many fireballs and other sorts of dark projectiles at us. At first, we didn't have much trouble in dodging them. What was more: from time to time, Demean shot an arrow at Ganondorf and usually pierced one of his hands. He never missed. Not even once. He was by far the best archer that I had ever seen or heard off. He was even better than the ones I had read about in tales! Hyoga helped too and shot off many artic blasts. Not all of them hit Ganondorf, but they usually froze the fireballs that he shot at us, and they fell to the ground without harming anyone. Ranma tried to hit him with his energy attacks, and I tried to smash him with my Keyblade by throwing it as a boomerang at him many times, but we rarely scored a hit. Nevertheless, we were doing a good job at keeping him busy.  
  
But then, Ganondorf had a terrible idea. He no longer shot his blasts at us... He began to throw them at our unconscious friends! We couldn't believe it! We had no choice but to protect them from his projectiles. Even the weakest of them would be able to kill them for sure, because they had no strength in them whatsoever. At first, he focused mainly on Shun, who was the one who had caused him more trouble. Hyoga protected him by freezing every projectile that came his way, and then smashing it with his fist. But then, Ganondorf began to attack our other friends. And he began to do it so quickly that not all of us could manage to stop all of his blasts with our weapons or our fists... Soon, we found ourselves receiving the projectiles in order to keep them from hitting our friends. Most of the ones that were meant to kill Donald and Ukyo hit me. When one of those things touched my body, I felt as if I were being stung by a swarm of angry bees. But I didn't give up. Even though they were many shots, they weren't as powerful as the attacks that Ganondorf had dished out before. However, we were getting weak. We couldn't hold his attacks for much longer.  
  
Luckily, I had the Keyblade, and I managed to get rid of several black shots with its help. Hyoga had his icy powers, Demean had his bow, arrows, and daggers, and Octavius had his katana and his tremendous body. However, Ranma had nothing but his own hands. Soon, he fell on his knees, next to Akane's body, and let out a heavy breath. Ganondorf let out an evil laugh and swooped down at him, and hit him as hard as he could on his stomach. Ranma let out a groan and was sent flying out the platform.  
  
"NO!! RANMA!!" I yelled as I raced to the tower's edge and threw my hand at him. He reacted just in time to hold it just before he fell. But he was much more heavy than me, and I wouldn't be able to hold him much longer without falling along with him. I quickly buried my Keyblade on the ground and held tightly to it.  
  
"Hang on, Ranma!" I yelled.  
  
"I'm trying!" he cried, and I suddenly felt how his hand was beginning to slip. Ganondorf's punch had made all of his strength vanish.  
  
I then heard the enemy's laughter at my back, and saw Ganondorf grabbing my Keyblade. He got ready to pull it out of the ground and to let us fall, but Demean lost no time and saved us both by charging at him with great speed and strength. They rolled over the ground and finally, the elf hit him with both of his fists on his face. Ganondorf roared and threw a dark ball of energy directly at Demean's stomach. He was sent flying across the platform, but didn't fall down. Despite the terrible attack, he still stood up and got ready to fight once again.  
  
Just when I thought that I wouldn't be able to hold Ranma's hand for another second, another one grabbed him. It had been princess Zelda's hand, who was now holding us both.  
  
"Come on, boys! Pull yourselves together!" she exclaimed and dragged us into the platform again.  
  
"Thanks..." I muttered, and then noticed that Ranma had almost fainted. "Damn it!"  
  
"Help us, please!" the princess said, with a desperate breath.  
  
"I'm doing my best... But he's too strong." I moaned.  
  
"Do not let his cruel words get to you. I know that you are strong, as are your friends. You cannot defeat him with those weapons, but you can hold him long enough. Enough time for Link to come and finish him!"  
  
"I... I'll try! I promise I'll try!" I said, rose up, and ran at Ganondorf, who was now fighting against Hyoga.  
  
The saint threw a punch at his chest, but he captured his fist and started to break it by squeezing it. Hyoga let out a grunt and quickly jumped backwards, not without first kicking Ganondorf's knee. Before the enemy could counterattack, I threw my blade at his arms, and managed to score a good hit. Ganondorf roared and looked at me with anger. He tightened his grip around his blade and jumped at me, ready to cut me in half with his weapon. But his sword was parried by Octavius's katana, and then the were - bear hit him in the stomach. Ganondorf reeled back by the punch's force and let out a groan. Man, was I glad to have Octavius on our side! That guy was brute force, there's no other way of putting it. Anyway, after that, we all began to attack Ganondorf, that is, the ones who were still standing, and by that I mean Hyoga, Octavius, Demean, and me.  
  
The elf quickly jumped over our opponent and began to attack him from behind. Ganondorf did his best to fend off his attacks, but with us bugging him from the front, he got stabbed by his knives a lot of times. But he would heal himself in no time at all. Nevertheless, we wouldn't give up. I did my best to attack his legs, since Octavius had the upper part of his body covered. They were both equally strong, and every time their steels crashed, it seemed as if thunder roared. Meanwhile, Hyoga was attacking him with his icy blasts.  
  
"DIAMOND DUST!!" he cried, over and over again, and winds of chill came from his hands.  
  
His attacks slowed Ganondorf's movements, and let us hit him a couple of times. I didn't do much harm, but Octavius was devastating. Every time that he hit our enemy, he stumbled and nearly fell on one of his sides. I bet that he can even break a thick, steel wall without much effort. And with Demean's constant strikes, Ganondorf was getting very weak.  
  
Or so that was what we were hoping. Because, as soon as we got him near the edge of the tower, we all tried to hit him at the same time, in his chest, but he managed to parry our blades, and Hyoga's fist. He then grabbed our weapons by the steel and let loose an electric discharge on all of us. I felt as if had been struck by lightning, and I guess that all of my friends felt the same way. My hands began to burn. I tried to let go of the Keyblade, but my fingers wouldn't move. I screamed and sparks came out of my mouth. And suddenly, a burst of energy threw us away from him. I had lost all of my strength, and thought that my friends had too. I glanced at Demean and Octavius and saw that they were still shaking because of the enemy's attack. But Ganondorf had captured Hyoga. He held him by his neck and was ready to cut his head off. However, Hyoga managed to focus all of his energies in his hands and grabbed Ganondorf's arm. In less than three seconds (imagine that!) his extremity had become a thick block of ice! It seemed to hurt him very much, for he yelled and shook Hyoga off. He stumbled on the floor and nearly fell. It was then that Ganondorf kicked him as hard as he could on his stomach. All of his energies vanished and he was sent flying right into the abyss.  
  
"HYOGA!!" I screamed.  
  
He was about to plunder into the debts of the world when all of a sudden, Shun shook his arm and Hyoga managed to grab a hold of his chain. Both nearly fell, but Shun managed to stay on top of the platform.  
  
"Don't let go, Hyoga!" he yelled.  
  
"Shun...!" the Cygnus saint muttered.  
  
I then crawled to their side and tried to help Hyoga up. But when I grabbed Shun's chain, it rattled and both of them nearly fell down, with me as a wrecked parachute. I quickly let go of the chain and held Shun by his chest, while my feet stuck on the ground as firmly as they could.  
  
"Hold on, guys!" I exclaimed. "Don't you go!"  
  
"No..." Hyoga murmured and, strangely, smiled, and so did Shun.  
  
"You're a very brave kid, Sora." The latter said.  
  
"But... it seems that bravery isn't enough." I muttered, as I saw Hyoga hanging by the chain. His strength had vanished, but the chain wouldn't let go of him. He seemed like a rag doll that is hanging by a thread, or something like that.  
  
"Surely it is, Sora." He said. "I know that this isn't the best time to say this and I know that it won't mean much, but... I'm proud to be fighting by your side."  
  
"So am I." Shun added.  
  
They were wrong. That really meant something to me. I tried to smile, but I couldn't. I turned around and noticed that Ukyo was laying just a few feet away from us. I wanted to reach out and touch her, and wake her up. She seemed to be sleeping so peacefully... But I didn't want her to sleep much. What if she never woke up? I had to go to her, and make her open her eyes. As I saw her own blood cooling on the floor, I grew more and more desperate. But I couldn't just leave Hyoga and Shun. I had to stick with them.  
  
* Hurry up, Link... * I thought.  
  
Ganondorf had nearly won. He was now only facing two opponents: Demean and Octavius. And what was worse; the elf was badly hurt and was only fighting because he wouldn't give up. Man, was he brave. Octavius seemed to be fine. However, he knew that he couldn't take on Ganondorf just by himself. And still, they kept fighting.  
  
Suddenly, Ganondorf fired a dark ball of electricity that hit both of them. What little energy Demean had disappeared, and Octavius lost nearly all of his. They fell on the ground and tried to get up, but they were too weak. Ganondorf raised his blade and moved in for the kill... But before he could get to them, a ray of light hit him. He let out a yell and fell on his back, and the ice that imprisoned his arm was shattered into pieces. We all turned to the source of light and noticed Zelda, who had shot of a powerful attack with her last strength.  
  
"How could this be?" Ganondorf roared. "I thought that I had sealed your powers!"  
  
"You are growing weak." Zelda answered. "Your seal has broken. Face me, foe! I will be your opponent now!"  
  
"Enough!!" he screamed and shot a fierce gust of wind at her. She was brought down by the attack as soon as it hit her and couldn't get back up. Ganondorf approached her with hatred in his evil eyes, and more pissed than ever. "You have caused me enough trouble!" he growled. "Even though I cannot kill you now, I will keep you from walking!" and so, he raised his blade and got ready to cut her legs off.  
  
"NO!!" I screamed and closed my eyes as the blade began to fall.  
  
Something happened. All of a sudden, Ganondorf started to howl in pain. I opened my eyes again and saw that there was an arrow in his hand and that his blade had fallen on the ground. I thought that he would take it out and throw it back at the shooter, Demean, that is. But I was wrong. Because it hadn't been Demean who had shot the arrow. I then noticed that the projectile was shinning with a yellow light and that it was burning Ganondorf's skin as if it were fire. And get this: he couldn't heal that injury. He turned with anger at his attacker and when he saw him, his rage turned into amazement.  
  
There he was. Finally! He had come! Along with Aeris, Leon, Cid, Yuffie, Goofy, Ryu and Ikki! And he looked mad. Even madder than Ganondorf himself. He was even scarier. His eyes shone as if the sun was directly hitting them. I could hear his angry breath, which seemed much like the one of a dragon that has been taking a long nap and has suddenly been awakened by some jerk. His hands were forming tight fists and his hair waved with the roaring wind. Zelda raised her eyes, looked at him, and yelled, with a broken voice and tear - filled eyes:  
  
"LINK!!"  
  
Her yell snapped Ganondorf out of his trance and he became angry again. With a roar, he kicked her face and she let out a grunt as she crawled to our side. Link's eyes grew angrier and he quickly unsheathed his Master Sword. The blade seemed to growl as its steel pointed towards Ganondorf. Man, was he scary. But in a good way. I was staring at the hero of a legend. And my friends felt the same way too, I think. They looked at him with amazement and wonder. He had finally come. He was there to free the land, and to save us all!  
  
"It is time that you paid for your sins, evil one!" he said, with rage. "You have raped the beautiful land of Hyrule... You have harmed my dear princess... And you have nearly murdered my friends! You shall not hurt anybody ever again! This, I swear, upon Din, Nayru, Farore, and my princess, Zelda!"  
  
"Bold words." Ganondorf cackled. "It will be a pleasure to make you swallow them. At last, the final shard of the Triforce will be mine!"  
  
"Such holy power is not meant to fall into your hands, Ganondorf!" Link exclaimed. "I will cut through you like light cuts through shadows! Be gone, foul demon!!"  
  
And with that cry, he threw himself against his enemy. A wall of flames grew around them, and prevented us from aiding Link in his duel. I tried to get up, but my legs couldn't stand my own weight. Besides, Shun began to slip off the edge, so I quickly grasped him again before he fell. Since no one could do anything to help Link, the ones who had just arrived began to help us. Goofy ran over to Donald's side, and studied him carefully. The duck had been out for a long time.  
  
"Gwarsh, Donald... You look as if you were run over by a train." Said Goofy, with a concerned voice. "I'm sorry that I couldn't be here to help you out."  
  
"Oh... Never mind. Just give me a potion, or something that makes me feel better, okay?" said Donald.  
  
"Sure thing, buddy." Replied Goofy, and gave him a strange drink.  
  
Meanwhile, Ikki had noticed us and was now running to our side.  
  
"Ikki! Help! Hyoga is about to fall down!" I yelled.  
  
"Brother!" Shun exclaimed. "Brother, help us, please!"  
  
"Shun!" said Ikki, as he peered over the tower's edge. "Hyoga! Hold on! I'm not going to let you fall down!" He grabbed the chain and began to pull the saint up, while I kept holding Shun as firmly as I could. "Grab my hand." Hyoga caught Ikki's arm, pulled himself back to the platform, and collapsed next to us.  
  
"Thank you, Ikki... And you too, guys." He said.  
  
"No problem." Ikki and I replied.  
  
"Brother!" cried Shun and hugged Ikki. "I'm so glad that you're here! I thought that I would never see you again when that dark hole swallowed me!" tears of happiness began to flow down his cheeks and he tightened his grip around his brother.  
  
"Still a little kid, huh?" Ikki said, gently, with a giggle. He let out a sigh and returned the hug, as he added: "I'm also happy to see you, brother."  
  
"Ken!!" Ryu exclaimed, with amazement, as he noticed his friend. "Ken!" he quickly went to him and kneeled by his side. "Ken! Are you alright, Ken?"  
  
"Ryu..." Ken moaned. "Oh... I've had better days." He chuckled weakly. "Man, am I glad to see you. You really have no idea. I could even kiss you, man, but that wouldn't look too good..."  
  
"I'm sure that it wouldn't." Ryu giggled, as he helped Ken to sit. "Don't worry, Ken. Everything will be OK now."  
  
I drew a weak smile on my face. At least, I thought, they've found their friends. I was happy for them, to a certain extent. I mean, I couldn't be too happy at the time. No one could. I can bet that they all would have wished to meet under other circumstances. But, what gives? They were now together. As I saw Shun and Ikki, and Ryu and Ken, I thought about Riku, and Kairi. I wished that they could be there. Riku would help me fight against Ganondorf; he was as strong as I was. Maybe even a bit stronger. But not too much... Nah, our strengths were equal. And Kairi would surely rout for us. But they weren't there. I sighed and turned away from them. It was then that I remembered Ukyo. She seemed to be nearly unconscious, and breathed heavily. I had no strength to walk, so I crawled by her side, and shook her gently. She had her eyes open, but she didn't seem to respond.  
  
"Ukyo..." I whispered, but she couldn't hear me. "Ukyo!" I said, this time in a louder voice, and shook her a little more.  
  
She finally seemed to come to, and looked at me with a weak smile. She was terribly hurt. I noticed that her wrist was sore and black. She had many bruises and cuts all over her body, and yet... she didn't seem to be in any pain. I got really, really worried.  
  
"Ukyo... Link is here." I said. "Hang on... We'll take care of you. You don't have to fight anymore..."  
  
"Sora..." she mumbled. "I don't think that I'm going to make it."  
  
"Don't say that! Of course you'll make it!" I replied. My voice shook as I spoke. Hey, put yourselves in my place. Wouldn't you be afraid to hear someone you love say that?  
  
"Sora..." she went on. She raised her good hand and gently touched my cheek. "You've been a good friend... I love you... Tell my Wilheim that I'm sorry that I couldn't make it... And that I love him with all my heart. Tell him that he was the last person I was thinking of when I..."  
  
"No!" I interrupted. "No, Ukyo! You're going to tell him that you love him yourself! I'm not letting you go!"  
  
"Good - bye, Sora." Ukyo said. Her eyes closed and her hand fell on the ground.  
  
"No..." I sobbed, and noticed that her breathing was getting weaker and weaker.  
  
But things were actually worse. I suddenly heard Link's scream, and turned my eyes to the fight. He was getting pummeled by Ganondorf. Every time that he attacked, the enemy parried his swing and hit him with a powerful punch or kick. He made him fly across the platform and he crashed into the wall of flames. His body was terribly bruised and he bled all over. There was one major cut on his back, and Ganondorf's sword was stained with his blood. His attacks grew slower, and weaker. Weak to the point were Ganondorf could even grab his sword and hit him with it.  
  
I knew what was going on. Link had let anger take over him, and he hadn't attacked cleverly. He, Ryu, and Demean were the smartest fighters around, and cleverness is quite dangerous on any warrior. But he hadn't been smart. He had fallen under the enemy's attacks. He seemed to be on the verge of death as well.  
  
I let out another sob and put my hand on Ukyo's chest. Her heartbeats had nearly stopped... I could even feel her life escaping her body. I couldn't stand it. I was about to break into tears, when I felt a raindrop fall on my body. At first, I didn't pay any attention to it. But then, another one followed it. And another, and another... And before I knew it, it was pouring rain. I gazed into the sky and saw that the clouds had acquired a greenish hue. I couldn't understand what that mean... But wherever that rain had come from, it seemed to be magical. Because, when I turned to see Ukyo's wrist, I saw that it was no longer blackened, and that the swelling had gone down. I felt how all my bruises closed by themselves, and how my strength began to return. A moment ago I was having a hard time in crawling... and now I could stand effortlessly. I even spun my Keyblade without any pain in my hands. I turned to my other friends and noticed that the rain was healing them as well. Ken's leg was in perfect shape; Hyoga, Shun, and Donald were standing as well, and Akane was waking up, just like Ranma! Who could be helping us? Whoever it was, he had saved our skins. Ganondorf and Link felt the rain, too. But the enemy's bruises weren't healed. Link, on the other hand, was now stronger than ever. I searched for the one responsible for that amazing rain, and then I knew.  
  
It was Aeris. She was the one who had summoned the rain. She seemed to be levitating... Her eyes were closed and her hands were clasped together as in prayer, and a... green aura of fire engulfed her. Eventually, all of my friends realized that the healing rain was her doing... As did Ganondorf.  
  
"Wretched girl!!" he exclaimed and threw her a ball of dark energy.  
  
Aeris couldn't move. All her strength and thoughts were concentrated on healing all of us. She couldn't evade the attack... Luckily, Cid was on guard, and he quickly took a swing at the projectile with his spear.  
  
"No, you don't, you son of a bitch!!" he exclaimed.  
  
Amazingly, he hit the projectile and bounced it back to Ganondorf! The enemy was so amazed to see this that he couldn't dodge his own attack, and fell on his back. It took him a moment to get up again. And when he did, he encountered a smiling Link.  
  
"My strength has returned." He said. "And I see now that your attacks have weaknesses. Blessed be Aeris, who has healed my wounds. I will not fail her, or my princess. On guard, Ganondorf! This time, you will surely fall!"  
  
This time, it was Ganondorf who lost his head. Not only had his opponent regained his strength, but the rest of us were feeling better as well. Now, both Zelda and Donald could also work their magic. He let out an outraged cry and fired another black projectile at Link. He evaded it and ran to him as fast as he could. The enemy tried to receive him with a powerful punch, but Link had foreseen this. He quickly grasped Ganondorf's arm, and leapt over it while holding it. Ganondorf cried in pain as Link twisted his arm, and tried escape his grasp. But before he could do it, our friend slammed him with his blade, and Ganondorf rolled over the ground.  
  
"Wow! How skillful!" I murmured.  
  
"Sora! Sora man!" I heard Yuffie call. She and Leon were running to where I was. "Sora! Are you okay?"  
  
"I'm fine." I said. Then, I looked at Ukyo, and added, with fear: "But she's not!"  
  
"She seems to be in bad shape, Yuffie..." Leon said, as he kneeled beside Ukyo and gently grabbed her head. "Her breaths are very weak!"  
  
"Even though Aeris used her ultimate skill?!" Yuffie yelled.  
  
"Ukyo!" Akane cried. She and Ranma were now running toward us, too. "Oh, my God! Ukyo, please, wake up!" she grabbed her hand and stroke it gently. "She was the one who Ganondorf attacked the most! She was the weakest of us when we faced him!" she said to us. "Oh, Ukyo! Please, don't do this to us!"  
  
"Come on, Ucchan! Wake up! Wake up, girl!" Ranma screamed.  
  
"She still hasn't woken up?" asked Ikki, as he, Shun, and Hyoga also approached my friend.  
  
"No." Leon replied. "Damn it! Her body's growing cold! We'll lose her soon, if we don't do something!"  
  
"Let me take care of her." Shun said. "Step aside. I can bring her back to life."  
  
"How? Not even Aeris's rain has cured her!" Yuffie exclaimed, desperately.  
  
"I know another way." The saint added. He moved all of us back and lay next to Ukyo. "I once saved Hyoga in the same way..."  
  
"You're going to use your power to heat her body up?" Hyoga asked. "But can you do it? Last time you helped me, you almost died... And you had much more energies than now."  
  
"Yeah... I know." Shun replied, but didn't mind. All I could sense was that he too wanted to save Ukyo... He was such a good friend. "The human body is a great heat source. If I use my power to increase that heat, I'm sure that I'll be able to save her."  
  
"Please, please do so!" I said, on the verge of tears. I didn't really want to cry in front of everyone...  
  
"Good idea, brother." Ikki said. "I trust that you'll be fine. Go on. Save her!"  
  
"My power is the warmest of them all..." Shun whispered in Ukyo's ear. "Let it aid you, Ukyo. Don't worry, I'll save you." He then hugged her as if he were his boyfriend (I didn't know Wilheim, but I guessed that he would be very pissed if he would see them at that time, without knowing what was going on.), and a purple aura of power engulfed them both.  
  
While Shun was doing his best to heal Ukyo, Link was practically kicking Ganondorf's butt. His Master Sword had inflicted many cuts upon the enemy's body, and he had little energies left. He tried to hit Link with his remaining forces, but he couldn't score a single punch. Link was now fighting as smartly as ever, and was using every one of his many weapons. When Ganondorf tried to fly away from him, he took out his Hookshot and fired at his opponent's legs to keep him from flying any farther. When he shot a quick blast of energy at him, Link fended it off with his shield. By the way, he was no longer using his Hylian shield... Before he had gone into the fight, he had armed himself with a beautiful shield that reflected every single thing. It seemed to be some sort of mirror... It was way cool. And much more resistant than the other one, I might add. I don't know why he always used the Hylian shield... Maybe he was fonder of it. But whatever it was, this new shield didn't suffer a single scratch from any of Ganondorf's attacks.  
  
The battle was nearly over. Ganondorf's strength had gone, and with it, the wall of flames. We could all go on and kick his butt for all that he had done to us, if we wanted to. But there wasn't any need. Link had practically won the fight.  
  
"It is over, Ganondorf." He said. "Yield!"  
  
"Never!!" roared the evil man. "I will kill you and the princess and your friends, and will reign over Hyrule with the power of the Triforce!!"  
  
"So be it." Link muttered.  
  
Ganondorf raised his arms and opened a black portal of evil energy above his head. The foulest air began to blow from it. I got very scared. I thought that maybe a monster would come out of it... The enemy roared and his voice echoed on the clouds and thunder. His power seemed to grow again! But, all of a sudden, the black hole vanished and his scream faded. Because Link had shot his final arrow of light directly at his heart. I turned my head away from him and did my best not to puke.  
  
"The Great King of Evil..." Ganondorf muttered, while coughing. "Beaten by a kid...?!" he let out an evil yell and slammed the rocky floor with his fist. Thunder roared and lightning struck his body, while his scream grew louder and louder. It all ended right away, however, and the Great King of Evil fell to the ground.  
  
We all kept quiet and still. None of us knew what to do or say. We didn't know if we should cry a victory yell or to just stay silent. But, for my part, I finally ran up to Link and hugged him. He seemed kind of surprised at first. Nevertheless, he then smiled and let out a laugh.  
  
"You did it!" I cried. "Thanks, Link! You're the best! Am I glad to be your friend!"  
  
"I only did what I had to do." He replied, and hugged me as well. "Thank you, Sora. I am happy that you were here to help. May the goddesses smile upon you always."  
  
"Hail Link, Hyrule's champion! The Hero of Time!" Demean exclaimed, and the rest of us cried:  
  
"Hurray!!"  
  
"No, friends." Link said. "You are the real heroes in this tale. Without you, I could not have accomplished my mission. Thank you all. Thank you, defenders of Hyrule!"  
  
At that moment, Zelda ran to Link and threw her arms around him. Obviously, I had to step aside.  
  
"Thank you, Link!" she exclaimed, with tears of happiness in her eyes. "You saved all of us! You have saved Hyrule!"  
  
"It was my duty, princess Zelda." He replied, and held her tightly. "I am glad to see you safe. Without your light, I would have never managed to defeat this terrible enemy." He then looked at her in the eyes, and whispered, with a chuckle: "Long live the princess."  
  
"Thank you..." she murmured and rested her head on his chest.  
  
I let out a happy sigh, and turned to my friends. My smile suddenly faded, as I remembered that Ukyo's life was still at the edge of a stake. Shun was still holding her and warming her up with his energy. I began to walk up to them... but all of a sudden, the ground began to shake, and I fell on my face.  
  
"What the hell...?!" Cid yelled.  
  
"Gwarsh! This is one big earthquake!" Goofy exclaimed.  
  
"You can say that again!" Donald added.  
  
"Ganondorf!" Zelda cried. "It must be his doing! With that final punch, he must have weakened the tower! He is trying to crush is in the ruins of his fortress!"  
  
"Then let's get the heck out of here!" Cid exclaimed. He quickly grabbed Aeris by her hand, who seemed to be lost in thought. If I had known better, I would even dare to say that she was sad to see Link and Zelda together... but those are grown - ups stuff. Either way, I couldn't give it much of a thought, could I?  
  
"What about Ukyo?!" I asked. "Is she alright?! Is she awake?!"  
  
"Not yet!" Hyoga replied. "Come on, Shun! We've got to hurry up!"  
  
"I've done everything I can." Shun said, as he slowly got up. Clearly, he had lost plenty of energies... "The rest is up to her." He added.  
  
"Ukyo..." I muttered, with concern. She still hadn't opened her eyes. "Can't you do anything else? She's still out!"  
  
"Her heart is still beating, and she's still breathing. But I can't guarantee anything... She'll live, or she'll die, if that's her doom." the saint replied, with a worried voice.  
  
"Time to go, boys!" cried Ken. He and Ryu ran toward us and forced us to go after the rest of our friends, who were already on the run. "I'll take her! You just focus on getting out of here, Sora!" he added. "Don't worry! I won't let anything happen to her."  
  
"But...!"  
  
"Just run!" Ryu insisted. "There's no time left!"  
  
I really hadn't any other choice. The floor started to crack under my feet and the shaking grew more violent. And so I began to run after my friends, who were now inside the tower and were doing their best to reach the exit before it collapsed. As I entered it, I had to constantly keep dodging boulders of stone that were falling from the ceiling. Those things were huge! If one of them fell on me, there would be nothing left of me. Maybe a Sora - pancake, but I surely didn't want to live the rest of my life in a wheelchair, or something like that. Either way, my friends were busy fighting their own way across the fallen rocks. Many of them were also on fire. The heat grew intolerable. When I passed near one of those rocks, I could even feel how it burnt my skin! And to make things worse, the exits were barred. When we were about to lose all hope of making it out of there alive, princess Zelda summoned her magical powers and opened the gates. Link protected her with his own body, while Ryu and Ken covered Ukyo with their arms so that no harm would fall upon her, and Octavius used his incredible strength to lift some of the rocks that were blocking our path. For my part, I couldn't do much for Ukyo at the time. As a matter of fact, there was nothing at all that I could do for her. At least that was what Shun had said. I trusted that the saint's power would be enough to save her... I didn't have much time to think about that right then, however. I was busier in keeping myself alive.  
  
Piles of immovable stone blocked the stairs inside the tower at some points. We had to go out from time to time so that we could keep on going down, be it by climbing it down from the sides or by following some path. We didn't have much time left. I dared to look at the top, and saw that it was collapsing. But then it hit me that I wasn't looking at the tower that we were climbing down, but at another one! The whole fortress was coming down! We had to hurry up, or we would be crushed under tons of stone! Whatever Ganondorf had done, it had not been funny at all!  
  
Luckily, when I realized this, we were nearly outside. We entered inside the castle one more time, and then reached the main gate. I, who was the only one who was falling behind, made it out just before a huge rock fell on the gate's entrance, and blocked the path. We ran a bit more. We didn't want anything to fall on top of us, especially now that we were out of there. And when we were out of danger's reach, we stopped and turned to look at the spectacle...  
  
The biggest of the towers - Ganondorf's tower - fell first. It hit another one, and this other fell to the pit of lava that was underneath the fortress. Then, the others seemed to sink into the ground, and as they did, a huge cloud of ash and dust raised. It reached us and we began to cough as we breathed it. The whole fortress then suddenly came down. I had to cover my ears, because of the great, thunderous roar that it seemed to make as it collapsed. The ground shook for an instant, and I nearly tripped. But when it finally stopped, and the great cloud of smoke vanished, we saw only piles of rubble. It was quite a mess. There was nothing standing anymore. It had all been crushed by its own weight...  
  
No one said anything for a while. I, however, let out a relieved sigh, and sat on the ground.  
  
"We made it..." I murmured.  
  
"Barely." Ken added. "A second longer and we wouldn't be here..."  
  
"We were very fortunate." Link declared, with a calm voice. "At last, the fiend's castle has gone down, and now Hyrule can be at ease. Finally, evil has been put away for good. It is quite a fortune that the wizard, Merlin, was able to speak to us and to tell us about this. If it would not have been that way, then we would have been wandering through the hollow space for days without knowing of this tragedy..."  
  
"Thank the goddesses that you returned, Link. Thank the goddesses that this man of whom you speak found you." Zelda added. "If it would not have been for you, or your friends, I fear to think of what Hyrule's future could have been. Thank you. I thank all of you for your bravery. If I did not know you any better, I could even say that you are all the carriers of the Triforce of Courage."  
  
"You are too kind, princess." Demean said, and bowed. "It is but our duty to bring life to wherever darkness reigns. I am glad that I could be of some assistance."  
  
"As am I." Octavius added. "Yet, in order to bring full peace to Hyrule, we must first find the keyhole. As I understand, there are Heartless about, and they must be stopped before they become a bigger threat than Ganondorf himself."  
  
"Heartless?" Ken asked. "Are those things the little bugs that Shun got rid of with his chains?"  
  
"Yeah, those are the ones." Donald answered. "And they mean nothing but trouble."  
  
While they were all talking about the Heartless, I slowly got to my feet and walked near Ken. I looked at Ukyo and put my hand under her nose. She was still breathing, but she seemed to be very weak.  
  
"Hey, don't worry." Ken suddenly said, as he turned to see me. "She'll be fine. She's a strong girl, Sora. Stronger than many of the ones that I've met, and believe me, I've met a lot of strong girls."  
  
"Yeah... But I can't help it." I replied. "I'm worried about her. What if she doesn't wake up?"  
  
"Believe that she will." He said. "Believe that she..." but suddenly, he stopped talking.  
  
A great thud had interrupted him. A thud that had come from the rubble that had been Ganondorf's fortress. We all fell silent and listened carefully. Nothing. No other sound came from those rocks. Nevertheless, I suddenly felt afraid. I felt an evil presence. I didn't know if it was Ganondorf or not... But whatever it was, it was incredibly powerful. I gulped and slowly reached my Keyblade.  
  
"What was that sound?" Zelda finally asked, with fear in her voice.  
  
"I do not know." Link answered. His grasp on his shield and sword grew tighter, and after a few instants, he added: "I will go see."  
  
"I'll go with you." Ikki offered.  
  
"So will I." Said Ryu.  
  
"Fine. Let us go, quietly." Link said.  
  
The three of them began to walk about the rubble, doing their best not to make any sound. The rest of us looked at them with our hearts nearly pounding out of our chests. Leon, Cid, and Goofy slowly began to walk forward, and stopped a few steps ahead of us. I really didn't want to follow them, but I felt like I had to. I walked next to them and kept still, while looking at our three friends. Where would they look for whatever had made that sound? What had made that sound? That was our main concern. And as I thought about it, I grew more and more afraid.  
  
"Sora..." Goofy suddenly whispered. "What are you doing here? You should be getting some rest. After all, you were injured pretty badly when we found you. Why don't you go back there and sit down?"  
  
"I can't, when there's something out there." I whispered back.  
  
"He's right, man." Cid said. "Go back. It's probably nothing."  
  
"Don't tell me that you actually believe that it's nothing..." I muttered.  
  
"Go on, Sora." Leon added. "You need to rest, as the rest of our friends. You..." all of a sudden, he stopped talking and yelled in pain with Cid, Goofy, and me.  
  
A wall of flames had appeared behind us, and had parted us from the rest of our friends. They shouted our names and asked us if we were okay. Goofy's butt had caught some fire, and he was now dragging it over the ground to put it out. Finally, he let out a relieved sigh, and stood up. His pants were nearly scorched. The rest of us had had it somewhat easier. It had only been a little burn in our backs, but that was all. We turned to Ryu, Ikki, and Link, who were staring back at us without moving. Then, all of a sudden, another thud was heard. And from the very center of the fallen castle, a pile of rocks was shot to the sky, and Ganondorf came out flying from them.  
  
I couldn't be more terrified. He was actually alive... Despite Link's arrow and the castle's collapsing, he was alive... I began to think that he was some sort of evil god... No one could have survived that. And worst of all, he looked very, very, VERY mad. A yellow color had absorbed his pupils and shone in a terrifying way. He let out enraged gasps and stared at us from the air. None of us moved for a moment. But then, Link put himself on guard, and shouted:  
  
"You are quite strong, Ganondorf! But evil will not overcome us!!"  
  
Ganondorf said nothing. Instead, he showed us the back of his left hand... and we saw that the Triforce was shinning brightly on it. And so, he let out a final yell before thunder engulfed him... And he began to change.  
  
First, his arms grew broader. Then, his legs. Then, a tail came out of his back and his size doubled. Then it tripled. His mouth turned into what seemed to be a pig's... And his eyes grew more horrible and menacing. His red hair turned into two gigantic horns, and from his hands, came out two double - edged blades, each steel as big as Octavius himself His skin became green, and his voice turned into the roar of a dragon. I turned white with fear, and so did my other friends. We were no longer facing the Great King of Evil... But something even more wicked, and more powerful.  
  
"It must be the Triforce of Power's essence..." Link guessed. "It has changed him into this monster... Ganondorf has ceased to be... He is... Ganon."  
  
And as he finished saying these words, the creature let out a horrible roar, and swung his blades at them. Ikki and Ryu managed to jump back and dodge the blows, but Link tried to block them with the Master Sword. Ganon's strength was a hundred times greater, and the blade went flying out of Link's reach.  
  
"Oh, no!!" he yelled, as he saw the sword falling into the deep lava pit.  
  
But Demean quickly jumped at it and grasped it before it was out of sight. He then returned to where the rest of our friends were.  
  
"Quickly! Throw it back!" Ikki yelled.  
  
"Impossible!" the elf answered. "The fire has become as solid as a wall! The sword will not go through!"  
  
"Weaken him! It is the only way to vanish the wall of flames! You must recover the Master Sword!!" Zelda screamed.  
  
"BROTHER!!" Shun yelled, from the other side of the fire.  
  
"Shun!" Ikki answered. "We'll make it! Don't worry!"  
  
"Link! Lose no time, and wield your Megaton Hammer!" Zelda suggested. "Its power is almost as great as the one of the Master Sword's!"  
  
"Well thought!" Link exclaimed, and before we knew it, he was carrying a gigantic, metal hammer with his two hands. He had to put his shield away, because the thing was extremely heavy. "Come on, friends! Let us put an end to this fiend!"  
  
"Let's go!" Ryu yelled, and concentrated his energy on the palms of his hands. "HADOKEN!" he shouted and shot a fierce projectile at our foe. But Ganon's skin was as hard as dragon's scales, and no harm fell on him. It actually made him angrier. He began to run at Ryu and took a swing at him. Luckily, he jumped away from the blow just in time. As Ganon's sword fell on the ground, it shattered into pieces, and chunks of rock began to fly high into the air.  
  
"Let's go get him!" Cid exclaimed and took a big puff of his cigarette (doesn't he ever run out of them? Better question: doesn't he ever get tired of smoking those smelly cigarettes?).  
  
"Come on!" Leon said. "Stay close, Sora!"  
  
"Alright!" I said, and gathered what little courage I had to face the monster.  
  
"Here we go!!" cried Goofy, and we all run up to Ganon.  
  
As we got closer to him, I noticed that he was bigger than I thought. For a moment there, I thought about running away, but there was nowhere to be safe in there. I gulped and took a deep breath before letting out a battle cry and throwing my Keyblade at him. My weapon hit him, but it did no harm. It was as if I was throwing needles at a train!  
  
"Come on, guys! You can do it!" Hyoga yelled at us. "Look for his weak point! Even the largest foes have one!" but, despite his words, we couldn't find a weak point. His whole body was as tough as a mountain - side...  
  
Ikki began to gather his power and an orange aura of flames engulfed him. The ground shook beneath him as he stretched his arms and fire came out of them.  
  
"PHANTOM PHOENIX'S FIST!*" he yelled.  
  
We were all sent a few steps back by the fierce wind. The attack hit Ganon right on the face, and actually seemed to hurt him. But it didn't quite weaken him. Instead, he roared and ran at Ikki, while swinging his blades with fury.  
  
"I can't believe it!" he cried. "That was one of my best attacks!"  
  
"Then quit using 'one of the bests' and use your best!!" Cid suggested, as he threw a stick of TNT at our foe. The great explosion made Ganon take a few steps back. He didn't fall, though. He tried to smash Cid with his swords, but Cid managed to dodge the attack.  
  
"WHOA!! At least this guy isn't as smart as he was before!" he exclaimed.  
  
"Don't give him any ideas!" Goofy cried, as he banged one of Ganon's legs with his shield. When he saw that he was gaining nothing out of it, he ran away from the monster, right before one of his swords hit the ground in which he was standing.  
  
"Distract him for a while!" Ryu said. "I'll focus my whole power on a Shinku - Hadoken!"  
  
"I'll attack him with my Flying Phoenix!" Ikki added. "Keep him busy, while I gather my strength."  
  
"That's easier said than done!!" Leon said, while shooting fireballs at Ganon.  
  
We weren't making any progress. I could only hope that Ryu and Ikki, who had fled to one of the far corners of the battlefield, would hurry up and let loose their strength. I didn't know about Ikki's Flying Phoenix, but I could guess that it was tremendously powerful. As for Ryu's Shinku - Hadoken, I had once experienced its awesome power. I was certain that that attack would actually wound Ganon. All that we had to do, was to distract him... But, as Leon said, this was easier said than done.  
  
Link hit him many times with his great hammer, but Ganon didn't even slow down. Link was skillfully dodging all of his attacks, while Cid was poking him with his spear and harassing him with more TNT discharges; Leon was throwing plenty of fireballs at him and hitting him with his gun - blade; Goofy was banging him with his shield, and I was attacking him with my Keyblade. But Ganon hadn't suffered any scratch...  
  
Suddenly, he took a swing at Link and scored the hit. Link flew all the way back to the other side of the battlefield, and lay still. He wasn't dead, but he was terribly hurt. Ganon let out what appeared to be an evil laugh, and ran to him to finish him off. Nevertheless, Leon quickly got in the way and began to harass him with some of his magical blasts. Cid joined him and they both kept him busy, while Goofy and I ran to Link's side.  
  
"Drink this!" Goofy said, as he gave Link one of his healing potions. He drank it and his wounds magically vanished. "It's good that I never leave home without them, right?"  
  
"Certainly..." he replied, with a gasp. "Thank you, Goofy. Now let us join the battle again!"  
  
I noticed that Cid and Leon were having a very hard time in dodging the attacks. Ganon had become quicker, and our friends were nearly sliced in two many times. I knew that they wouldn't last longer... But then, I had an idea.  
  
"The light arrows!" I exclaimed. "Let him have a light arrow, Link! Shoot him! Shoot him! Shoot him!"  
  
Link glanced at me with surprise in his eyes for an instant, and then, he took out his bow. Without losing another second, he fired a light arrow at Ganon's eyes. When he was hit by it, he let out a pain - filled roar and arched his body backwards.  
  
"He's stunned!!" I yelled.  
  
"Take that, you big bully!" Goofy cried, and hit Ganon's tail as hard as he could with his shield... And, to our surprise, Ganon actually got away from him. Goofy had actually wounded him! "Gwarsh..." he muttered. "What do you know? That's one weak tail!"  
  
"Good job, Goofy!" Leon said. "You've just discovered our enemy's weak point!"  
  
"Aim at his tail, guys!" Cid cried to both Ryu and Ikki. "That's the key!"  
  
"Shoot him another arrow, Link! We need him to be stunned for this to work!" I said.  
  
"Then I shall empty my quiver on this fiend!" Link exclaimed, and got ready to fire another arrow.  
  
However, Ganon noticed that we had already come up with a strategy, and he began to be more careful when going out on the offensive. When he saw that Link was getting ready to fire an arrow, he covered his face with his two double - edged swords and hid his tail between his legs. We couldn't just venture there and hit his tail: he would catch us right between his paws. Nevertheless, Link was very careful when firing his arrows. Whenever he saw that Ganon raised his arms and protected his face, he put his bow down and took out his hammer. He didn't have many more arrows left, and didn't want to waste them. Heck, not one of us wanted him to waste them.  
  
It was not long before he found Ganon's face unprotected and decided to take a shot. His arrow hit Ganon directly between the eyes and the enemy let out a pain - filled roar as he arched his back again. He was completely unprotected... And both Ikki and Ryu had now fully charged their attacks.  
  
Two loud screams were heard and they echoed in the crushed castle's walls.  
  
"FLYING PHOENIX!!*"  
  
"SHINKU - HADOKEN!!"  
  
The same blue wave of energy that had beaten the Heartless's leader in Alice's world was fired at Ganon's tail, and it was followed by a tornado of flames. As I turned my head to see them, it appeared that a gigantic Phoenix had materialized itself right behind Ikki's back. It flapped its wings and let out a chilling cry, as the saint shot his power again and again. The wall of flames became stronger, but only while Ikki let loose his attack. Both of them hit our enemy's weak point and strong winds of hot power began to flow right onto our faces. We had to cover them with our hands, because the air was burning so hot. I can't imagine how much pain Ganon felt at that time, but I can tell you that it was a lot. The monster trashed its body and fell to the ground, making it shake as he touched it. And when he was down, the wall of flames weakened. It was no longer solid.  
  
I expected that Demean would throw the Master Sword at Link any time. But instead of doing that, he and the rest of our friends, save for Akane, who was sitting next to Ukyo's side and had her head resting on her lap, jumped through it and ran at our help. When he was close enough, Demean tossed Link his weapon. Again, its power ran through his arms... There was no stopping us now. Ganon was pretty weak, and we had him outnumbered.  
  
But the wound on his tail soon regenerated and he attacked again. This time, however, he didn't stand a chance. We were slowly, but surely, weakening him with plenty of attacks. I constantly kept throwing my Keyblade at his tail, while both Demean and Link shot arrows at him. Shun's Nebula chain again multiplied and it threw itself at Ganon, as if it where a fearsome whip. Ranma began to throw his projectiles at him too, and every time a yellow flash of energy came out of his hands, he yelled: 'Moko Takabisha!'. Hyoga used his Diamond Dust to slow him down, especially on his legs. I then remembered that he had told me that he, Shun, and another one of his friends, had fought a tremendously powerful foe, who was also a giant. He had managed to freeze his legs, and because of that, they had won the fight. Both Ken and Ryu were now using their powers against him. Octavius focused all of his power in his fists, and hit Ganon's tail again and again, making him cry out in pain. And, last but not least, Zelda was gathering all of her strength to let loose a final blow that would stop Ganon in his tracks.  
  
I knew that we had won. There was no escaping for the enemy this time... But something happened that none of us foresaw. Suddenly, a loud cry came from Akane's throat, and when we turned to see her, we noticed that she was being attacked by a group of Heartless.  
  
"How did those things get there?" asked Ranma.  
  
"I don't know..." Ryu replied. "But they're many. Akane won't last there for long!"  
  
"I'll go help her out!" I yelled. But then, to my dismay, I noticed that one of those Heartless idiots was kneeling by Ukyo. He stuck his hand on her chest and removed something... It had been her heart, I think. Not her heart as an organ but... Her essence. He was stealing her spirit!! "NO, YOU DON'T!!" I wailed, and got ready to attack.  
  
Ikki noticed that both of our friends were in great danger and ran after me. He arrived there first, because he was faster than me. He quickly killed all of the Heartless that were harming Akane and then tried to stop the one who had Ukyo's heart. But it was one of those gargoyle - Heartless, and as soon as it saw him, it began to fly away. But I wouldn't let it get away that easily... With a loud yell, I jumped high into the air and managed to get a hold of it by its feet.  
  
"Take that back!!" I demanded. "Give her back her heart!!"  
  
But the demon flew higher and higher, and tried to drop me into the lava pit.  
  
As I gazed down, I noticed that even Ganon seemed small. Man, where we flying! Still, I couldn't let that thing get away. So, without losing much more time, I got ready to stab him with my Keyblade... Sure, I would probably die from the fall, but there was not much else to do anyhow. But suddenly, I stopped my attack and gazed at the rocky wall that was covering what had been Ganon's castle from the incoming clouds...  
  
There it was! The keyhole! And it was huge! It was almost as big as the mountainside itself. And from it, came an army of Heartless. Little black bugs, dark knights, little mages, and all sorts of monsters ran by the mount's side and all over Hyrule. But I was there. And I had the Keyblade. And so, I pointed at the keyhole and closed my eyes. I knew that the Heartless would vanish once I sealed it... Hyrule would be free of them. But I would surely fall to my death. At that moment, I was so concerned about Ukyo that all I could think of was if they would name the crater that I would create upon my fall after me. I thought that that was my destiny, at that time... To end up like a crater.  
  
Nevertheless, that didn't stop me. I took a deep breath, and yelled:  
  
"SEAL!!"  
  
And the Keyblade shot a ray of light that cut through the darkness and hit the keyhole. The thing was engulfed by a strange, white light, and then vanished. The Heartless let out a fearful cry and then turned into nothing. Even the gargoyle that I was holding and that had Ukyo's heart. I began to fall. And as I did, I could feel how my body was beginning to burn... I felt like a comet that's about to crash onto the earth. But at least, I had saved the land. I thought that my entire life would suddenly start flashing before my eyes. At least that's what I thought happened when you were about to die. However, I saw nothing. That's probably because I wasn't going to die.  
  
All of a sudden, two arms held me and we began to fall together. They had kind of broken my momentum, and were now protecting me from the rocky floor. We fell and the ground shook under his feet. I let out a soft cry of both fright and relief, and turned to face my savior.  
  
"Wow..." I muttered. "I almost ended up with a nasty bruise... So to speak. Thanks, Octavius!"  
  
"Do not mention it." He replied. "As of now, you must keep on helping us fight against the Great King of Evil. You have saved Ukyo, but the battle is not yet over..."  
  
But it wasn't long before it was over. I suddenly noticed how Ganon's legs were buried under thick blocks of ice. Donald, Aeris, and Hyoga had used their powers against him, and kept him still, while Link hit the tail hard with his master sword. The others were harassing him so that he would not harm Link... They were even harming him as well. Because Ganon's skin was not as hard as it used to be anymore.  
  
Ken quickly ran under the enemy's chin and focused all of his power on his fists and legs. And so, he let loose his energy in the form of a nasty attack. He leapt into the air, as fire began to come out of his arms, and cried:  
  
"SHIN - RYU - KEN!!"  
  
He hit Ganon right on his face. Blood came out of his mouth and he almost fell to the ground. The only thing that prevented him from falling was the ice around his legs. But he recovered from the attack quickly and decided to put an end to Ken, at least, who was now falling from the heavens, and was completely harmless to him at the moment. He got his swords ready and prepared to impale him.  
  
"KEN!! NO!!" Ryu yelled, as he noticed that his friend had fallen into a trap...  
  
But Ganon's attack never came. Because, suddenly, another projectile hit him in the face. This time, the icy blocks shattered under his feet and he fell to the ground. We all then saw a gigantic spatula on the ground and turned to the attacker.  
  
It had been Ukyo!! She was awake!! I was so relieved to see her alive and fine! I couldn't believe how lucky she was! That last attack, however, had drained her of her energies, and she fell to her knees, while breathing hard. Akane ran next to her and stayed there...  
  
Ganon was now an easy target. Link jumped high into the air, and cried:  
  
"IT IS OVER, FIEND!!"  
  
And so he fell right on top of him and buried his sword deep in the monster's chest. Ganon let out a little yelp as he felt defeat... And to end him, Zelda used her last trick.  
  
"Six Sages... NOW!!"  
  
As her echoing scream vanished, a ray of yellow light illuminated the sky. Link climbed down Ganon's body and looked up, as did we all. A green one followed the yellow haze of light. Then it was followed by a red one. And later, by a blue, purple, and orange ones. Some sort of magical rain began to fall from the sky... The six hazes met right above Ganon's head and opened some sort of portal. The light that came from it was so intense that all of us had to shield our eyes. A final cry came out of Ganon's throat before he was swallowed by the vortex... And then, all was quiet.  
  
"What the hell was that?" Cid asked, with confusion, when all had ended.  
  
"It is quite a long story." Link replied. "I will tell all of you later..."  
  
"It is over..." Zelda mumbled, and fell on her knees. "It is finally over..."  
  
"Thanks to you, princess." Link said, as he walked to her. "Finally, peace returns to Hyrule..."  
  
They all began to cry out with joy and cheered. It had been one hell of a battle. But we were fine, now. Ukyo was fine... I turned to her and went by her side.  
  
"Hey, Sora..." She greeted, with a weak voice and smile. "It seems that I did make it after all..."  
  
"It was because of our friends' help... Shun saved you with his heat... And Ken carried you all the way... And Akane fought against the Heartless to keep you safe..." I said. And then... I'm ashamed to admit it, but I couldn't stand it longer. I broke into tears and hugged her as hard as I could. "I thought that I almost lost you...! I was so worried about you. Please, don't ever do this to me again!"  
  
"Sora..." she muttered, and hugged me as well. "Thank you, Sora. You are one of my best friends. Without your help, I wouldn't have lived. Thanks, Sora."  
  
"I don't want to see you go..."  
  
"I won't..." she gently kissed my head and caressed it.  
  
"Thank God that you're alright..." Aeris said, as she approached us. "We thought that you had died, Ukyo. I was really desperate... Like Sora..." she joined our hug, and added: "Don't ever scare us like that again..."  
  
"I'll try not to..." Ukyo giggled.  
  
Something was going on with her. She was alive and well, but her eyes weren't the same... It was as if she was... sad... I couldn't tell why. But she looked horribly sad.  
  
"Look! Ukyo's well!" Ken exclaimed. "Oh, and it's a group hug! Group hug, everyone!"  
  
Though he said that with laughter, he meant it. And we all knew it. And so, we all hugged and chuckled in relief. Even Octavius had joined the hug, though he didn't smile at all, or anything... The battle was over. And we had won... And none of us had been killed. Oh, and I had sealed the Heartless keyhole. But I didn't care about anything else at that time. I just wanted to be next to my friends... I didn't want to lose any of them.  
  
***  
  
Okay, kids... New saint's techniques translated in Spanish, just for the heck of it.  
  
* Nebula Storm: 'Tormenta Nebular'.  
  
* Phantom Phoenix's Fist: 'Puño del Fantasma del Fénix'. (Which is basically the same thing as the Devil's Wraith technique...)  
  
* Flying Phoenix: 'Fénix Volador'. 


	19. Chapter Eighteen: Sephiroth's Wrath

Hey, all. I hope you've got a lot of patience... You're going to need it with this following note. =)  
  
First of all, thanks much for the reviews. I can't believe that I've gotten so much over so little time (I hope that they'll keep on coming). You've guys officially turned this into my most - reviewed story! =)  
  
Also, I've taken into account all of your suggestions. I'll try to cut back on the 'giggling' as much as I can, but I can't promise much, though, because that's just the way I write. Secondly, for those of you who want to know who the chapter's narrator is before it starts... I thought that it would be nice to figure it out. =) Still, I understand you. And so, from now on, I'll put the name of the chapter's narrator at the very beginning.  
  
Two last things: I've decided to change the main storyline a bit. Since the only princesses of Heart that kind of have something to do in the game are Jasmine, Alicia, and Belle (Kairi, on the other hand, has MUCH to do in the storyline, so don't worry about her), I ask for you guys to tell me which one of the following you want me to remove: Snow White, Cinderella, or Aurora. I'm going to replace one of them by another character (no, not a Disney one). So far, I've thought about getting rid of Cinderella, but if you think that someone else should take her place, then let me know.  
  
Last, but by far not least, one of you mailed me and asked for me to include his/her character in the story... Okay, here's the deal. I feel quite honored to have someone make such a request. So yeah! I'll do it. But you have to give me some time before he appears, okay? I've got some chapters already thought, and I really can't change them that much. Also, why don't you mail me a full profile about him? Along with a little story, perhaps? That'll allow me to know him better, and to reflect his personality just as it is... And don't worry. I'll be sure to disclaim it at the beginning of the chapter in which he'll first appear.  
  
Okay, that's it (Finally, huh?) =) On with the story. Enjoy!  
  
Chapter's Narrator: Merryck  
  
Chapter Eighteen: Sephiroth's Wrath  
  
Even though I restlessly tried, I couldn't find the answer of how we had gotten ourselves into this predicament. Perhaps it was due to the thunderous roars of the ship's cannonballs, or maybe it was because of my heart, for it beat harder than any other time and kept me from thinking clearly. Either way, I reckoned that that wasn't the time to think: it was the time to concentrate on flying faster and try to run away from the Heartless's fire. All that we had to do was to get to the trees that lay in front of us. Their thick leaves would surely aid us in our escape from our enemies.  
  
But as I looked at the rest of my friends, I began to worry. I didn't see Wilheim or Tifa anywhere near. Perhaps they had flown faster than I had expected and had already reached safety. Maybe they were waiting for us to go by their side. But what if I was wrong? What if they were hit by one of those nasty projectiles? Not even Wilheim's body is strong enough to withstand one impact of the sort, I thought. Nevertheless, we did not find our friends then, and I later discovered that this Wilheim chap was a lot sturdier than he looked.  
  
But I am getting ahead of myself, I'm afraid. At that moment, I had to force myself from thinking about them and focused on flying away. Well, I didn't have that much trouble. Will, the dragon with the impossible name, was looking out for me, and stopped every cannon ball with its rock - built body. His hard skin prevented him from harm. Even the Heartless's fire proved to be futile against him. Obviously, if one of those things had hit me, a little hobbit, there would be nothing left of me, save, perhaps, ashes and clothing... Peter Pan was carrying Wendy in his arms and skillfully dodged every shot that came his way. He was the fastest flyer of us; hence, he didn't have to be too concerned. Tinkerbell was hiding inside his hood, meaning that she was also safe. But the rest of us weren't used to flying, so we had a harder time. Well, as I've already said, I was under the dragon's care, so I didn't have to worry too much about myself. But the lost boys were easy targets for the terrible Heartless. They were alarmingly accurate. However, they too were being aided by my other friends, Ryoga, Camille, and Shiryu. This latter one was carrying the unconscious body of his friend, Seyia, and mainly used his hard shield to deflect the menacing cannonballs. It was a shame that he was still out of combat: his help would have been most welcome.  
  
Luck was with us at that moment: in a matter of seconds, we reached the trees and were safe. Even though I reckoned that the Heartless must have sharp eyes, not even predators such as them could see past that green wall. I felt like a furry rabbit that has merely escaped the eagle's deadly claws. I sighed in relief and wiped my sweat off my forehead. Ever since that black hole had swallowed my whole village, and me I had only thought about Demean. With every passing second, I could only wish that he could be by my side. I wanted him to protect me with his swift knives and his deadly bow and arrows, like he always did when I was in danger. He had always said to me: "You are the most curious hobbit in the Goldengrass linage, Merryck. That means that I will have to be very wary, for your curiousness often brings perils. Hence, I must watch over you, little rascal." And he always did. But at that moment, I wasn't terribly concerned about this, for my other friends had practically taken his place. I felt as if they were all my personal guards, if you take my meaning, for they would fight to save me and the other ones weaker than them from whatever danger.  
  
But these are unimportant thoughts. I should better get back to the story and out of my little mind.  
  
The cannon's fire became more and more paused. We kept still and listened to them carefully. The explosions began to fall in other places, far away from where we stood. The Heartless couldn't find us. Slowly, but surely, the firing ceased. We all sighed in relief... But then, something happened.  
  
"At long last I've found you, Peter Pan! You are truly a hard one to find, when you are not flying about my ship like a foul seagull! Now, my time has come! Finally, I will have my revenge!" a voice said, from behind us.  
  
The trees became our enemies. For even though they had saved us from the Heartless fire, they had also been hiding a host of pirates who had been expecting us. Some of them wore eye - patches, some others had dirty beards hanging by their faces. Some were short and had wooden legs, and some others were barefooted. Be that as it may, the all had one thing in common: their faces were the ones of men who desire to fight. Every last one of them eyed us with only one thought in his mind: to cut as all to pieces.  
  
Two of them stood out from the rest. The first one was short and fat. He had a white beard and a tiny pair of glasses. He wore a red hat and a face that was different from the ones of his companions. He actually looked somewhat afraid. Not much of a pirate, I thought, and I wasn't wrong.  
  
The second, however, was the scariest of them all. He was the one who had spoken. He wore a red robe and two black shoes. He was armed with a light, but deadly rapier. Instead of a left hand, he had a cruel hook. He also wore a red hat with a pink feather on it, and had a wicked smile drawn on his face. He was, obviously, the captain of the pirates.  
  
"Well, well! It's none other than Mr. Codfish!" Peter Pan chuckled, and smiled happily, as if he were running into an old friend. "Listen, Codfish, I'm terribly sorry, but I'm afraid that I'm in a bit of a hurry. I can't play with you guys right now. But I promise that I'll go by your ship tomorrow morning, first time. Maybe we can play 'hit me or sink your own boat', huh?"  
  
"Little brat! This is not a game!" the pirate roared and swung his blade. "And stop calling me 'Codfish'! I will run you through with me sword right now!"  
  
"Captain Hook, please get out of the way!" Wendy said. "We don't want to fight right now!"  
  
"It is none of my business!" Hook replied.  
  
"Captain... Do we really have to take a part in this?" the little, fat pirate asked. "I mean, I know that you and only you want to fight against Peter Pan. We would all only get in the way, don't you think?"  
  
"Stop uttering such coward comments, Mr. Smee!" Hook said, and turned to him with an angry glance. "Don't try me patience!"  
  
"Alright, yes, Captain." The pirate replied, and gulped.  
  
"However, you are right." Hook added. The rest of the pirates let out an unhappy groan and lowered their weapons. "Mr. Smee, you are right!" he continued. "This only concerns me and the boy! I don't want anyone else to interfere! However, I reckon that such a cowardly lad will only fly away from me and do nothing else!"  
  
"No way, Codfish!" Peter laughed. He put Wendy on the ground and unsheathed his dagger. "Step back, guys. This fight's mine!"  
  
"Peter! How can you...?" Wendy started to say, but was interrupted by her own gasp as Hook lunged forth and attacked our friend.  
  
Though we all wanted to help him, we respected his wishes and waited for him to finish the duel. We didn't have to do much, luckily. Captain Hook fought ferociously, but was blinded by rage, and many of his attacks hit nothing but air, whereas Peter Pan skillfully dodged and parried all of his opponent's blows. Instead of countering with a fatal strike, he mocked his attacker. This only enraged Hook more...  
  
The pirate swung his sword horizontally, attempting to cut Peter's head, but he ducked just in time and quickly got a hold of his hat. He then pulled it down his body and immobilized him for a moment. And so, he actually pulled his mustache and tied a knot with it! Even though I knew that Peter could lose the fight and be killed by the pirate, I couldn't help but to laugh out loud as I saw this. He was humiliating his enemy! For Peter did not see the duel as a fight on which his life was at stake, but a mere child's play. He was actually having fun! The rest of my friends chuckled as they saw Hook's face turn red.  
  
"Why, you little...!!" he screamed and tried to impale him. But Peter Pan dodged Hook's sword, and it got stuck in one of the trees. He then cut the pirate's clothes and revealed his hairy legs. It was hilarious! I wondered what Demean would say if he saw this. He was the strongest being I had ever known and the one who had fought most battles, and terrible ones, too. But surely he had never done such things as the ones Peter was doing at that moment. I laughed long and hard, and so did the rest of my friends, and even some of the pirates chuckled, but they quickly shut their mouths...  
  
Captain Hook finally managed to get his sword out of the tree trunk and swung it furiously. Peter Pan stepped back, and we all followed them as they battled through the forest. Soon, they became lost within the trees, and all we could hear were their grunts and their weapons as they crashed against each other. I then began to worry. I could not see the lad. Perhaps he could need help, and we couldn't aid him. At that moment, I was really mad at the trees. They had first aided us and then they betrayed us, and they had done this twice. Couldn't they just pick a side, I wondered?  
  
But I was worrying in vain. We all got to an opening and we saw that Peter and Hook had taken the fight to a cliff. The latter one had our friend cornered. There was nothing but air behind him, for the floor vanished and fell into the waters. Hook, however, was too angry to actually notice this. He kept on advancing, and Peter kept on retreating.  
  
"At long last, I've got you now, Peter..." he growled. But then, he realized that he was actually walking on the air. "No!" he cried and barely caught the cliff's edge before he fell.  
  
"Let's go help the captain!" One of the pirates yelled.  
  
"Aye!" cried the others and raced to Hook's aid.  
  
But Will had other plans for them. He stood up, tall and menacing, and flapped his wings as hard as he could. The pirates fought against the strong current of air that the dragon let loose, but it was simply too powerful for them. They all fell down the cliff, and into the water. Will let out a laugh, and so did we. The only pirate who was still on top of the cliff and next to us was Mr. Smee, and we all knew that he wouldn't put up a fight. Rather, he quickly ran away and got lost in the forest.  
  
"Well, well! A Codfish!" Peter chuckled, as he triumphantly saw Hook in such a desperate situation.  
  
"Hook is a Codfish! A Codfish!" the lost boys laughed. They began to sing and to clap their hands. After a few seconds, we too started to mock the defeated pirate.  
  
"I'll get you for this, Peter Pan!!" Hook exclaimed, with desperation and a broken voice. "I'll get you, even if it's the last thing I do!"  
  
But suddenly, he fell silent. We all had heard a noise. It had sounded like a 'tick'... And it was followed by a 'tack'. It was, undoubtedly, the sound of a clock. Nevertheless, something did not seem right. I had never heard of a clock with legs, and it seemed to be moving toward the foot of the cliff. Hook's face turned white and he began to tremble with every 'tick', and moaned with fear as every 'tack' reached his ears. I looked into the water, and noticed a huge, green crocodile, who was poking its head out of the waters and licking its jaws at the sight of Hook.  
  
"Hey! Look's who's here!" Peter said. "It's your old friend, Mr. Crocodile!"  
  
"No...!" the pirate muttered, and looked down in horror.  
  
"Say, Mr. Crocodile... You wouldn't happen to be in the mood for a Codfish, would you?" Peter asked.  
  
Surprisingly, the crocodile seemed to smile and actually nodded its head.  
  
"You are?" the lad chuckled.  
  
"SMEE!!" Hook yelled.  
  
"Coming, Captain!!" answered the fat, little pirate. We all then saw that Mr. Smee was actually underneath Captain Hook, and was sailing a small, wooden boat. I was surprised. It seemed that he was actually loyal to him. I would have never thought of that from a little weasel such as him.  
  
"SMEE!!" Hook cried again as he lost his grip on the cliff and landed on the boat. It seemed that he was safe... But the crocodile wasn't going to let his dinner get away that easily. It jumped out of the water and tried to bite Hook's head. The pirate barely dodged its jaws, but fell in the water in the process. I stopped smiling and, for a moment, thought about helping him. In what way? I don't have the slightest idea. But I surely didn't want to see him getting eaten by that reptile...  
  
However, Hook's fear proved to be just what he needed to survive the crocodile's attack. With a loud yell, he began to swim as quickly as a fish and actually beat the crocodile to his ship.  
  
"SMEE!! DON'T LET HIM GET ME, SMEE!!" he shouted, over and over again.  
  
"Oh, dear... I'm coming, Captain!" Mr. Smee said, as he rowed to the ship as fast as he could. The other pirates tried to climb into the boat and slowed him down. The weight became too much and the boat sank.  
  
It had been an easy, yet glorious victory for Peter. He flew proudly in the air and crowed like a red rooster who has defeated a white rival. The lost boys cheered and jumped up and down joyfully, while Wendy happily clapped her hands... But there was no time to celebrate.  
  
For the battle was not over. Even though the pirates had been defeated, the Heartless were still standing, and they had seen us. Their cannons didn't have enough reach to hit us. But that didn't stop them. Soon, they became an angry swarm whose hive has been destroyed, and began to fly up to where we were. Some of them used ships, and some others were carried by their companions. But all of them were heading our way. It was an evil army. It seemed that its darkness had no end. Its sight made Peter fall silent. We all stepped back and thought about running away. However, we knew that we wouldn't go too far, for the enemies were much more faster than us. We could not wait for dawn to come. They were swifter than the sun itself. The flying ships were even faster than Peter himself, I reckoned. And he knew it. Otherwise, his face wouldn't have been filled by dread.  
  
"At least, we have to try to escape..." Ryoga suddenly murmured. I agreed with him, and so did my friends, who nodded their heads and got ready to turn tail and run.  
  
"No..." one of them said, and made us stop in our tracks. It had been Shiryu's friend, Seyia, who had finally regained consciousness. He was still weak. I could tell, because one of his arms seemed to be simply hanging by his side, much like the one of a rag doll. Yet in his eyes, there was courage. His hands formed firm fists, and his voice revealed determination.  
  
"Seyia..." the dragon's saint said. "You've woken up."  
  
"Yeah, I have." He replied.  
  
"Seyia... They're too strong. We won't be able to handle all of them."  
  
"Don't you tell that to me, Shiryu. You know better than we can handle them." Seyia replied. "We can stop them. I know it. We are stronger than them. I didn't fight against the golden saints in the past just to be beaten by a horde of flying - oversized - flies..."  
  
"Seyia..."  
  
"What a powerful, brave spirit." Will said, with a smile. "Even though I do not know you, I dare say that your words fill my heart with hope. Stubbornness has always been a powerful ally of the warriors I have met stubborn warriors, and you seem to be yet another one of those knights. And such thoughts have never led them astray. Very well, then. I will fight by your side, Pegasus's saint. I will work every last one of my spells to counter this dark force. If this is to be our end, then so be it. But we will not fall quietly into the night."  
  
"Will..." Shiryu muttered. He kept silent for a few instants, and then smiled. "Alright, then. It seems that Seyia isn't the only stubborn one around here. I'll fight too. These beast will feel the wrath of my fists..."  
  
"Then I'll stay here, too." Ryoga said, and took a step forward. "But let's leave the talking for later. They're still far away, and if we attack them right now, we may have a chance of crushing them!"  
  
"Well said, Ryoga, my boy." Camille added. "If these creatures come near, then they will feel the sting of my unearthly needles! Cry havoc, nightmarish fiends! Your time has come!"  
  
"PEGASUS METEOR PUNCH!!" Seyia cried, as a blue aura of flames engulfed him. Then, hundreds of bolts of energy came out of his furious fist and crashed against our enemies.  
  
"RISING DRAGON!!" yelled Shiryu, and a ray was shot from his arm. It turned into a menacing, Chinese dragon, which swallowed all of the Heartless unlucky enough to be in its way.  
  
The lost boys and I realized that we couldn't just stand there and do nothing. One of them handed me a slingshot and said:  
  
"Grab some rocks! Let's kick their dark butt!"  
  
"Yes! Let's!" I replied and reached for the stones that lay about me. Peter Pan was also given a slingshot and began to throw quick, annoying (for they weren't exactly deadly) projectiles, along with the rest of us.  
  
Will began to conjure many spells, and destroyed many Heartless with them in a blink. I had never heard of a dragon mage before I had met him. I was very thankful that he was on our side, for he no doubt proved to be a terrible foe for our enemies. Camille didn't move at all. She only levitated in the air, as a humming bird that is undisturbed by the rain. But when some of the Heartless that escaped the rest of our attacks got near, she slain all of them with her dark needles. She was like a static trap, so to speak.  
  
"SHISHI - HOUKUDAN!!" Ryoga yelled over and over again as sudden bursts of hot energy came out of his hands. Every Heartless unfortunate enough to be touched by them quickly disappeared without making a sound.  
  
What amazed me the most was the fact that the Pegasus's saint, who was nearly dead when I had first seen him, had now risen up and let loose a terrible storm of fists. Where did he find such energy? Did someone of our friends heal him while I wasn't looking? The only one of us who could do such things, I thought, was Wilheim, and only when he fed on some other creature's blood. But Seyia had an unknown strength in him... And that strength, the bravery of his spirit, I deem, was the key to our victory over the Heartless.  
  
The enemies kept on coming, and so they kept on falling to all of our projectiles and attacks. At first, the lost children and I weren't much of shots, and missed several times. But after a matter of seconds, our accuracy improved amazingly, and we were now proving to be very helpful to our friends, rather than getting in their way.  
  
I could hardly believe my eyes. The dark shadow that threatened to swallow us with its hugeness had nearly vanished! We had conquered it! And when the last of the Heartless flew our way in an attempt to scratch us with its weak claws, Shiryu lost no time and smote him with a fierce punch and a triumphant cry. We had beaten the darkness! We had won! The lost boys jumped up and down and cheered, as did I and the rest of my friends. Peter Pan flew high and crowed in triumph. Then, he landed near Wendy and the lost boys with a big smile on his face.  
  
"Way to go, men!" he said. "We are the best there is! There's our proof! Evil dorks: cero, Peter Pan and his troops: two! Let's keep the score that way!"  
  
"Hey, Peter! They proved to be better fighters than I thought!" one of the lost boys said. "They're so cool! Let them join us, please!"  
  
"Good idea! Hey guys, why don't you join our group?" Peter suggested. "You too, Wendy!"  
  
At that moment, Tinkerbell came out of Peter Pan's hood and seemed to giggle sweetly in relief. She cheered and kissed Peter's cheek. As for his offer, I guess that none of us could refuse.  
  
"Surely." Will said. "It would be an honor to belong to your little group. Such strength and bravery is hard to come by."  
  
"Then it's done! You're now officially lost boys too!" Peter said.  
  
Then, he and the rest of the lost boys, spat on their hands and shook them. That was horribly disgusting! How could they shake their hands with all that stuff plastered on them? Their saliva was oozing to the floor and still they kept united! I wanted to vomit, at first, but then realized that they were all just little kids. What can I say? That isn't disturbing for boys. Besides, I remembered that I had done much worse things in my childhood, when I was but eight years old. I will not go into details, though.  
  
"Well, come on! Join in!" Peter urged.  
  
I couldn't believe it! They actually wanted us to do the same thing! As I looked at their own spits, my stomach emitted strong complaints about touching them. And I believe that the rest of my friends thought the same too, as did Wendy.  
  
But after keeping still for a long time, Seyia finally laughed, and said:  
  
"Oh, what the hell!" and so, he spat on his hand and joined the lost boys in their disgusting shake.  
  
"Seyia..." muttered Shiryu, with a big smile on his face, not knowing if whether he should laugh or vomit, I reckon.  
  
"Come on, Shiryu! Don't be such a crybaby! You can always wash your hands later." His friend chuckled, along with the lost boys.  
  
"You're still just a little kid, aren't you?" Shiryu laughed, and finally gave up as well. "Alright!" he too spat on his hand and grasped the ones of the lost boys.  
  
"That's disgusting!" Wendy whined. "I dare say that I am most reluctant about doing this. But, since you saved my life, I will accept your offer, Peter Pan. I feel flattered... However, I am completely disgusted about all of this."  
  
"Stop talking, Wendy, and shake!" Peter laughed.  
  
"Alright." Said the girl. She closed her eyes and mimicked the lost boys.  
  
"I believe that the lady is absolutely right." I muttered, to myself. "Fine, then. I hope I don't regret this, for even though I have a large stomach, it gets sick too easily..." I spat on my hand and quickly joined the group, hoping that it would be over soon. But when I put my hand with the rest of theirs, I felt warm. I know that it obviously was due to our saliva, but, somehow, I didn't think about it at that moment. All I could feel was friendship, and joy. I chuckled and did not move my hand away from theirs. And, finally, both Will and Ryoga joined us. I dare say that the dragon's spit was the most disgusting of them all, because it was the biggest one. At that moment, however, we couldn't care less. It was a marvelous sensation, and, to a certain extent, we didn't want it to end.  
  
But suddenly, we all noticed Camille. She was staring at us with anger in her eyes and did not move her body. I guessed that she didn't want to join the lost boys in such an awful way. Nevertheless, I was wrong.  
  
"What's wrong, Camille?" Ryoga asked. "Come on! Join us! You can wash your hands later, like he said!"  
  
"I would very much love to join your infantile hand shake, but I am afraid that I have important things on my mind." She replied, dryly. And then, to our amazement, her face was filled by sadness, and desperation, and so she added: "There you are, spitting on your hands, exchanging saliva like dogs while Tifa and Wilheim are missing. Do not you see? The sun has almost gone up. I had not thought about it until I saw that..." she pointed at the paling sky, and I gasped in horror. "He is out there, somewhere. And if he does not find a hiding place soon, there will be nothing left of him, save his last breath, which will be floating endlessly through the air, along with his ashes." Finally, she covered her face with her hands and began to weep.  
  
We all looked at each other and were filled by concern. The succubus was right. How could we have forgotten about Wilheim and Tifa? The star would soon emit its glow, and it would be too late for the vampire...  
  
"Oh, dear me..." I murmured. My heart began to pound faster and faster and my chest hurt. "What are we to do?"  
  
"Who is Wilheim, huh, Shiryu?" Seyia asked his friend in a whisper.  
  
"He's the one that came with me and Camille to the place in which you were being kept." Shiryu answered. "He helped us save you and Wendy."  
  
"And what's up with him? If the day comes out, will he vanish, or something?"  
  
"Yes. He's a vampire."  
  
"A vampire? Then why are we still here? Let's go find him!" he exclaimed, and captured our attention. "We've defeated both the Heartless and the pirates. I guess that we can explore the land without much to worry about. Let's do it, then! Let's go find those two!"  
  
"Yeah, let's do so." Ryoga agreed. "I'll go back to our ship and I'll tell our other friends to come here and help us."  
  
"I'll look for him all over." Peter Pan said. "Men, you do the same thing. And you, Wendy, why don't you go back to the Hangman's Tree? You'll be safe there. Tink, go with her."  
  
"Like Mr. Seyia said, Peter, there is nothing to worry about." Wendy replied. "I want to help too."  
  
Tinkerbell nodded and looked at the boy with pleading eyes.  
  
"Well... alright." He agreed. "Come on, then! Let's hurry up!"  
  
"Seyia! Put your armor on!" Shiryu said. "Even though I doubt that there are any enemies nearby, you might need it."  
  
"I agree." Seyia said.  
  
"Come quickly!" Will exclaimed, as he began to fly in the air. "There is not much time left. It has become our enemy, now. Fly swiftly, and hope that your eyes will rest on him before the sun's glance does."  
  
"Enough talk." Camille murmured and wiped her tears. "We must find him. Let us go!" and so, she began to fly as quickly as she could, along with Will, Peter Pan, and Tinkerbell. Ryoga and the lost boys lost no time and went into the forest. I was about to follow them, but Shiryu's voice stopped me.  
  
"Hold on, Merryck." He said.  
  
I turned to look at him and noticed that Seyia had already put on his armor. It was white and shone beautifully, like the dying stars. His chest and legs were well protected by the thick steel. His helmet was but a circlet with a Pegasus's head. It was magical: almost as magical as the dragon's saint's armor. He, however, possessed no shield.  
  
Either way, Wendy was next to them as well, and waited for the dragon's saint to talk. He went on and said:  
  
"It would be better if you and Wendy came along with us."  
  
"Oh, yes, I most definitively agree." I said. "But, like Camille said, let us waste no more time and let's be on our way, lest we want Wilheim's body to turn into dust."  
  
"Fine, let's get to it!" Seyia exclaimed. And so, we all headed into the trees as fast as we could, hoping that the dawn would show mercy and would not harm Wilheim with its breath.  
  
***  
  
"Tifa!! Wilheim!!" the four of us yelled as hard as we could, hoping to hear an answer every time the echo of our voices was lost in the trees. When we heard nothing, we called their names again. "Wilheim!! Tifa!! Are you there?!"  
  
Dawn was dangerously upon us. I could only hope that Wilheim had found a place to hide from the star. Maybe we were all worrying in vain, I thought. Maybe he and Tifa had gone back to the ship and Ryoga would find them there upon his return. But still, I didn't stop looking and suggested Wendy and the saints to quit the search. Because I wasn't sure if Wilheim was in the ship or not. And if he wasn't, then he would surely need our help. We could not risk his life.  
  
We looked all over the little forest, but found nothing. He was nowhere to be found. After some time, we left the trees behind us and faced the sky. It was blue. The sun had completely come out and it was bathing all of the land with its splendor.  
  
"Oh, no..." I murmured. "I hope that our friends had better luck... For if they didn't, then we are too late."  
  
"Don't think that." Seyia said. "Let's suppose that Wilheim did find a place to hide from the sun. In that case, then we must still look for him."  
  
"But what if...?" I started, but the saint interrupted me.  
  
"Nope." He said. "Don't say anything of the sort. Let's believe that he's alive and well. We have to find him. The island isn't that big, is it? I guess that it won't take us much more time, if we keep looking for them as we're doing now. But staying put and talking among ourselves won't do them much good. Let's get moving!"  
  
"Come on!" Shiryu said and followed his friend closely. Wendy ran behind them and I struggled to keep by their side, for they were too fast for me.  
  
I could not help but to think about Camille. When I had seen her sad face, I became really upset. I hate to see women crying. I understood that Wilheim was one of her closest (if not the closest) of her friends. I reckon that just by thinking that she would never see him again, her heart ached in agony. And I had become fond of Wilheim, myself. I felt as if it was my duty to see that he would be all right. He had taken care of me in the past and I knew that it was my turn now. But I am a little hobbit. What difference could I possibly make? And though I had always been quite brave for a little hobbit (or so Demean and Tish said), I was terribly afraid at that time. I had never felt the anguish before that meant a possible loss. It was something quite unbearable... The only thing that I could do to make it go was to find Wilheim and Tifa...  
  
Suddenly, something made me stop. Seyia, Shiryu, and Wendy kept on walking, and paid no heed to me. I thought about following them again, but what I had seen had mesmerized me. Not too far away from where I was standing, there were three lovely mermaids, swimming by a lagoon. Like my great grandfather, I am quite interested in creatures that aren't hobbits, elves, or fairies. Those ones had definitely caught my attention. But at that time, I could not just contemplate them. I had to keep on looking. However, I had an idea... Maybe they had seen him. All I had to do was ask. I had to be very careful, though, for I didn't know how to swim, and who knew if the mermaids would help me out of the water if I fell or would simply ignore me as if I were but another helpless bee that plunges into a river.  
  
I walked near them quietly. I didn't want to scare them. The three of them had beautiful bodies (torsos, that is); one of them had red hair, as intense as the fire of dusk; the other's was black, dark as night without stars, and the third one had blonde hair, and it glittered like gold. When I knew that I was close enough so they could hear me, I said:  
  
"Hello, dear ladies."  
  
"Oh, what...?" the red - haired mermaid muttered. "Oh! Hello! Hey, look, girls! It must be one of Peter's lost boys!"  
  
"Hello!" they all greeted.  
  
"I am sorry if I am disturbing you, ladies..." I went on. I could even feel my face turning bright red... I was really embarrassed. But I didn't have time to worry about my personal appearance or my language. Time was critical. "But have any of you, perhaps, seen a young man?"  
  
"What do you mean?" the dark - haired mermaid asked. "There are lots of young men around. What's his name?"  
  
"I don't think that you'll know him by his name, but it is Wilheim. He is most likely accompanied by a lovely, young lady by the name of Tifa. She has dark, brown hair and doubles my size. Her eyes are red, like two rubies, and her body is voluptuous and... Well, it really doesn't matter. He, on the other hand, is taller than her and has light brown hair. His eyes are violet and if you look carefully, you can see two small fangs coming out his mouth."  
  
As I finished describing my two companions, the mermaids stopped smiling and looked down. I felt as if a dagger had been stuck in my heart. What were those eyes saying to me, without words?  
  
"Oh, no..." I stuttered. "Is... I - Is he...?"  
  
"We've seen both of them, alright." One of them said, before I could go on. "They are not far from here. Another man went with them. He was carrying them, actually, because they both seemed to be unconscious. He hid with them in a cave. It's passage leads to a small lake inside the island. From that side, you can see its entrance behind a veil of water..."  
  
I let out a chuckle and sighed in relief. I couldn't believe how lucky they had been, Wilheim, most of all! I truly wanted to jump around and scream joyfully, but I had to watch my manners in front of the ladies. I had already behaved like a barbarian in front of Wendy and Camille, by spitting in my hand like a camel. However, I was still somewhat confused by their glances. Why did they look worried?  
  
"We could show you the way..." said one. "But we're too scared."  
  
"Why is that?" I asked. "My friends are harmless. I can assure you this. You have my word that they will not hurt you in any way, and Merryck Goldengrass is a hobb... err, a lost boy of his word. And even though I do not know the man, I am sure that he means no harm as well. After all, he did save both of their lives, didn't he?"  
  
"I don't know." Answered the red - haired mermaid. Once again, I started to worry and listened to what she had to say. "He had evil eyes. His silvery hair was long and seemed to be the haze that a ghost leaves behind him when he travels through the air..."  
  
"But..." I said. "Be that as it may, I must go to my friends!"  
  
"No offense, lost boy, but you don't seem to be very strong." They said. Even though that may have been truth, I resented that remark... "If only Peter Pan were here, maybe we would take you. He's very brave and powerful, and he never loses a battle..."  
  
"If you're not going to take me, then at least point me in the right direction!" I interrupted. Despair had filled me by then, and I was willing to give anything to see my friends safe and sound. "Tell me how to get to the cave! I may not know how to swim, but I am willing to risk my lungs for those two!"  
  
"Are you really that close to them?" she asked, and her face and the ones of her friends turned into amazed expressions.  
  
"Yes!"  
  
They turned to look at each other with questioning gazes. After the longest time, in which my heart had begun to climb up my throat and was threatening of escaping my body, the blonde mermaid said:  
  
"We'll take you there. We don't want you to drown... But we will be very quiet. You can talk to the man if you like, but we don't want him to see us..."  
  
"I will be as quiet as a mouse, then. I promise that he will never know that you were there." I said, firmly, and smiled as I jumped into the water and put my arms around the red - haired mermaid's neck. I held on tightly, waiting for her to start swimming to where Wilheim and Tifa where. "I'm ready."  
  
"Then let's go. And don't say another word, please..." she whispered and so, she and the other two mermaids took me to that cave.  
  
"Hold your breath." One of them said into my ear. "We'll have to swim under these rocks. It won't be too long."  
  
"Approximately, how long will it take us to surface?" I asked, with fear in my voice. What if I didn't have enough strength to survive under water? After all, I was terribly afraid of the deep. "Because your definition of a short time under water may be very different than mine."  
  
"A minute, at the most." She replied.  
  
"A minute?! God aid me, then..." I mused, and took a deep breath, realizing that I didn't have any other choice if I wished to be taken to my friends.  
  
When we had reached the foot of the rocky cliff that spread its walls across the lagoon, we quickly submerged ourselves under the waters and so the mermaids began to swim as fast as they could in order to save my frightened skin.  
  
It was somewhat comical. When I was a young hobbit, I used to hold my breath as long as I could. I played with my friends and we all tried to beat each other's best times. I had once managed to stop breathing for fifty seconds. But back then, my heart was not pounding as fiercely as now and my life didn't depend on that silly game. Nevertheless, as everything around me turned blue, I convinced myself that it would have been best if I hadn't stopped playing...  
  
I felt as if my chest was about to burst. The under water rocks and little fishes that swam about began to grow dark. I was about to feint when, finally, I felt air in my face again. I let out my breath as slowly and as quietly as I could, for I had promised the ladies that I would be as silent as I could be. When I inhaled, my lungs let out a happy moan. My grip across the mermaid's neck loosened up. I had survived the immersion.  
  
"There they are..." she murmured.  
  
I quickly raised my eyes and looked around. We were inside a cave. It was truly a sight to behold. The rocky walls reflected the water that quietly flowed by them, while the fish swam peacefully, without having the hot sun burning on their fins. The stars' light poured by a hole in one of the walls, which led to a waterfall. I then realized that this was the same cave that we had seen when we had first met Peter Pan and the lost boys. It was much bigger than I first thought. Perhaps it was due to the little river in which we now swam. There were many other tiny holes within the walls and some ledges above us on which tired birds could safely rest their wings: it was a perfect hiding place. But, as soon as I saw my friends, I forgot about the beauty of the cave and let out a gasp.  
  
Both of them, Tifa and Wilheim, were unconscious. The later one seemed to be no longer bruised: I reckon that his vampire powers must have helped him during all that time. But what was most important, was the fact that he wasn't touched by the sunlight. At least, he was safe from it. Nevertheless, there seemed to be another danger at hand: a mysterious man. He had a very long, thin sword hanging by his side and had silvery hair. He was tall and athletic and mainly wore black clothes. His eyes were green and... somehow, I could sense malice in them. He had an evil glance. And it rested upon both of my friends, as if he were some sort of vulture who is only waiting for its preys to die before feasting on their flesh. I grew very afraid when I saw him... He smiled wickedly. And, as I looked more carefully, noticed that he wasn't looking at the two of them. He was only staring at Tifa. I gulped and let out a horrified gasp.  
  
"This is as far as we'll go." Whispered the mermaid into my ear, as softly as she could. I barely heard her words. Either way, I nodded and asked them to leave me on the rocky floor, far from the man's sight. Well, not quite far... a place that was hidden from his eyes would be more appropriate. Whatever it may be, they agreed and left me behind a grey stone. "Alright." She said. "Please, don't tell him that we were here..."  
  
"He will never now that you were here." I answered, trying to keep my voice as low as I could: it would be fatal if an echo of it reached his ears... "You have my word, and my word is my bond."  
  
"Thank you." They all said. "Good luck, Merryck."  
  
"But before you go, could I ask you another favor?"  
  
They all stopped short and turned to look at each other with questioning glances. Clearly, they were too afraid to remain in that place much longer. I could not blame them; I was also scared to death. But even then, I only wished to remain by my friends' side, taking care of them with my eyes, at least.  
  
"What is it?" the red - haired mermaid finally asked.  
  
"I want you to please find my friends." I said. "Look for Peter Pan, if you would, or for the lost boys. Or look for the dragon named Wilgrathne... Wilgrathfre... Wil... Oh, for Heaven's Sake! Look for the dragon mage, or for any of the other men who are allied with Peter."  
  
"Oh! You mean Will and Shiryu?" they asked.  
  
"Yes, yes! Those are the ones!" I replied, but quickly shut my mouth. I had nearly yelled, and I had promised to be as quiet as a mouse. "Tell them that I've found both Wilheim and Tifa, and that they're both alive, but that they may be in grave danger. Go, please." I added, as I noticed that the man had not heard me. "Please! Time is short and I fear for the sake of my friends."  
  
"We'll try to find them as soon as we can." They said. "Do be careful."  
  
"I will try."  
  
And so they raced out of the cave and away from my sight, leaving me alone with my unconscious friends and that evil man. I crawled as silently as I could to one of the ledges above them. I was no longer as worried as before. I didn't know about the mermaid's abilities, but I do know about the ones that we, hobbits, possess, and stealth is one of them. If we want to, we can easily sneak past groups of creatures without making even the slightest sound. In the past, I had even fooled elves, and those beings have sharper ears and eyes than any human or vampire. The only one who I hadn't been able to fool so far, was Demean. I thought that it would not be very hard to get past that man, and, thankfully, I wasn't mistaken. I was very careful, however, and did my best not to touch the water with my body. I knew that I would alarm him if I did...  
  
Finally, I laid on a tiny ledge, and waited patiently. Waited for either Tifa or Wilheim to wake up, for the man to leave, or for the rest of my friends to come. Either way, I didn't mean to leave my hiding place, unless it was absolutely necessary to do so. I would only jump on top of the man if he dared to try and kill my friends (even though I was certain that I wouldn't be much of an opponent for him). But otherwise, I would just lay still and wait patiently for something else to happen...  
  
I looked at the man carefully and believed that I had seen his face somewhere before. Well, maybe I hadn't seen it, but I had definitively heard of it. Green, evil eyes and long, silvery hair... I thought as hard as I could to remember that description from a story or someone else's anecdote, but didn't quite succeed in it. All I could do was to hope for him to remain still until someone else came. What could a little hobbit who was armed with nothing but a short sword could do against an athlete who held a nine - foot katana (yes, it was that long.)? Nothing, I deemed.  
  
A long time passed, and nothing happened. I only listened to the quiet river's flow and both the man and my friends' breaths. His were impatient and confident, while Wilheim and Tifa's were weak and nearly went unheard by my ears. No one came. The sun's glow began to grow weak. When its yellow rays turned orange, I couldn't believe that it was so late. I had been there for so long and I hadn't even had a bite to eat. Either way, I could not complain. At least, I was safe and sound, while both Wilheim and Tifa's lives were at stake...  
  
Suddenly, the man's head quickly turned to the cave's exit. I nearly let out a yell, but managed to hold it in my throat. His reaction had surprised me... But his reaction to what? I wondered. I looked the way in which he had glanced and saw a ship, far in the horizon. At first, I thought that maybe Vincent, Felicia, and the others had arrived, but then realized that it was not so. It seemed to be another sort of Gummi ship, and a very small one at that. It appeared that no more than three passengers could fit in it. I let out a disappointed groan and rested my head on the rocks. I had been sitting for many hours (how many, I could not exactly tell), and my butt was beginning to hurt very much. And as I did this, the man spoke in a low, grave voice.  
  
"So it begins, again." He said. I held my breath and kept on listening. Was he speaking to himself? Or did he know that I was there? "Soon, my friend, we'll let loose a terrible battle again, like we did some time ago. But this time, things we'll be different. This time, I'll win. And your little spirit will forever roam my body. I'll absorb it gladly... Ah, Cloud... I've been waiting so long for this moment to come. I can already savor your death..." he paused for a moment, as he turned around, and then said: "So you've woken up. I was beginning to think that you were dead."  
  
At that moment, Wilheim stirred and finally opened his eyes. I smiled when I saw him but my face went grim when I saw how the man turned to him. And what was worse, my friend seemed to be in terrible shape. His fangs had doubled their size; veins and arteries could be seen all over his face, as if his skin had become a sheet that hides colorful, tiny rivers, and his eyes shone fiercely. He had once told us that, when he longed for blood, his appearance changed. And I was sure that he was thirsty and weak.  
  
"What...? Thank you." He said.  
  
"Of course." The man replied.  
  
"I thought that we were as good as dead."  
  
"And you were. If I wouldn't have saved you, you and your beautiful friend would have died..." he stopped talking as his eyes fell on Tifa again. "She's so pretty. So very pretty." He mused. I was now really scared, and noticed that Wilheim wasn't too happy about the way he was looking at our friend as well.  
  
After a few moments of staying silent, he asked, with a demanding voice:  
  
"Who are you? What is your name?"  
  
"Sephiroth. My name is Sephiroth." The man replied and I felt as if my heart stopped beating.  
  
I remembered. And so did Wilheim, for I noticed that he was filled by dread. Sephiroth. Tifa had told us much about him while we were on the emptiness of space. She had told us that he had been a terribly cruel lunatic who wanted to destroy the world in which she lived in. And what was worse was the fact that he actually possessed the power to do so.  
  
What disturbed me the most, however, were Tifa's words. She had told us that Sephiroth had died in battle against her boyfriend, Cloud, the very same man he had mentioned a few moments ago. How was it, then, that he was alive? What dark sorcery had brought him back from the land of the dead?  
  
"How...? How...?" Wilheim stammered, practically speaking my own words.  
  
"I see that you have heard about me." Sephiroth replied, with an evil chuckle. "Stories coming from her, I assume. But don't worry too much. Not all that you've heard is true. That I can assure..." he paused for a moment and laughed as he asked: "What's wrong, boy? It looks as if you've seen a ghost."  
  
"But I am looking at a wraith." Wilheim answered. "What other feelings could be in my face but fear and confusion?"  
  
"Are you so sure that I'm a ghost? Have you even seen one, Wilheim?"  
  
"Yes, I have, and... Wait a moment!" my friend exclaimed. "How is it that you know my name?"  
  
"Let's just say that I have big ears." Sephiroth murmured. "And eyes. I've been watching your movements in Never Land. And I've heard the stories that the pirates tell about you. You're a formidable vampire, aren't you? They say that you're very strong... Ah, excuse me! I'm being rather rude, don't you think? I never answered your first question." He said, and began to walk around him. "To be quite honest, I don't know why this miracle happened. I don't know why I'm back to life."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I do, however, have a theory. I'm sure that Tifa has told you this already, but it won't hurt you to hear it again. The planet from which I come from... Our planet is..." he quickly gave Tifa another wicked glance as he said this. He kept silent for a few moments as he thought about the appropriate term, I believe. "A living entity, so to speak. It is alive. You see, when a being dies, be it a human, or a tree, or whatever, its spirit returns to the planet; to 'Gaia'. The planet's blood is the Life's Stream. It is the river in which all of the spirits are..."  
  
"Yes..." Wilheim intervened. "Tifa, indeed, told me about this. She said that the Life Stream was the very same thing that stopped the meteor that you summoned from ending with life itself. The last struggle and will of the sweet sorceress that you murdered, she said. Aeris's last battle cry."  
  
"You know the story." Sephiroth said, while nodding. "Yes, because of her, the planet was saved. But that's another tale..." he sat down and an evil smile spread on his lips, as he murmured with delight: "I can still remember her, kneeling inside that crystal dome. Her hands clasped in prayer... Her lovely voice echoing on the glassy walls... Her beautiful eyes shut tight, only to be opened by Cloud's voice. Her sparkling, green gems glittered lovingly and caringly as she saw him... And then they went dark and lifeless as I ran my sword through her stomach. I wish you could have been there to witness her death."  
  
"I have seen enough death." Wilheim said, fearlessly. He was now terribly angry. And that could only mean that things were going to go ill.  
  
Wilheim is a very patient fellow. And for that, he is quite smart. But when another creature threatens or harms the beings that he loves, he becomes very mad. And when this happens, there is hardly any force in the universe capable of stopping him. He was weak at the moment, however, and still, his eyes burned with rage. He acts without much thought when he's angry (much like Seyia, I might add, as you will see later), and that can be very dangerous. I reckon that his main concern was Tifa, who, without his aid, was at the mercy of that monster.  
  
"I'm sure that you have." Sephiroth went on, without minding his comment very much. "Either way, I'm missing my point. I believe that, when the planet was shattered by the Heartless, something happened to the Life Stream. Without having the planet to hold it, it spat my spirit out: the most powerful soul of them all." He let out a long sigh, and concluded: "That is what I think. It is no more than a theory, however, as I've said."  
  
"Whatever the case may be, you are alive, unfortunately." My friend growled, and struggled to his feet. Because he had no strength in his body, he nearly fell down again, but in the end, he managed to stand up. "And I say unfortunately because in your words and in your eyes I feel evil. But how will your malice manifest itself, I wonder? What is your plan, Sephiroth? What do you intend to do, now that your heart beats again? Tell me quickly, so that I can know whether or not I will run my blade through your body or if I will let you live."  
  
"Right to the point, eh?" chuckled the evil man. He didn't answer right away. Instead, he got up, walked to the waterfall and looked at the sky. He kept silence for a long time, and then, finally said: "It has already begun."  
  
"What?" asked Wilheim.  
  
"Even though I died at that last battle against Cloud and Tifa, the Black Materia that he had given me did not entirely vanish from my body. I still hold it. And because of that, I can still summon destruction." He turned to my friend and said: "Take a look at it. It is not as big as the other one, but it is big enough to tear this place apart. This time, it will fall, and I'll be in that crater, absorbing all..."  
  
"What are you saying?"  
  
"Stop talking and look at it. You'll understand."  
  
Hesitantly, Wilheim walked next to him and peered his head out of the cave. The sun had nearly gone down and the sky was burning with red, tranquil fire. The clouds were pink and the stars were beginning to emit their glitter. But there was one black one that, rather than shinning, was absorbing all light around it. As I looked at it more carefully, noticed that it was slowly growing. It was slowly falling. I gasped and held on to the ledge tightly as I realized that that was a meteor. Sephiroth's evil breath had become a huge rock of death that threatened to burn all of us with its might. Wilheim took a few steps back, closed his eyes, and whispered in a grave voice:  
  
"I have no choice, then. I must turn off the candle that lights your spirit. You will die by my sword, Sephiroth."  
  
"Is that so?" he asked, with a laugh. "You can hardly stay on foot. And even if you did kill me, the meteor would still fall. No one in this world is capable of stopping it."  
  
"I will worry about the meteor when the time comes. For now, all I can think about is cutting you down with Renamark's rightful fire..." he reached for his sword, but his hand froze as Sephiroth quickly unsheathed his blade and pointed it at Wilheim's neck.  
  
"You don't stand a chance against me." He said, softly, and while smiling. "You should best enjoy your last moments. Look at her..." he mused, while eyeing Tifa. "She's so beautiful. She's got a really hot body, too. Why don't you take out your frustration on her? Me? No, thanks. I don't want to be selfish. Enjoy her while you can, Wilheim. For then, both of your spirits will be running within my body."  
  
"Why?" Wilheim asked, without moving.  
  
"Because I am the rightful heir of the lands. I am an Ancient. And as such, it is my right to claim the world for myself, even if it means that everyone else should die. They are all traitors."  
  
"This is not your world. And even if it was, I have learned that you are not an Ancient at all. Your mother was a beautiful woman, they say, whose unborn child was infused with Jenova's cells: a calamity of the skies: the Ancients' enemy. Still, even if you truly were an Ancient, then what kind of treacherous snake would you be? For Aeris was really an Ancient, and was killed by your selfish sword. She truly had the right to claim the land for her own, and yet, she did not, for her soul was pure, as the waters of the very Life Stream in which her spirit held on to her last will. Yours is as black as the very piece of lifeless rock that will be shattered by my hands."  
  
"You are way too cocky." Sephiroth said, and his smile quickly faded, and his voice became angry. "This is my final offer, boy. Take it or leave it. Either way, you'll die. Be it by the meteor or by my Masamune..."  
  
Suddenly, we all heard a growl that came from the trees that stood outside. We all turned our heads to see what was the matter, and froze. Two great eyes were peering through the darkness, filled with anger. A loud breath followed the growl, and a yellowish aura engulfed the trees. And finally, a roar was heard. A great fireball as big as a dragon appeared and flew straight at Sephiroth's body. He grunted as it hit him, while Wilheim quickly threw himself on top of Tifa, and protected her from the fire. I felt the projectile's heat as it went under me and smashed Sephiroth against the wall. There was a great flash that made me turn my head around and cover my eyes. When it was finally dark again and the heat was gone, I looked once more. He had only a few burns... But he was not hurt at all! He smiled wickedly and readied his sword as he walked out of the cave. He passed right next to Wilheim and Tifa, without heeding them, and stepped out. And when he did, the dragon Will came out of the trees and faced him. I let out a relieved sigh when I saw his huge, scaly body standing proud against the evil fiend. I never thought that I would be happy to see a dragon standing right before a man...  
  
Since the danger inside the cave was gone, it was safe for me to come down. Help, it seemed, had arrived, and my mission was over. I quickly jumped off the ledge and ran next to Wilheim and Tifa.  
  
"Wilheim! Are you alright? Are you hurt?" I asked.  
  
"Merryck? How, in Heaven's name, did you get here?" the vampire asked, as he raised his head from the ground.  
  
"Oh, three mermaids were kind enough to get me here, you see, even though they were most reluctant to do so at first, they finally..."  
  
"Fine, that is enough." He interrupted. There I went, again, talking about unimportant business in the hip of trouble... "You need to get help. Sephiroth's power is not something to be underestimated. Not even Will's tough body will be able to withstand many blows from that monster's sword! Be swift, and get Shiryu's strong fists here! We will need him! And do not forget about my dear succubus and our good friend, Ryoga!"  
  
"They must all be on their way." I answered. "I asked the mermaids to get them, and..."  
  
"You are quite brave, dragon!" Sephiroth said aloud, and I fell silent. Wilheim and I turned to look at them both as the enemy added: "But I must warn you that I've fought against plenty of dragons before! You are no more than a fly to me!"  
  
"So you have fought many dragons..." Will said, menacingly. "But I wonder if you have ever dealt with a dragon who knows the ways of magic? For if you have not, then I must warn you that you will have a very unpleasant surprise."  
  
"Oh, so you too know how to use magic?" Sephiroth cackled. "Very well. Then let's get this over with!!"  
  
As soon as he was done speaking, Will's eyes became even angrier and he let out a terrifying, menacing roar. But Sephiroth merely cackled and put himself on guard. I thought that maybe Will would throw himself at him and attempt to bite his head off, but I was forgetting that he was a dragon mage, not just a mere mouth full of sharp teeth. He raised both of his arms and, in an ancient language similar to the one of the elves of Fingoth and Feanorth, let loose a fierce, icy wind that blew against Sephiroth. Before we knew it, the sky began to shoot hundreds of deadly icicles, all of them heading directly towards our foe. But he wasn't scared of this incredible attack. Instead, he groaned and raised one of his hands. And then, three fiery pillars emerged from the ground and protected him from all harm. The icicle storm ended and Will achieved nothing. The dragon, however, wasn't intimidated by this display of power. Instead of running away, our brave friend cast another terrible spell. This time, lightning came out of his paws; every ray was a lethal dagger that attempted to run through its enemy's body. But Sephiroth raised his hand again and created a magical barrier around him that stopped all the lightning. However, he didn't count on Will suddenly stopping his spell and swinging his strong tail at him. Sephiroth took the hit on the stomach and flew over the ground. He crashed against a tree and fell to the floor. Will smashed the ground with his tale a couple of times, taunting him to press on the attack, if he dared. Oh, but our foe was far from being defeated. He got up, cracked his neck and knuckles, and said:  
  
"Impressive. I didn't think you'd be that smart..."  
  
Will didn't waste time on words and flapped his wings. He quickly began to fly out of Sephiroth's reach, while casting all sorts of lightning spells on him. The fiend stopped them all with his bare hands - he didn't even use a magical field anymore. And when Will paused for a moment, Sephiroth used trecherous magic: a dark ball engulfed the dragon's body and pulled him to the ground with great strength. He crashed against the floor and when he did, it trembled under its weight. He wasn't defeated yet, however. He got up, shook his head and groaned.  
  
"If that is all the power that you have, dark one, then I am afraid that I will be much more than a match for you." He said, confidently.  
  
"Believe me, this is merely the beginning." Sephiroth answered.  
  
The foe became as quick as a leopard and ran at our friend with full speed, with his sword aiming directly at Will's chest. He tried to stab him, but the dragon skillfully jumped over him. As soon as he landed, he shot out a fireball from one of his hands. He hit Sephiroth right on the back. This latter one yelled in pain as he flew into a tree once again. While he recovered from the tremendous hit, Will quickly cast a healing spell on him. After all, that last fall had somewhat injured him...  
  
"Good, very good!" Sephiroth exclaimed, as he rubbed his head. "You're much better than I thought. I made a grave mistake by underestimating you. But this time, things will be much different..."  
  
"Take your shot and find out, foolish, little man." Growled Will, and got ready for a new offensive.  
  
Unfortunately, this time Sephiroth meant to go for the kill. He aimed his sword at the dragon and stayed still for a while. And all of a sudden, as a thunder that strikes the earth with its fury, he vanished and reappeared right behind Will. He then sheathed his sword and let out a triumphant laugh. The dragon seemed confused for a second, but then, we all noticed that Sephiroth had cut his chest. His wound was terribly deep and blood ran out of it and oozed to the ground. Will covered it with its paws and fell, without strength... I couldn't believe that a man had beaten a dragon! I thought that only Demean was capable of achieving such deeds!  
  
"Like I said, you were a worthy foe." Sephiroth said. "But you weren't worthy enough to fight against me."  
  
"Foolish dragon!" muttered Wilheim, under his breath. I quickly turned to him and noticed that his face revealed desperation. "He should have used his full power against this enemy! He underestimated the vile Sephiroth, and that may cost him his life, if we do not do something about it! But I am too weak to help! Will, you must not fall! Please, live, great dragon!... We will need your magic before the end!"  
  
"Wilheim..." I whispered. I was terribly frightened. The meteor was falling down and there was no way of stopping it, it seemed... I knew what I had to do. But I was very scared, and didn't know if I would live to see the sun rise again. "Good - bye, Wilheim."  
  
"Merryck? Merryck!!" Wilheim yelled, while I quickly unsheathed my small blade and ran as fast as I could to meet my doom at Sephiroth's hand. I held my cry until the last moment, right when I was beside him and he was about to delve his sword into Will's skull...  
  
"Leave him alone, traitor!!" I yelled and stabbed his leg.  
  
He screamed in pain and swung his gigantic sword at me. Luckily, I rolled out of its way just before it touched me. But Sephiroth's reach was quite long, and before I knew it, he attacked me again. However, my luck still wasn't over. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to spin my sword so fast that I was able to stop his steel, which was aiming directly at my head. I then rolled one more time and got as far away from him as I possibly could. My short legs would not help me much at the moment... Sephiroth glanced at me with wrath, but when he finally saw me, he smiled maliciously and let out a chuckle.  
  
"What is this?" he asked. "I've heard jokes before, but a hobbit fighting a dragon's fight? Now that one's actually hilarious! I never thought that I would actually laugh my head off!" he burst out laughing and sheathed his sword.  
  
"Don't you dare underestimate me, Sephiroth!" I screamed, surprised of my words. "I managed to hurt your leg and I also dodged two of your blows, so don't be too confident!"  
  
"Hmm. You're right." He said. "After all, what they say can be true. Even the smallest of persons can make a difference. On the other hand, I think that you were only lucky."  
  
"How dare you insult me like that?!" I yelled, and couldn't believe what I was actually doing. I was taunting a monster whose powers were far beyond my reach...  
  
"I'll tell you what." He went on, without heeding me (thankfully). "I'll make this a fair fight. No sword... No magic. I'll only use my fists. You can still wield your blade, however. That'll be a just thing to do. Hey, I'm not as bad as people say, so I'll give you a chance."  
  
"That's preposterous.!" I started to complain, but quickly came to my senses and realized that I wouldn't have a better opportunity. "Alright." I agreed. Maybe the fight wouldn't be fair, but if I could defeat that evil fiend, then it would be well worth it. "I will take your offer. On guard!"  
  
"Have at you!" he laughed and covered his face with his fists.  
  
I ran at him and tried to stab his legs once again, but he jumped over me and landed far away. It was not until then that I noticed that the wound that I had inflicted upon him had gone. He had healed him while I wasn't paying attention! The situation was terrible. All that I hoped for was for my friends to hurry up and get there before he would slay me...  
  
"What's the matter?" he asked. "To tough for you?"  
  
"Merryck..." whispered Will. I turned to him and nearly dropped my sword... He was terribly injured and it seemed that he was on the verge of death. "Merryck..."  
  
"Will..." I murmured back. "Where are the other ones?"  
  
"They will be here soon enough..." he coughed. Blood was coming out of his mouth and oozed to the floor. "Merryck... you must fight him."  
  
"Don't talk. You're badly wounded..."  
  
"Be silent, and listen... Focus, Merryck. You may not be able to defeat him, but if he does not use his sword and magical spells, you have the advantage. Fight like Wilheim seldom does: use quick moves. You must be fast, and accurate. Do this and you will surely be alive by the time our friends come..."  
  
"What about you?" I asked, with a low, nearly - broken voice.  
  
"Keep him busy, so I can gather enough strength to heal myself..."  
  
"I don't think that I'll be able to do it..."  
  
"Then give up, already!" interrupted Sephiroth, with a chuckle. "It's too late for you, anyway. Why not die silently instead of fighting a senseless fight?"  
  
I closed my eyes and tried to gather what courage I had left. I held on to the hilt of my sword, put myself on guard again, and answered:  
  
"Because of hope."  
  
"Hope? A fool's hope, you mean. But have it your way. Come on!"  
  
I raced at him and swung my blade at his legs. He jumped over me again... as I expected him to do so. I ran as fast as I could to where he was going to land and, like an arrow that is shot off from a powerful bow, jumped straight into the air, with my blade aiming directly at what lay in front of me and managed to cut his right leg. He let out a groan and hopped away, but I quickly got up and attacked again. This time, he dodged the blow by jumping back. Like a fine swordsman that attacks with a rapier, I lunged at him and stabbed his knee. He yelled in pain and nearly fell to the ground. Before I could react, however, he threw his fist at my face. I received his punch, feeling as if had been hit by a rhinoceros, and fell on my back. The world spun for a few seconds. It had been a really nasty punch... But, finally, we both managed to get up to our feet, with no more wounds than a few scratches.  
  
"Damn, kid!" he said, with a laugh. "You're much more stronger than one would think! I really messed up this time! But, what the heck! I've always enjoyed a bit of action... I guess that the wait won't be so boring after all."  
  
And so, he unsheathed his sword and got ready to fight.  
  
* By Beorn Goldengrass, my great grandfather, I've really outdone myself this time... For ill, no doubt. * I thought.  
  
Either way, I could not feel pity for myself at that time. Sephiroth was not going to let me get away with those three blows that easily. He swung his blade at my hands and nearly cut them off. If I hadn't jumped back, he would surely have succeeded. He attacked again; this time he attempted to run me through with his steel. But I quickly jumped to one side and kicked his legs as hard as I could. He grunted and tried to cut my head off. I parried his blow (I don't know where I got the strength to do so) and rolled under his legs. I quickly swung my blade at him; this time, I aimed for his back. I had concentrated too much on his legs, and I reckoned that he was already expecting another strike. And I did the right thing, too, for he quickly turned around and jumped. I cut his foot and he fell on the ground. I lost no more time and jumped on top of him, putting both of my feet on his hands. I then tried to stab his heart... But I simply couldn't do it. Though he was a demon incarnate, I couldn't kill him. I had never hurt anything bigger than an ant before in my entire life... That was what probably caused my strike to go to the side and I wound him on the shoulder. He became very angry then, and managed to release one of his arms. He then grasped my face and squeezed. His grasp was so hard that, instead of holding on to my weapon, I let go of it and tried to pull his arm away from me, but not to avail. He healed his wound, got to his feet and squeezed harder. I could feel his fingers crushing my skull mercilessly. I tried to yell, but his hand muffled my shout. I tried to kick him, but his chest was too far away from me... I was lost.  
  
"You gave quite a fight, little hobbit." He said. "But it's time that it ended..." I managed to peek through his fingers and saw, with horror, that he was going to stab me in the stomach.  
  
Desperation and fear amazingly triggered an intelligent reaction in my arms... I formed a tight fist with my right hand, while I kept a firm grip to Sephiroth's arm with the other, and used all of my strength to hit him on his wrist. He groaned in pain and let go off me. I fell on the ground and tried to grab my blade, but he stepped on my back and prevented me from moving.  
  
"Nice move. But I'm afraid that it was your last..." he said, and raised his blade. He was going to let it fall on my head. I shut my eyes tightly, believing that I had nothing left to do but to wait for darkness to engulf me...  
  
Nevertheless, fate decided that my part in this battle wasn't over. Sephiroth was suddenly thrown away from me and fell on his back. Realizing that nothing prevented me from getting up, I grasped my blade and rose to my feet. I then looked up, and saw my savior...  
  
He was as almost as tall as the enemy himself. They had some similarities, but for the most part, they were very different. Though this man was shorter than Sephiroth, he had a tougher build and shorter hair. He wore a purple outfit and brown battle boots. His hair was blonde and spiky (it actually looked like the spines of a porcupine). And his eyes and face were very similar to the ones of Sephiroth. Both of them were young and manly... However, this man's eyes were blue. It was an intense tone of righteousness and justice... He was definitively a good chap. And instead of holding a thin katana, he was armed with a gigantic blade that looked as heavy as a boulder.  
  
"I don't know how the hell was it that you came back to life..." he said, with a defying tone in his voice. "But I'm going to take you down again, Sephiroth! I hope you brought your body - bag with you! And I emphasize on body bag - you're not good enough to waste a coffin!"  
  
"I see you haven't changed a bit, Cloud." Sephiroth replied, with a smile on his face. Somehow, he seemed happy to meet his mortal enemy again. "Trash - talking has always been one of your worst features. But, unlike other occasions, this time it won't do you any good."  
  
"We'll see about that." He got on his knees and whispered in my ear: "Are you okay?"  
  
"I believe so, thanks to you, my good fellow..." I answered.  
  
"Good. Go to the dragon, and protect him, OK? We'll do the fighting from now on."  
  
"'We'?" I asked.  
  
As an answer to my question, out of the trees appeared both Shiryu and Seyia. I was so glad to see them again! Now Sephiroth would have real opponents take care of him... Though I did give him a hard time, I reckon.  
  
"Merryck! Are you alright?" asked the dragon's saint.  
  
"Yes, I am! Thank goodness you are here!" I exclaimed.  
  
"Don't worry about that guy, Merryck." Seyia added. "I'll tear him apart with my Pegasus's Meteor Punch!"  
  
"Oh, so it'll be the three of you against me?" Sephiroth asked. "That's not very fair, is it? Oh, well. I'll have to modify my tactics to suit you." He raised his sword and put himself on guard... I was certain that this time, he would use his magic powers as well.  
  
"Shut your mouth!" Seyia exclaimed. "I think that you're the one who's doing all the trash - talk! And I'll show you what true power is! Eat this! Pegasus's Meteor Punch!" he started his attack; he ran at Sephiroth, while hundreds of powerful rays came from his hands.  
  
"Seyia, no!!" Shiryu yelled, but our friend was already next to Sephiroth's side.  
  
The foe smiled and, with only one of his hands, stopped all of the saint's blows. I couldn't believe it! Seyia's display of power had been something incredible to witness against the Heartless's army, and yet, he had not even scratched Sephiroth! Before he could react, the enemy punched him in the stomach. The Pegasus's saint found himself out of breath as Sephiroth began to cast an ice spell. A wind as cold as the rain that falls upon my town on winter began to blow and Seyia's body was covered with ice.  
  
"No!!" we all yelled, but still, we couldn't do anything to help him.  
  
Sephiroth laughed and swung his blade at the ice, and it shattered into a thousand pieces. I couldn't believe my eyes... In a mere instant, he had finished Seyia! This terrible fiend had pulverized one of the strongest chaps that I had ever met in the blink of an eye!  
  
"One down, two to go." Sephiroth chuckled, and aimed his sword at us.  
  
"You bastard..." Shiryu muttered, with enraged eyes. His hands formed tight fists, while an aura of green flames engulfed his body.  
  
At that moment, I remembered Will and knew that I had to go by his side. Sephiroth's eyes were resting only on both Cloud and Shiryu, and he considered me no threat. He thought of me as an annoying little ant for all I knew, even though I had wounded him a moment ago. I couldn't just fall on my knees and start crying over Seyia's sudden death... I had to protect our dragon friend. Slowly, I began to walk towards Will. But suddenly, Sephiroth's head turned towards me, and I froze in my tracks. His glance was like a rope that bound my legs...  
  
"Where do you think you're going, little bug?" he asked, with an evil smirk.  
  
I couldn't answer. My lips couldn't move.  
  
"Leave him alone, Sephiroth!" Cloud shouted. "Your fight is with us!"  
  
"True. That's why I must get rid of all pests before they get in our way."  
  
With that said, he swung his sword at my neck. Perhaps I could have ducked from his blow, but at the moment, I was too surprised to do anything. I was paralyzed by both fear and sorrow. I could do nothing but to close my eyes and wait for my death.  
  
But too many seconds passed and I was still alive. Something had surely kept me from harm. What could it be? I wondered. I dared to open one of my eyes and saw an expression of amazement in Sephiroth's face. He had his sword right above his head and was ready to discharge his blow, but two hands kept him from doing so. They were Seyia's! The saint was still alive! And he had no wound on his body! Only a cut across his stomach, but no more. This, too, amazed me. Seyia was a warrior unlike any other... He had saved my life!  
  
"Do you think that I would die that easily?" he asked and smiled. "No way! Now's my turn to make you feel some pain!"  
  
"How?" Sephiroth muttered but he was cut off by the saint, who quickly twisted his arms and kneed him on the stomach.  
  
"PEGASUS'S METEOR PUNCH!!" he yelled and repeated his great attack.  
  
This time, Sephiroth did not escape the mighty strikes. Every last one of them hit his body, and every time one of those powerful rays hit him, he grunted with pain and spat blood. Finally, Seyia decided to give him a 'coupe de grace' and let him have an uppercut. Sephiroth flew up into the air and fell on his head. For my part, I couldn't just stand there and be amazed by the saint's skill. I had no idea how he had managed to escape the icy prison in which he had been captured, but I could not ask him at the moment. My heart beat with hope again and I raced to Will's side.  
  
"What you think of that, Sephiroth?" asked Cloud, while laughing. "And you haven't seen anything yet, right, guys?"  
  
"Seyia, don't ever do something as stupid again!" Shiryu scolded, as if he were his bigger brother. "As impulsive as ever... Still, I'm glad to see that you've improved on your skills." He put himself on guard and told Sephiroth: "Now it's time for you to taste my Rising Dragon! You'd best surrender, if you don't want to die!"  
  
"This is terribly vexing." Sephiroth growled, and got to his feet. "You'll all die. Get ready!"  
  
"TAKE THIS!" Cloud cried and swung his gigantic sword at him, and when he did, a fierce gust of wind nearly made me fall on my back. It had sounded as if a tornado had struck the ground! Sephiroth managed to parry it, but didn't have any time to counterattack, for the dragon's saint was now attacking him as well. While he wasn't as fast as Seyia, he was much stronger: just one of his punches could bring down a mountain... Sephiroth skillfully dodged and parried all of their attacks and tried to burn them with fireballs, but Shiryu blocked all of them with his shield. It was really something to behold: not even a scratch in its surface. It was as if he were wielding a diamond.  
  
"Merryck..." Will muttered. I turned to him and kneeled by his head.  
  
"It's alright, Will." I said to him in a soft voice. "Seyia, Shiryu, and another warrior are here now. They will defeat Sephiroth. Don't worry about a thing. You just mind yourself now, dragon. Concentrate on healing that nasty wound..."  
  
"I will." He said. "But do keep your sword in your hands. Do not sheathe it... At least not know."  
  
"Surely... I have some herbs in one of my pockets, Will. Back in my town, we use them to ease the pain of bruises. Why don't I try spreading some of them over your cut? Maybe they will make you feel better, and you will have an easier time on focusing your powers." I suggested.  
  
"Why did not you say so before?" he asked, with a weak chuckle. "Get to it, please."  
  
"RISING DRAGON!!" yelled Shiryu and hit Sephiroth on his face. This latter's eyes began to spin wildly in every direction and then he fell to the ground. He recovered just in time to avoid being impaled by Cloud's sword. But before he could get away from him, the warrior kicked our enemy in the face and then tried to cut him in half. However, Sephiroth managed to get out of his steel's way. Still, Cloud injured him. The fiend roared and got ready to fire a spell from his hand. Sparks began to surround his body. A sudden burst of energy exploded in him and a tremendous storm of lightning attacked our three friends. But Seyia and Cloud quickly hid behind Shiryu's back, while he protected all of them from the storm with his sturdy shield. As soon as Sephiroth's offensive ended, Seyia and Cloud leapt at him with a battle cry. The saint let loose another one of his attacks and Cloud ran at him and hit him in the face with the hilt of his sword twice. Finally, Shiryu finished the attack with a terrible uppercut that sent the enemy high into the air. He fell and didn't get up until after a few moments. He was terribly injured and a trail of blood ran from the corner of his mouth. There is no other way of saying it: they were practically pummeling him. Now, I thought, all that we had to worry about was the meteor that slowly approached Never Land and threatened to end with its existence...  
  
"I'm beginning to think that this fight's is very unfair." Seyia chuckled. "I'll take care of him. I'm too proud to just keep on beating the snout out of him with you two."  
  
"I disagree." Cloud answered. "He's getting what he deserves. Sephiroth! This is for all of the people that you've hurt! For Tifa's dad, for Nibelheim's people... and for Aeris!" he raced at him and let his sword fall on him. However, Sephiroth quickly moved aside. He did evade cloud's blade, but he couldn't dodge his kick. He took it on the face and fell again. "I don't care if they think I'm a coward! I'm doing nothing but fighting fire with fire!"  
  
"Damn you!" Sephiroth exclaimed and finally got up. "All of you! This is enough...!"  
  
But before he could say more, the floor broke under his feet and tiny rocks flew at his face. He tried to cover himself from them, but his hands didn't catch all of them. The ground suddenly exploded, sending him high into the air, once again. Before he could fall, however, dark tentacles came at him, apparently out of nowhere, and bound him by his arms and legs. Then, they slammed him against the ground with great strength. I turned to see the attackers and found out that they had been none other than Ryoga and Camille. And with them, came Peter Pan, with his dagger already in hand.  
  
* It is over. * I thought. * There is no force on this or any other world capable of stopping this strong offense. *  
  
"Hey, guys!" Ryoga said. "Heard you had a tough fight! So we decided to come along! Vincent and the others are already on their way, by the by!"  
  
"I've had enough of this little game...!" Sephiroth growled. He stood up again, but didn't raise his head. "I'm an Ancient. I am the sole ruler of the worlds...!"  
  
"Is he nuts or something?" Peter asked. "What the hell is he talking about?"  
  
"Play time is over." The fiend continued. Suddenly, a black aura engulfed him... and we all paled in fear.  
  
I felt afraid. I don't know why, but as soon as that black flame had covered his body, I had felt a chill. I began to tremble and tried to scream with horror, but no sound came out of my throat. I couldn't move my head. My eyes turned to see my other friends and found that their faces were filled by dread. Ryoga took a few steps back and tears began to flow from Camille's eyes... Certainly, things had gone ill. I believed that they were all feeling the same thing that I felt. Even though night had already fallen, the sky shone with an eerie, purple tone. It got cloudy, all of a sudden, and thunder began to fall...  
  
Sephiroth let out a chilling roar and his coat, gloves, and shirt were torn apart. His eyes glittered as if they were on fire. A black, raven wing emerged from his back, and the fierce wind carried its dark feathers... His wounds vanished and the black fire that engulfed him grew colder. It was then that I realized that we had made a terrible mistake: we had wakened a monster.  
  
"It's time that you all felt my fury." He whispered, but his words echoed in our frightened minds as he raised his head and his arm... And all of a sudden, a pillar of flames was shot out of the ground and burnt Ryoga. He yelled in pain as he was fired to the skies and fell on the ground, deader than alive.  
  
"Ryoga!" screamed Camille and tried to fly by his side, but the monster vanished and reappeared right before her. The succubus tried to hit him on the face, but Sephiroth caught her fist. He squeezed and in less than a second, broke her hand. Camille tried to pull away from him, but he didn't release her. Peter Pan flew at him and attempted to stab him on his back. Sephiroth was aware of this. He threw Camille at him, as if she were an arrow, and they both flew into a tree. It broke fell on top of them and trapped them under its weight.  
  
Then, Sephiroth shot a bolt of energy at Shiryu. The saint barely managed to hide behind its shield, but flew right into the rocks that were behind him. He grunted as he fell to the ground and lay still. I was terrified by his power. I could not believe that he, who seemed to be on the verge of death, had acquired such horrible skills! We were like rabbits that fight against a hungry lion that wishes only to eat our flesh!  
  
"Merryck! Hurry up and finish what you set out to do!" Will whispered in my ear. I could see that he was feeling somewhat better, for he didn't pause as much anymore between sentences, and I could see a desire for battle in his eyes. "We do not have much time left!"  
  
"Yes...!" I muttered and got back to work.  
  
Sephiroth was now attacking Seyia. He swung his sword time after time, and every time he did, thousands of dark balls came out of his steel. Seyia braced himself and yelled:  
  
"PEGASUS'S METEOR PUNCH!!"  
  
He shot as many rays from his hands as Sephiroth shot dark balls from his sword. However, the fiend's projectiles were much powerful, and Seyia had to hit one dark ball several times before he could destroy it. The black balls made their way across the battlefield and finally reached the Pegasus's saint. He was hit by hundreds of shots for a long time. Sephiroth wanted him to suffer for what he had done to him earlier. When his attack seemed to be about to end, he restarted it and Seyia screamed in pain as the balls burnt his body. Finally, he flew against the rocky wall and hit it with great force. I reckon that he would have surely died, if he wouldn't have been wearing his armor... But he was clearly out of strength, and could fight no longer, even though he didn't give up.  
  
Only two warriors were standing: Cloud and Shiryu. Sephiroth decided to end the dragon's saint first: he wanted to... 'save' Cloud, so to speak, for the end. He raised his hand, and a pillar of flames attacked Shiryu from beneath. However, he blocked it with its shield just before the fire hit his legs. He flew up in the air, but wasn't hurt. The enemy jumped after him and attempted to run him through with his sword. But the dragon's saint had foreseen this and stopped his thrust with his hands... It was then that Shiryu raised one of his hands and yelled in a loud voice:  
  
"This technique was taught to me by Capricorn Shura before his death!! Take this and die, Sephiroth!! EXCALIBUR!!"  
  
The fiend's eyes were filled by surprise and moved just in time to evade Shiryu's attack. But his wrist had not been as quick as the rest of his body... And as the dragon's saint's hand fell, so did Sephiroth's. He yelled in pain as he saw that Shiryu had successfully cut off his hand. But fear and confusion were quickly replaced by wrath, and without losing another second, he grasped Shiryu's face with his hand - the right one - and shot a fireball. Our friend screamed loudly as he fell to the ground. His face had been deformed by that last blow and was scorched. He tried to get up, but didn't find the strength to do so.  
  
Sephiroth landed next to him. I thought that maybe he would try to impale him now that he had fallen. Nevertheless, he still had one opponent left. Cloud growled and began to spin his gigantic sword in the air. Strong currents of air engulfed his body. The enemy let out a battle cry and ran as fast as he could at him. But before he could reach him, Cloud swung his blade one last time, and cried:  
  
"FINAL TOUCH!!"  
  
And a huge tornado appeared under Sephiroth's feet. He let out an amazed groan that was followed by a surprised scream as he flew into the air. The fierce gusts of wind finally threw him against the rocky walls. His body shattered all of the rocks and they all fell on him. But he was not yet defeated. An enraged yell came out of his throat and the rocks shattered into dust. With the speed of light, he ran at Cloud and hit him on the stomach. Our last standing friend dropped his weapon and fell to his knees. I closed my eyes and sobbed. It was over. There was no one left to save us now. Will had regained enough strength to heal himself, but had still to cast the spell, and I could do nothing against that monster... Sephiroth smiled wickedly and raised his sword above Cloud's head.  
  
"It is over... puppet." He cackled and let his blade fall upon Cloud's neck. I turned my head around and let out a terrified moan.  
  
But instead of hearing Cloud's head rolling through the ground, I heard how another sword crashed against Sephiroth's and prevented him from killing our friend.  
  
"CLOUD!!" yelled a shattered voice. I turned to it and saw Tifa, who was standing right beside the cave's waterfall, with tear - filled eyes.  
  
Sephiroth's eyes were filled by confusion as he stared at Wilheim, who had unsheathed Renamark and had stopped his blow. Cloud turned to him with amazement and then crawled away from them, not without grabbing his sword first...  
  
"How??" Sephiroth asked, with rage. "You were nearly dead moments ago!! Damn you!! Where did you find the strength to parry my attack?!"  
  
"Let us just say that I took your advice, evil snake." Wilheim sneered. "I did have a little fun, like you suggested that I should have done... Her blood is truly delicious. Sweeter than any juice; tastier than any ale that I ever tasted when I was a mortal. And it contains great power, as well. Only a few drinks, and I was back on my feet."  
  
I immediately noticed that his face lacked the wrinkles that were on it when I had met him, and that his veins and arteries had vanished under his skin. His eyes hadn't changed, though. They still shone fiercely. But I knew that it wasn't because of hunger. Rather, they shone in that terrifying way because of anger.  
  
"I will put an end to you now, fiend." He said, and as he spoke, his strength began to overcome Sephiroth's. Finally, he grasped him by the neck and threw him against the trees. I hardly saw his movements! He had become a ray of hope and strength! And all because of Tifa!  
  
Things were getting better. Will had already cast the spell and was now fully healed. But rather than fighting against Sephiroth, he decided to cure all of our friends. While he gathered all of them and took them to safety, I ran next to Wilheim and asked:  
  
"Will you be fine by yourself?"  
  
"Yes." He answered. At that moment, Sephiroth came out of the trees and let out a chilling roar. However, he didn't attack Wilheim... He was somewhat injured and it seemed that he was trying to cure his wounds. "Watch carefully, Merryck." My friend added. "...And feel the fury of the Children of Cain; a fury that will smite all evil."  
  
And so, he answered Sephiroth's roar with one of his own. I took a few steps back as his hot energy began to burn my skin... Suddenly, two dark, demon like wings emerged from his back. I let out a shriek and nearly threw my short sword at him, but realized that I would only hurt the mission if I did, not to mention my good friend, who had become our savior at that moment...  
  
His skin absorbed his hair. His clothes were torn apart by his own body, which was growing at an incredible rate. His fangs tripled their size and his gaze became much more terrifying. Even Sephiroth grew afraid at the sight of this new foe and forgot all about healing himself. Before we knew it, we were all staring at a monstrous gargoyle, whose burning eyes saw nothing but Sephiroth, and whose claws only wanted to cut through the enemy's skin.  
  
"Now, evil one..." Wilheim said, and his voice came out as a Balrog's breath. "I will send you to the land of the dead! Feel my wrath!"  
  
And so, he flew at Sephiroth at full speed. Our enemy was too amazed to do anything at the moment and received Wilheim's punch without putting resistance. He rolled over the ground and finally stopped when he crashed into another tree, only to be kicked by our friend. He grunted as he flew high into the air. He did not fall, however, for the gargoyle caught him with its arms and squeezed him like a bear squeezes a little tree and breaks it. Sephiroth let out a yell and tried to escape, but Wilheim's arms were too tough for him. Our foe's eyes were suddenly filled by rage and his body turned blue... He was lowering his own temperature in order to freeze our friend! But Wilheim didn't fall in his trap. Instead of it, he let go of him and merely punched him with both fists. Sephiroth plunged into the ground like a rock that's thrown from a cliff and yelled in pain as his own blood covered the floor.  
  
Meanwhile Will had successfully healed all my other friends. Shiryu's face was no longer scorched and Tifa was standing tall and strong. I quickly ran to them and said enthusiastically:  
  
"You're all fine! I am so happy to see this!"  
  
"We have got to help him!" Camille said, without minding me and tried to fly to Wilheim's side, but Will prevented her from doing so. "What are you doing? Let me go! He is in grave danger!"  
  
"What are you talking about, my dear succubus?" asked the dragon. "Look at your friend. He is unstoppable. Sephiroth cannot stand a chance against such a mighty foe."  
  
"You do not understand!" Camille said, lowering her voice to a whisper. "When a vampire turns into a gargoyle, he merely becomes stronger and more resistant to attacks. But he loses agility and speed and the power to turn into many things! Do not you see? Wilheim is only using his gargoyle form in order to intimidate him! It was, undoubtedly, a smart move, for men with great powers become afraid at the sight of a vampire in his or her gargoyle form: even the bravest..."  
  
"That explains why I'm scared out of my wits right now..." Seyia murmured.  
  
"But that is not the point! If Sephiroth finds out about this weakness, he will crush my dear friend under a blurry of magic spells!"  
  
"No, he will not." Will said. "You should have said this in the first place, Camille. Now I will make him truly an invincible foe..." he took a few steps forward and got ready to cast his next spell. After focusing enough power, he let out a roar and stretched his hands. We all let out a cry of hope as we saw how a mystical sphere suddenly covered Wilheim's body: it was a barrier that would deflect all magical attacks.  
  
"Yes!" Camille exclaimed. "Yes! Now he truly is invincible!"  
  
"Whatever!" intervened Cloud. "Either way, I don't know about the rest of you, guys, but I'm going to help him, even if he truly is unstoppable!"  
  
"I'll go with you!" Tifa said. "Now that I've found you, I'm not losing you again!"  
  
"Then let's all go!" Peter Pan exclaimed. "For Never Land!"  
  
And so, all of them raced to Wilheim's aid and this time, I wasn't left behind. With sword in hand, I ran at Sephiroth as fast as I could. All of my friends let loose their fierce attacks, whereas I stopped my charge and waited for them to leave me something to hit (I beg your pardon if I'm being cocky, but I couldn't help to feel that at the time). I could only hear our foe's groans and gasps as he was cut by Cloud's sword, Peter's dagger, and Camille's needles; hit by Ryoga's, Wilheim's, Tifa's, Seyia's, and Shiryu's powerful fists, and burnt by Will's most potent fire spells. At last, he fell to the ground, right next to me, as a star that falls from the sky, and struggled to his feet. But when I saw his evil eyes, I grew afraid and decided to get out of his sight. Yes, I do recognize that it was a cowardly thing to do... But, as you will soon find out, my fear saved our lives.  
  
"I've had it with all of you!" Sephiroth cried and swung his sword at the ground. A wall of flames rose over it and protected him from all harm, for the flames were as solid as Shiryu's shield, and no spell, sword or fist could go through them. All of my friends stayed still as they saw Sephiroth perform this final and desperate maneuver, and groaned as they realized that there wasn't anything they could do. The fiend would simply wait for the meteor to fall and crush us all.  
  
But there was a fatal flaw in his plan, and he never guessed what it was, not even when he was laughing wickedly at my friends... I was there, locked in the circle of flames, with him. He hadn't seen me. Not even my friends had seen me. They all stared at Sephiroth with despair and fury in their eyes... But suddenly, Wilheim's eyes noticed me, and his face was filled by amazement. I was their only hope...  
  
I couldn't turn back. I had to do this. One stab: and that would be all. But I was too afraid. Too afraid to face that monster, and even more afraid to kill him. Nevertheless, I had no other choice. I gathered what little courage I had left, and let out a fierce battle cry as I ran at him. Sephiroth heard me and turned to face me. He swung his blade at my head, attempting to cut it. I, however, already knew that he was going to do this (well, perhaps I didn't know it, but thankfully, I ducked). I felt an icy gale right above my head as I jumped as high as I could and stabbed Sephiroth in his stomach. He let out a yelp and tried to pull my short sword out of his flesh, but the wound had been done. Nevertheless, he wouldn't let me get away with it. With his remaining strength, he kicked my face and sent me flying into a tree. The blow had been so hard that I nearly fainted. I struggled to keep my eyes open and to see what my friends would do now that the wall of flames had gone down...  
  
Wilheim was the first to attack. He let out an enraged cry and flew at Sephiroth. This latter attempted to impale the furious gargoyle, but my friend caught his sword with his bare hands. Even though he began to bleed, he managed to take it away from him, and to throw it far away. I smiled weakly, knowing that it was over for him. He twisted his arm and broke it, and Sephiroth yelled in pain.  
  
Next, Ryoga's turn came. He let out a furious wave of energy from his hands, which hit Sephiroth on his chest. He nearly fell down, but Wilheim held him from his back and waited for the others to attack him as well. Even though it was a dirty move, he knew that Never Land's future was at stake: he wasn't willing to take any chances.  
  
Peter Pan flew as fast as he could at Sephiroth and hit him in his stomach. Then, Camille wrapped her tentacles around his legs and arms, and quickly slid them away from him as they turned into sharp whips. Sephiroth shouted with rage and despair as his arms and legs began to bleed. Next, Seyia let loose his attack... Only that this time, he didn't use his Pegasus's Meteor Punch.  
  
"PEGASUS'S STAR!!" he yelled and threw a single, but devastating punch at Sephiroth's face. He practically broke his jaw with that powerful attack. Then, Shiryu hit Sephiroth's stomach with his Rising Dragon, and the foe spat blood.  
  
Finally, Tifa and Cloud's turn came. She gathered all of her energies on the palm of her hand and then threw a flaming projectile at him, while letting out a furious battle cry:  
  
"FINAL HEAVEN!!"  
  
Wilheim's eyes were filled by surprise as he saw the wave of energy and quickly flew away from Sephiroth. The projectile hit his body and a terrible explosion sent him against the rocky wall. All of his bones had been broken under that fiery burst... But he had yet to receive the final, and most terrible attack of them all...  
  
"GOOD - BYE, SEPHIROTH!!" Cloud shouted, at the top of his lungs. "OMNISLASH!!"  
  
And so he lunged himself at Sephiroth and slashed him with his gigantic sword fifteen times. I know that fifteen times don't seem to be much, but imagine what a single swing of a sword of that size would do to a normal human... Cloud leapt into the air and seemed to levitate for a moment while his blade shun with a magical light... And at last, he discharged the final blow.  
  
Sephiroth didn't say anything. His eyes merely closed and he fell to the ground, while all of his blood covered it. I was getting very sick at the sight of so much blood, but I did wanted to know how things would turn out. Oh, as for Will, he had quickly flown next to me as soon as the wall of flames had vanished and had cast a healing spell on me. My wounds had vanished, but I was still very weak. Either way, I struggled back on my feet and let out a sigh of both relief and disappointment as I saw Sephiroth's dead body. I say disappointment because I had also killed him...  
  
But our troubles were not over yet.  
  
"Look at that..." Peter Pan muttered, filled by fear as the rock in flames approached us more and more. "It'll destroy everything!"  
  
"No, it won't!" Shiryu exclaimed. "I'm sick of this! I didn't survive that lunatic's attacks just to be crushed by a pile of rock! Let's break it, friends! Let's use all of our strength together! I know that we can do it!"  
  
"Couldn't have said it better, Shiryu." Seyia chuckled, with a confident smile on his face.  
  
"Well put, saints!" Wilheim exclaimed. "Let us save Never Land from this evil curse!"  
  
"Peter, go with Merryck and hide inside the cave." Camille said. "This is a dangerous place to be for you two..."  
  
"Okay." Peter agreed. I thought that perhaps he would demand to stay there and lend a hand, but the sight of that meteor had clearly overwhelmed his thoughts. He flew towards me, grabbed my hand, and ran alongside me to the cave. "They'll do it, Merryck. I know they will."  
  
"I know so too." I replied.  
  
"You're the bravest, strongest hobbit that I've ever met. Well, you're the only hobbit I've ever met. But you know what I mean, don't you?"  
  
"Don't say nonsense, Peter. I was scared to death. You saw me flee when he hit the ground beside me!"  
  
"Yeah, but you overcame your fear, didn't you? That's a great deed, Merryck. I'm proud to have you as one of my men." He said, as we both ducked under one of the many rocks that were in the cave.  
  
I smiled and let out a sigh. He had spoken kind words, and most important of all, they had made sense: no lad had ever made me so happy.  
  
"Thank you." I whispered, and turned to my friends, who were gathering all of their energies to let them loose in a final attempt to free the land from destruction.  
  
An eternity passed, and the meteor began to threaten the tall mountains of Never Land with its flames. It was not until then that all of my friends let out a heroic battle cry and fired their tremendous power at the meteor. A flash blinded me for a moment and a thunderous roar deafened Peter and me. We covered our ears and shut our eyes, only to open them after a few moments and find a clear sky...  
  
"That one's for you, Aeris." Cloud said, with a smile, as a happy tear ran down his cheek. Then, he fell on his back, exhausted, as the rest of my friends, save for Wilheim and Will.  
  
"We did it." The dragon chuckled. "I never thought that we had so much strength within ourselves... It was indeed a miraculous deed."  
  
"Yes, it was." Camille agreed. She raised her head and said aloud: "Merryck!! Peter!! We did it!! Come out!!"  
  
Peter and I exchanged happy glances and went out of the cave with a victorious yell. He flew high into the air and crowed proudly. I ran at my friends with my arms wide open: I didn't know which one I should hug first...  
  
However, I didn't have to choose. Camille rose up and threw her arms around me.  
  
"Brave Merryck!" she said. "You saved us all! You are a warrior greater than any!"  
  
"Long live the little guy!" laughed Cloud, as he got up to his feet and helped Tifa to do the same. "Great job, Merryck!"  
  
"You are the best, Merryck!" Seyia chuckled.  
  
"Good job, Merryck! You saved the day!" Shiryu added.  
  
"Indeed, little hobbit, we owe our lives to your bravery." Wilheim added, and approached Camille and me. "You overcame your fear, and that is something that not even the ones that call themselves 'the bravest of men' can do easily. I am happy to be your friend and ally." He patted my head, and I chuckled nervously. I had never been so flattered before.  
  
"Thank you, Mr. Wilheim." I said. "But I would appreciate it very much if you please became your older self. I am much more comfortable besides a vampire in his human form rather than a hideous gargoyle. Pray do not be offended by this clumsy remark."  
  
"Oh, I did not realize that I was still in this shape!" he laughed. "But I am afraid that I cannot go back to my former self until someone has provided me with at least a pair of pants..."  
  
"Great job, Merryck." Murmured Ryoga, as he walked to me. He shook my hand and he smiled happily. He then turned to Wilheim and said: "I think I've got some extra pants in the ship..."  
  
"Bare it all! What gives?" Cloud exclaimed, with a laugh, and we all laughed with him.  
  
I then felt a hand on my shoulder. It had been Tifa.  
  
"I'm so happy that I could kiss you!" she exclaimed, with joy. "What the heck! I'm going to kiss you anyways!" and she did. It was a quick kiss on my cheek, but either way, I blushed and let out a nervous, shy giggle... But did my best to stop as soon as Cloud reached us and hugged Tifa.  
  
"Now that I've found you, everything is cool." He said, as she held him tightly and sighed in his ear. But suddenly, his eyes were filled by surprise, and he broke the hug. "Oh, no!" he exclaimed.  
  
"What?" we all asked, with concern in our voices.  
  
"Hercules! Damn it, he's in trouble!" he said. As he saw that none of us knew what he was talking about, he explained: "In one of the worlds, the Olympus, I made a pact with Hades, the god of the dead. He promised me that, if I killed Hercules in a tournament, he would help me find Tifa! I had a plan; I obviously didn't mean to kill anyone. I would talk to him before the fight and tell him all about Hades so that he would help me: I thought of an act, but... Whatever! The thing is that now that Tifa is with me, I don't know what he'll do about Hercules!"  
  
"Is this Hercules the same one that I have read about in the many books that adorn my town's library?" I asked.  
  
"I don't know..." Cloud muttered.  
  
"Either way, if what you say is true, then we must find this world, and aid Hercules before things go ill with him." Wilheim said.  
  
"Hey, take this." Seyia suddenly said, and gave Wilheim a long piece of cloth. "I found it in the ship. Put it on and change back."  
  
"I will not, until I have..." the gargoyle started, but the saint interrupted him by adding:  
  
"I don't care. You can cover what's important with this. I really can't stand the sight of you any longer: you give me the creeps."  
  
"Me too." Shiryu said. "Please, Wilheim. I can assure you that no one is very interested in seeing your... you know. Private parts." He concluded, with a chuckle.  
  
"Speak for yourself, dragon's saint..." Camille muttered, with a lustful breath, and we all laughed again.  
  
"All right." Wilheim agreed. "I will do so, if my dear succubus promises not to uncover my lower body. And if she does, then at least she must keep the sight for herself, if you take my meaning."  
  
"I'll turn my head around!" Tifa exclaimed and buried her head in Cloud's chest, who was happy and relaxed once more.  
  
And so, Wilheim used the piece of cloth as a towel and turned back into a human. Well, turned back into the Wilheim that we all knew. Renamark still hung by his back: he had sheathed it during the battle and had been the only thing that hadn't fallen off his body. But the rest of him was nude, save for his lower body. He blushed and held on tightly to the cloth.  
  
"I can help you with that, if you want to..." Camille mused, and we all laughed again. However, she had been serious.  
  
"No, thank you. I very much appreciate your offer, but I can handle this by myself." The vampire replied.  
  
"Guys!!" a voice exclaimed, and we all turned to it. It had been Felicia! She and the rest of my friends came out of the trees and stopped short when they saw all of us. They smiled and raced to our sides. "We thought that we would never see you again, Wilheim! And you too, Tifa! ...By the way, what the hell happened?" she asked, and burst out laughing as she saw our friend with only a piece of cloth covering his huge body.  
  
"Many things." Wilheim chuckled.  
  
"Merryck! You are safe!" Tish exclaimed, and flew to my side. I held her next to my cheek and giggled as she happily flapped her wings. "I was so worried about you! When Ryoga's scared voice reached our ears in the jungle, I thought that you were in terrible danger! I am glad to find out that I was wrong!"  
  
"Well, not entirely... I will tell you all about it later." I said.  
  
"No way..." Vincent murmured and the happiest smile that we had seen on him so far was drawn across his lips. "Cloud?"  
  
"Yep. That's my name!" Cloud laughed. "It's good to see you, Vincent!"  
  
"It's good to see you, too!" Vincent exclaimed and shook Cloud's hand.  
  
"Quit being like that!" Cloud said and hugged him.  
  
"Why, Wilheim!" Morrigan said, with a mischievous smile, as he approached my friend. "What ever happened to you? Where is the lucky lady?"  
  
"Two succubus. Perfect." Wilheim laughed. "It is a long story..."  
  
"Hey, everyone!" Sakura exclaimed. "I'm also here!"  
  
"It's good to see you too, Sakura!" said Ryoga, and ran at her. He hugged her, and added: "Believe it or not!"  
  
"Thanks, Ryoga!" the girl laughed.  
  
"This is great, huh, Shiryu?" Seyia said to his friend. "We're the only dopes in here that aren't getting a hug."  
  
"I'm not hugging you, if you're asking for that." Shiryu replied, with a chuckle, and I let out a long laugh when I heard him.  
  
"I am glad to see so many happy faces." Will intervened. "Either way, you must go to the Olympus and..."  
  
"'You'?" asked Wilheim. "What about you, Will? Will you not join us?"  
  
"I am afraid I cannot." The dragon replied. "It seems that this is by far the only world that has not been captured by the Heartless. I will stay here and protect it, as one of Peter Pan's men."  
  
"Hey, thanks much!" Peter Pan exclaimed. "You're welcome to stay, Will!"  
  
"Dear heavens!" Tish exclaimed, in my ear. "Who would know, Merryck? Good dragons are seldom encountered! This is a rare opportunity, indeed."  
  
"I am aware of it, Tish." I answered.  
  
"But we can't go to the Olympus just yet." Vincent intervened, and we all turned to him.  
  
"Why not? Hercules is in danger." Cloud argued.  
  
"Perhaps, but I rather stick to the lady's words." Vincent replied.  
  
"What lady?" we all asked.  
  
"Oh, right!" Sakura exclaimed. "We have to go to Atlantis! That's what she said!"  
  
"Who said what?" Ryoga asked.  
  
"It's unimportant, right now." Vincent announced, and got our attention. "We have to go. Let's just say that I got the information from a good source. I'll explain later..."  
  
"Wherever you guys are going, we'll go with you." Seyia said. "We too are looking for some friends."  
  
"Will you take us with you?" Shiryu asked.  
  
"The more, the merrier." Vincent said. "I believe that Cloud has a ship. He can take you with him. But whatever the case may be, we must all go to Atlantis together."  
  
I let out a sigh, and nodded. I didn't care where fate took us, as long as my friends and I were together. I would gladly face all trials in order to keep them safe, and happy as they were. Even Wilheim's eyes, which had only reflected sadness and desolation so far, had begun to change...  
  
*****************************************  
  
Guess what? I finally know some of the saint's techniques. Either way, I think I'll keep on using their old names, for there is little difference between them and the original ones (yes, I actually didn't really mess up in the translation! Well, and neither did the guys who first translated it...) =) Here's how they're called:  
  
Pegasus Meteor Punch: The same, or 'Pegasus Ryu Sei Ken'  
  
Dragon's Fury / Rising Dragon: 'Rozan Sho Ryu Ha'  
  
Nebula Chain / Storm: The same.  
  
Aurora Ray / Diamond Dust: The same. 


	20. Chapter Nineteen: Underwater Mysteries

Hey again. :) It's note time.  
  
This first part goes to the one who made the character request. You're welcome! But just give me a little time to think how I'll add you - know - who to the story, okay? I've got some chapters already thought... Give me three more chapters (including this one) before he pops into action. Also, please mail me an email address where I can write to you, 'cause I want to ask you a couple of things...  
  
Next, I'll explain how this and the next chapter will work, 'cause they're going to be a tad different. The two chapters are going to feature the same two narrators: Aeris and Ariel (Disney's little mermaid). What?? Two narrators?? Yep. :) Here's how it's going to be: with every change of scene, the narrator will also change (the change of scene is represented by ***, in case you didn't already know). And, finally, once again, thanks for the reviews!  
  
Okay, now that you know how this is going to work, let's get to it. Enjoy! :)  
  
P. S.: The first narrator is going to be Aeris.  
  
P.P.S.: Two of the characters mentioned (emphasize on mentioned) here belong to me. I don't know if I've already claimed them... but just in case. Oh, and the name 'Reiner Wagner' is just a name I came up with. Okay, that was the last P.S., I promise. No more interruptions from me! :)  
  
Chapter Nineteen: Underwater Mysteries  
  
I still had a hard time in believing that we had actually defeated Ganondorf. It had been a very close call, I might add. If it hadn't been for our new friends and their incredible strength, some of us probably would have died. Well, I don't mean to be cocky, but I did help a lot with my greatest spell. My rain fell on my companions like a magical breeze that is only heard of in fairy tales, and mended all their wounds. Even then, if it had been for Shun, Ukyo would have probably died. But, even though she was still alive, her eyes had changed and seemed to lack all good emotions...  
  
It was clear to me that she had lost all hope about finding Wilheim. She was devastated. I didn't know why, at first. But then, Ken, Ryu's best friend, told me what had happened when they had been captive in Ganondorf's dungeon.  
  
It was clear to me that she had lost all hope about finding Wilheim. She was devastated. I didn't know why, at first. But then, Ken, Ryu's best friend, told me what had happened when they had been captive in Ganondorf's dungeon.  
  
"I believe that I understand." I said. "Somehow, she feels that Wilheim will never come to her again, for he wasn't there when she needed him the most. She told me that he had protected her in the past from a fell vampire. She now faced a more terrible foe, I think, and when her darling didn't come to her aid... She felt abandoned. I don't know if I'm right..."  
  
"I bet that you are." Ken said, with a grim smile. "You girls are usually pretty accurate when it comes to other persons' feelings. That's called empathy: and I don't have any of it."  
  
At any rate, Sora was always trying to make her feel better, as did Demean, and me. I must confess that I was feeling a little depressed myself, because I could only think of Cloud. He and I loved each other very much, until I closed my eyes, believing that I would never open them again. I was killed in front of him and the rest of my friends. I reckon that few people believe in resurrection. I believe in it myself, although I hardly consider myself God. But, for whatever the reason, there I was, alive and breathing. How had I come back? I don't know, and I didn't mean to find out why. Miracles are not something that can be understood...  
  
Either way, that's not the point. I was sad because I had learned from Cid that Cloud had fallen in love with another friend of ours, Tifa. Rather than hating her guts, I was trying my best to get over it. But I simply couldn't do it. Besides, there was another man who I had grown fond of, and he too loved another woman. But what I couldn't understand, was if Link loved Zelda as the sun who loves spring, or as a soldier that loves and swears fealty to her monarch... I couldn't just ask him, however, could I?  
  
But that's unimportant.  
  
As you may have already guessed, Sora, Ukyo, Demean, Ken, and I were traveling in one ship, along with Shun, Hyoga, Yuffie, and our great pilot, Cid. Link, Leon, Donald, Goofy, Ikki, Octavius, Ranma, Akane, and Ryu traveled on the other, which had been repaired by Cid and Merlin, the mage who had called us to Hyrule. Zelda had decided to stay behind and look after her people. She wanted to rebuild the land and get rid of all the foul things that had lingered after Ganondorf's death. Link didn't seem to mind that much. Actually, he was happy to hear the princess say that she would stay in Hyrule, for he feared for her safety... Oh, and speaking about the rest of the crew, Pluto also came with us. The silly dog always stayed inside the ship every time we went out on a new mission, even when it shrunk to the size of an acorn. Almost everyone had forgotten about him, save for Donald, Goofy, Demean, and me...  
  
Ryu had gone on the other ship because of the lack of space, for he wanted to be close to his friend, now that he had found him. However, Ikki was a lone wolf that liked to be on his own most of the times. Shun seemed a little disappointed when his older brother told him that he would rather go on the other ship, but said nothing about it. He told me much about him when we had gone into the deepness of space again. Oh, he also did his best to cheer Ukyo up, but the girl's heart seemed to have turned into a block of ice that only the most terrible spell can conjure. It was truly saddening. Many times we told her that she would surely find her beloved, but she merely nodded and smiled dryly. When we all went to sleep, I could hear her weep and call his name, as if summoning him. Naturally, not even his shadow heeded her call.  
  
What was worse was that Ukyo's sadness was beginning to crush our spirits as well. Sora, arguably the jolliest one of us all, no longer talked as much as before. Demean soon told us no more stories, and Yuffie stopped playing jokes on us. She could truly be a pain, but I really did miss her silly games.  
  
When I wasn't busy trying to comfort Ukyo, however, I chatted with the rest of my friends, those who were willing to talk. Shun, as I've already mentioned, told me a lot about Ikki. He admired him and loved him very, very much, for he had always taken care of him. He was also very fond of Hyoga and both of them told me about their other friends.  
  
"Our two closest friends, I believe, are Shiryu and Seyia." Said Shun. "They are the Dragon's saint, and the Pegasus's saint. We all met when we were seven, perhaps eight years old. We were very good friends, then. But when the Kido Corporation sent us away to train in different places, we became enemies upon our return."  
  
"'We'?" interrupted Hyoga. "Why do you include yourself at that, Shun? You were always the only one who wanted to settle things in a peaceful fashion, rather than trying to win the golden armor by strength."  
  
"Well, you can't deny that, after all, I gave Jabu a pretty good beating." Argued Shun.  
  
"Well, yeah, that I can't deny."  
  
"Either way, we all became friends again when my brother appeared. What then followed is a sad story that I don't like remembering... But after this little unmentioned episode, we learnt that the owner of the Kido Corporation, Saori Kido, was none other than the reincarnation of Athena, the Greek goddess. And the saint's duty is to protect her from all danger and evil. I am certain that we all care about her very much, especially Seyia. But anyway, now you know a bit more about us, saints, Aeris." Shun concluded, and smiled tenderly.  
  
"Well, I thank you for enlightening me." I said, with a giggle.  
  
"But what about you, Aeris?" asked Hyoga. "What can you tell us about yourself? If you don't mind my asking, that is."  
  
"No, of course not." I answered. "But it is a bit of a long story. Would it be okay if I told you later?"  
  
"You could have just said 'no'. That way, they won't be depressed when you choose not to tell them anything about yourself or me." Intervened Yuffie. She had been listening to us, and we hadn't noticed.  
  
"You know that I'm serious, Yuffie." I said.  
  
"Yeah, I know... It's just that I don't make such fun jokes when I'm inside a flying machine."  
  
"Why is that?"  
  
"Because I get sick." She explained. Indeed, her face was greener than the field's that surrounded the Golden Saucer (oh, that's a theme park. It's on the eastern continent of the land from which I come from). "Jeez... I'm not feeling so hot. Any of you guys have a medicine or something? Or a barf - o - bag?"  
  
"That's lovely." Said Ken. He had just come out of his room and had heard that disgusting, last question. "Really lovely. Especially when it comes from a lovely girl such as you."  
  
"Don't start with me again, Ken." Yuffie said. She and Ken had quickly grown fond of each other and constantly teased each other with jokes. "I'm serious. If we don't get somewhere soon, you're going to be reeking with my..."  
  
"Don't even say that!" Ken laughed.  
  
"Hey, guys!!" Cid exclaimed, from the ship's controls. "Guess what? New world ahead! Get ready to disembark!"  
  
"Wow! I didn't know that You worked so fast!" Yuffie exclaimed, with a laugh, as she looked up. "Thank you, God!"  
  
"Let's go see what kind of world it is." Suggested Hyoga. He and the rest of us quickly went to Cid's side and looked out the windows of the ship. After staying silent for a few moments, the saint laughed, and exclaimed: "I don't believe it! It looks as if it's some kind of water world!"  
  
"Yeah, it looks like it." Cid said. "There's a rocky surface... It's small, but it has some magic in it. I believe that I can land the ship there. I hope you guys have good lungs: we're going to need them."  
  
"What a shame." Said Yuffie. "It's too bad that I didn't bring any Underwater Materia with us. It sure would come in handy, now."  
  
"I really don't mind." Hyoga said. "I can hold my breath for a long time. And it doesn't really matter if the waters are cold: when I visited my Mama in the Siberian seas, I didn't feel any chill."  
  
"Huh?" asked Ken, with a confused expression on his face. "I know that you're very cocky and all, but I didn't get that last part."  
  
Hyoga laughed and then answered:  
  
"My Mama died in a shipwreck, long ago. She gave her life to save mine. Her body still rests, unspoiled and as beautiful as ever at the bottom of the icy sea. I used to dive into the water and pay her a visit now and then, when I lived near there. Every time I did, I gave her a flower. But it's been a long time since I last visited her... I've even forgotten where I got the flowers from..." he paused for a while, and added, with a sad voice: "I can't ever see her again. Because her ship sank into the deepest abyss of them all, and even I can't get to the bottom of it just with these arms and legs and lungs." He turned to us and concluded: "A very unpleasant lesson from the saint Camus, my master. But I don't want to go into details, right now, if you take my meaning."  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry about that, Hyoga." Ken said. "I didn't mean to stir any sad memories."  
  
"It's alright." Answered the Cygnus's saint. "What's important is to remember the happy times that we spent with those who we hold dear, and to forget about the bitterness of their departure."  
  
"That's a beautiful thought." Yuffie said. "Now, why don't you go and explain it to Ukyo?"  
  
"Wilheim isn't dead." Shun assured. "I don't know him and I don't have the least idea of where he is, but he isn't dead. At least, that's what we have to think. She must understand that. Ukyo must find this thought in her mind and hold on to it..."  
  
"Very Seyia - like, Shun." Hyoga chuckled.  
  
"Well, I reckon that there's no better way of cheering someone up than speaking like he does." The Andromeda's saint answered, with a smile.  
  
"Yes, it's a shame that he isn't here, but let's focus on the big picture." Cid interrupted. "We can't get out of the ship and plunge into the water just like that..."  
  
"Yep, and it looks like our friends are also thinking about it." Ken said, and pointed at our other companions' ship. It was floating right next to ours, and kept still. I could see their faces through the windows. They too, were thinking of a solution to our little problem. After all, we couldn't just leave the world unexplored. Our duty was to seal every Keyhole and to return things back to normal, and we had failed this very mission in Traverse Town. I knew that we had to go back, but chose to say nothing at the time.  
  
But not all was bad, however. It turned out that Merlin, the mage, had discovered, with some magic spells unknown to me, some of the many Keyholes that we had yet to seal. He had even given us a map of the space and had pointed out many of the worlds that we had yet to visit. It would save us much time, we all reckoned, thank God... But let's get back to what's important.  
  
Suddenly, we noticed that Donald had captured everybody's attention and had a big smirk on his face. We all stayed silent and looked carefully at him. He seemed to be conjuring some sort of spell, for he waved his rod in the air and moved his beak up and down, but naturally, none of us heard any of his words. A great light shone from inside the ship and we all had to turn our heads away from it, lest we wanted to be blinded by that intense glitter. I covered my face with my hands, hoping that the light would soon die. And when I no longer felt its heat, I looked again, and saw that the ship was gone. When I was about to ask my friends where it had flown to, Ken let out a long laugh.  
  
"I don't believe it!!" he exclaimed, and pointed out of the window. "Look, guys!! Look! It seems that the duck is much more resourceful than I first thought!"  
  
All of our friends had dived into the water... But they were not themselves anymore. I could not help but to join Ken and laughed in amazement...  
  
They had all turned into aquatic, fantastic creatures! Most of them had become mythical mermen, while both Akane and Ranma had turned into lovely mermaids, whose breasts were covered by two seashells... Oh, I suppose that I should make a small parenthesis here. Ranma told us of a curse that had been put on him (reluctantly, I might add, but it seemed that he trusted all of us). He had fallen into one of the Jusenkyo Ponds (wherever that is, I don't know), and because of that, every time that he touched cold water, he turned into a red - haired, blue - eyed girl. She was very beautiful, too, but naturally, he didn't seem too happy about turning into a woman... Anyway, I guess that concludes the small explanation.  
  
But Donald, Goofy, and Link were quite different from the others. The duck's upper body hadn't changed at all, but his legs had morphed into eight, blue tentacles. He seemed to be somewhat mad with his new appearance, but the rest of us couldn't help but to laugh as we saw him. Goofy was the one who looked funniest of them all: he had become a giant turtle! Only his head remained the same and his trusty shield was now part of his shell. I nearly found myself out of air, because I laughed so much when I turned to him. And finally, Link was the most mysterious and strange creature of them all. His body remained the same, but his skin had acquired a white tone. His arms seemed to have fins attached to them, while his head was the one of a being unheard of, at least to us. He had deep, black eyes, like the ones of a menacing shark, and his hood had turned into a green fin on his head. He was truly the most fantastic creature of them all, but I liked his other looks much better...  
  
"That Donald!" Cid exclaimed. "How practical of him! I guess that there's one spell that is yet unknown to you, huh, Aeris?"  
  
"Yeah, it is." I agreed. "He looks so mad! But he's so hilarious that I could just keep laughing! But nothing beats Goofy!"  
  
"You got that right!" Ken said. "I've got it! I'm going to use that guy as a freesbie!"  
  
"Oh, Ken, don't!" I chuckled. "That's so mean!"  
  
"Yeah, but it'll be as funny as hell, undoubtedly!" the man laughed. "Who's going to play 'catch Goofy' with me? I don't care what you guys say; I'm going to throw him around. I can even bet that he will have some fun."  
  
"I'll play!" Yuffie said. I must say that I was expecting her to say that. "It'll be fun!"  
  
"What good friends." Hyoga said. "Thank God I'm not Goofy."  
  
"What's going on, guys? Why have we stopped?" asked Sora, as he, Demean, and Ukyo joined us. I looked into her eyes and noticed that she had been crying again. I sighed and did my best to take my mind off her sad gaze. "Oh, my God!" Sora exclaimed, and burst out in laughter as he saw the rest of our friends, swimming by the rocks. "How did they do that?"  
  
"It must have been one of Donald's conjures, I deem." Said Demean, while chuckling. "I had never heard of such spell. Yet, as I look at the watery horizon of this world, I reckon that this change will be most helpful. Let us get out of the ship, and allow him to turn us into merman and mermaids, I would expect, or hope, at least. I do not want to look as ridiculous as those two, and I believe that I speak for the rest of you, friends."  
  
"Yeah, you do." Ken said. Then, his eyes glanced mischievously at me and he said, in a low voice: "Hmm. I wonder how you look like in a mermaid's form..."  
  
"Ken, stop that!" I chuckled, and blushed.  
  
"You'll find out soon enough." Cid intervened. "They're asking us to go out of the ship. I guess that we can't refuse an invitation of the sort, can we?"  
  
"Let's do it! Oh, I want to see myself as a mermaid already!" Yuffie giggled. "I wonder how I'll look like?"  
  
"Do not you dare answer that question, Ken!" said Demean, while smiling, as he saw how Ken had already opened his mouth and was ready to answer Yuffie's question.  
  
"What?" he chuckled. "I wasn't going to say anything bad!"  
  
"Precisely."  
  
"Good - bye, Pluto." I whispered to him. He was resting on a corner, and when he heard me, he got up and came by my side. I petted his head, and added: "Take care of Jiminy, if you can find him. I haven't seen him in a long time..." He licked my hand and I followed the rest of my friends.  
  
We all stepped out of the ship and the place's magic began to work on it. It was engulfed by a magical barrier and it began to shrink. Soon, it was small enough to fit Cid's pocket. He grasped it and put it away.  
  
"Hey, it's nice to see you, guys!" Ranma said, as he pocked her head out of the water.  
  
"Hurry up and change them." Octavius said to Donald. "There is much exploring to be done, I deem, and it looks as if the sun is already dying. It would be best if we found the Keyhole before night fell."  
  
"Blah, blah, blah..." muttered Donald, who was obviously still unconvinced with the way his spell had worked on him. "Okay, okay. Here goes. Get ready!"  
  
He waved his wand, and cast the spell. A powerful light came out of it and blinded us again. I shut my eyes and turned my head away from that glimpse as I felt how my body had begun to change. My legs had been pulled together by an unknown force. At first, I struggled to spread them because I was afraid that this magic would suddenly crush me. But then, I remembered that there was nothing to fear, and relaxed my body, letting out a sudden gasp as I felt how my feet turned into a fin. My clothes vanished, and I quickly put my arms across my chest, hoping that no one had seen my breasts. I felt a strange tingling all over my legs, and soon realized that they had gone. It was then that I fell into the water, along with the rest of my friends, and let out a relieved sigh: I was breathing like I always did.  
  
"Wow..." I muttered, and uncovered my breasts. I don't know how that duck did it, but two seashells were keeping my chest from everyone's sight.  
  
"Oh, my God!" Ken shouted, as he looked at his new body.  
  
"This is so cool!" Sora added, while he eyed his legs, which had turned into a grey shark's tail. "Yeah! I've never seen anything as cool as this!"  
  
"Speak for yourself." Grumbled Donald.  
  
"Oh, ho ho!!" laughed Ken, and I realized that he was swimming by my side already, and eyeing me playfully. "Yep, I think I'm in Heaven."  
  
"Ken, stop it!!" I demanded. I quickly covered my stomach, and felt my face blushing.  
  
"Give her a rest, Ken." Ryu said, and shook his friend. "Come on, stop teasing Aeris."  
  
"Okay. I'll get off Aeris's back, alright..." Ken replied and quickly swam next to Yuffie. "A bit too young, but as beautiful as the other, I daresay."  
  
"You pervert!" she laughed, and playfully slapped Ken's face.  
  
"Well, I have to say that I would never thought of something similar." Said Shun, as he swam by his brother's side. "I don't think that even when we were kids we had thought of something of the sort, Ikki."  
  
"Then we had a very dull imagination, I daresay, Shun." Ikki replied. "I can bet that many kids can imagine something of the sort. I don't recall any thought that comes close to this, but I can bet that we could have thought of something similar."  
  
"Probably, if we were girls." Shun giggled. "I don't think that either of us heard about the existence of mermen, brother, but we sure knew about the mermaids."  
  
"Good point." Ikki said, and smiled at his brother.  
  
"You look very beautiful, Aeris." Link suddenly said to me, as he swam by my side.  
  
"Thank you." I said, shyly. "So do you."  
  
"Do not say that!" he laughed. "I know that you only mean to return the compliment, whereas I mean it. I am aware that these Zora eyes and body are both magical and fantastic, but I am certain that they do not suit your tastes. I could even say that I am sure that you may find them rather repugnant."  
  
"No, you just look different." I answered. I then turned to look at Ukyo... Her blue mermaid tail shone in a beautiful way, and I felt a bit jealous, for mine did not glitter at all, and neither did Yuffie's or Akane's or Ranma's. But still, sadness dwelt in her eyes. I swam next to her and said, gently: "You are as beautiful as the mermaid of a tale, Ukyo."  
  
"Thanks, Aeris. So are you." She answered, with a weak smile.  
  
I sighed and said no more.  
  
"Link looks weird, doesn't he?" Akane whispered in my ear. I hadn't seen her coming towards me, and became a bit startled when I heard her. "He asked Donald not to work his magic on him." She went on. "He put on a really weird mask and became that. I don't know how he did it. But I won't even bother to ask him. He's got so many magical items that I've lost track of most of them."  
  
"A magical mask?" I murmured, with confusion in my voice.  
  
"Okay, guys." Goofy said. "It's time to do some exploring."  
  
"Right, but you're going to travel in a rather unorthodox way, pal." Ken said, and quickly grabbed him by his shell. He then actually threw it at Yuffie. I couldn't believe it! I thought that he was only kidding when he said that he was going to use him as a freesbie!  
  
"Gwarsh!" Goofy laughed. It was worse than I thought. He was enjoying it. "That was fun! Do it again!"  
  
"Ken, I don't believe you." Ryu said to his friend. This latter merely chuckled as we all began to swim across the ocean, with hopes of finding the Keyhole soon.  
  
***  
  
"Oh, this is so BORING!" I exclaimed.  
  
"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm sure that this beats swimming away from that crazy shark." Flounder argued. Jeez, he could be such a pain when he wanted to! "Besides, I think that you're exaggerating, Ariel. This is very fun."  
  
"Yeah, right." I mumbled, while he hid the little plant under a seashell and quickly began to toy with the three of them. As if he could trick me. "It's this one." I said, dryly, and picked the seashell on the center as soon as he let them be still.  
  
"Oh, you're good at this!" he exclaimed, happily. But I was on the verge of killing myself.  
  
My name is Ariel, and I'm sixteen years old. I have a green tail and usually wear two purple seashells to cover my breasts. My eyes are blue and my hair is long, and red. I really like my hair. It looks somewhat like that thing which the humans call fire. I've only seen it rarely, when I surface and peek at the ships that pass by. Everyone tells me that I've got a pretty face and a cute smile. But most of all, they all love my voice. They say that I'm a very good singer. I like to sing, too. However, I really don't care about all of it that much. Why is that? Because I've always loved to sneak away from my Dad's palace and to try and find human's tools and treasures.  
  
My dad's name is Triton. He's the ruler of the sea. He has a blue tail and long, white hair. His face seems stern... because he usually is very stern. He has his cute side, nonetheless. When he's happy, his eyes become tender and sweet. He's always has a golden trident in one of his hands. It's his greatest weapon. It is capable of shattering through the meanest of bad guys with just one shot. It's cool, but I really don't care that much about it, either. I've never been a huge fan of fights, so to speak.  
  
Anyway, I was really bored at the moment, and couldn't think of anything else but to get away from Flounder's stupid game and go look for some human stuff. Flounder is a little, yellow fish with blue stripes all about him. He has a funny face, mainly because he's always worried about something. He's my very best friend, even though he isn't that brilliant. But at that time, I was about to smother him under the sand.  
  
"I can't take this anymore!" I said. "I'm going to look for some human stuff, Flounder. You can come if you want to, but I'm out of here." And with that said, I began to swim away from him.  
  
"But Ariel, your father told you not to wander out of the palace!" he argued. He became really worried, and I couldn't help but to smile. He looks very funny when he's worried, as I've already said. "If he finds out that you disobeyed him, he's going to ground you!"  
  
"Oh, yadda, yadda." I replied. "Come on, Flounder. Don't be so boring. This game of yours has me thinking about what figures I could make if I tie enough seaweeds together. Picture that. So I'm off! My dad won't find out about this, so you can stop worrying, for once."  
  
"But what if Sebastian finds out?"  
  
"Oh, right! Let's make sure that he isn't following us!" I said, lowering my voice to a whisper, as I searched all about us for him.  
  
Sebastian is my dad's royal song composer, or something. He's a little, red crab with a face which is even sterner than my dad's when he's angry (although not as scary), and even funnier than Flounder's when he's worried... Anyway, he's Mr. It's - none - of - my - business, but - I - still - don't - care. Confused? I'll put it this way: he's always spying on everything I do. He thinks he's like my babysitter or something. Every time I find some new human tool, he tells my dad. Mr. Gossip. God, he can be so annoying! Either way, when he wanted to, he was gentle and nice to me. But you can guess how often that happened...  
  
I searched under every nearby rock and behind every bed of coral. He wasn't anywhere near. I smiled, and told Flounder:  
  
"No Sebastian! Let's go!"  
  
"I don't know, Ariel..." he started again. He was really asking for it.  
  
"Oh, but I do know, and I'm getting out of here. See you!" and so I began to swim away from him. I left the palace's golden pillars behind me and came out into the open sea. Even the water felt different! I was so relieved to be away from those stupid seashells and that damn, little plant. One more minute of that silly game, and I would've died.  
  
"Hey, wait for me!" Flounder called, and caught up with me. "All right. I'll go with you." He said, unenthusiastically.  
  
"I knew you'd come!" I said, with a giggle, and hugged him. I loved to feel his stuffed body rubbing against my cheeks... "OK, let's go!"  
  
Flounder sighed and followed me as I began to swim into the dark sea. It was really late, but I didn't care. Shadows have never scared me that much anyway. You can guess how Flounder was feeling, though. Either way, he didn't turn back and swim to the palace. Even though everything frightens him, he never leaves me alone.  
  
The fish around us were swimming slowly and some others were quickly heading to their homes. It's not a very good idea for a little fish to swim about when it's dark, mainly because of the sharks that lurk around, not to mention that many dangerous creatures had appeared apparently from nowhere. Not too many days ago, Flounder and I had run into a shark. We had barely escaped its jaws. It was really scary. But since we lived through it, I decided that it was all right for us to go look around. I have to admit it: I don't really like that much to learn my lesson. But at that moment, things seemed quiet and peaceful. The glittering stars of the sky broke through the waves and illuminated the seafloor. We could see everything in our way. There was nothing to worry about.  
  
However, as we kept on swimming, we found nothing. Absolutely no human stuff around. It was kind of weird, actually. Because it was a rare thing, when I didn't find anything, and this had been happening too often, mainly because the sea seemed somehow smaller. I didn't know what that could mean, at the moment, but I was about to find out in the most fantastic way you could imagine...  
  
"Oh, bummer!" I exclaimed, with a disappointed sigh. "There isn't anything here! I don't believe it! It's four nights in a row since I last got one of those little tridents... Damn, I've even forgotten their names! You know, the ones that humans use to calm their hairs."  
  
"Yeah, you have a whole lot of those in your Grotto, Ariel." Flounder said. "But that's all you've found. So why don't we head back to the palace? It's safer there."  
  
"Safer... Yeah, whatever. I don't care: I'm not going back until I've found some human stuff."  
  
"Ariel..." Flounder began, but I didn't listen to him. He could say whatever he wanted to, but I had already taken a decision. Nevertheless, his voice suddenly became frightened and he swam right in front of me. "Ariel!" he whispered, and I noticed that he had grown pale.  
  
"What is it?" I asked, with concern. I had never seen him as scared. And that's saying a lot.  
  
"Listen!" he said, keeping his voice as low as he could.  
  
I fell silent and heard voices... They were coming right from behind a very big rock that was in front of us. Rather than getting scared, curiosity filled me. I smiled and slowly headed to the rock. Flounder held me by my tail and tried to pull me back.  
  
"What's wrong with you?" I asked. "Let me go, Flounder! I want to see what's going on! It's probably nothing out of the ordinary. I can bet that they are only are mermaids, like me, and mermen." However, I was far from believing this.  
  
"If you thought that, then you wouldn't even want to check it out!" he argued. Well, he did have his bright moments...  
  
"Flounder, I'm telling you one last time!" I threatened. "Let me go, or I'll..."  
  
"Hey, it's a good thing that I didn't got rid of the Underwater Materia, huh, guys?" called one voice. It had been the one of a merman, I thought, or something similar. We both noticed that it was closer than before, and quickly hid behind the rock. I listened carefully and excitedly.  
  
"I hear that." Said another one, a manly one. "No way we could breathe under water without them... Or walk as if we were on land." I couldn't believe my ears! Could they actually be...?  
  
"Yep, I'm really glad about wearing these little purple stones. Even though I'm all wet, I haven't changed into a pig! Err... Please, if we ever meet Akane guys, could you please not tell her? I mean, I did trust you the story, and all..." said a third merman.  
  
"You've got a deal, Ryoga."  
  
"Yeah, but I'm not too thrilled about the idea of traveling with boxers, and nothing else. I wish I had my armor on." Added another one, and then, more of them spoke.  
  
"Oh, I don't believe it is that bad, Mr. Seyia. At least, Mr. Shiryu hasn't complained at all."  
  
"He can't live without his armor, and I can. That's why I haven't said anything."  
  
"At least you guys are wearing boxers." Said a mermaid's voice. "We have to wear underwear. I feel so ashamed..."  
  
"Why is that, Sakura? Think of it as a bikini, or something." Suggested a merman; it had been the same one that had spoken a few moments ago. "I assure you that no one can see anything. Besides, boxers are as dangerous as your underwear, that I can assure. On top of that, if we wore more clothes, they would become heavy."  
  
"Well, I think this is very cool." another mermaid's voice added. "I've always liked to think that I'm a mermaid, and that I can swim underwater as long as I want to. Even though I still don't have a mermaid's tail, I guess this comes close enough to my fantasy."  
  
"I reckon it does." Said another voice. I was now sure that these weren't mermaids or mermen... I couldn't wait for them to show themselves. But, somehow, I didn't want them to see me right then. "What say you, my dear Wilheim? Did you ever fantasize about something of the sort? Or has your mind been busy with other thoughts?"  
  
"It seems that you do not get tired of bothering me, Camille." Another manly voice answered, with a laugh. "But, no. I had never thought of anything as wild as this. I must say, however, that right now, the wildest fantasy that runs in my mind is to be human again."  
  
"You'll get that soon enough."  
  
"You sound so positive, Vincent, and that is quite a pleasant surprise. I thank you for your words."  
  
"I have a hunch, Wilheim. You'll see..."  
  
And so, they all appeared. Flounder and I hid by the rock and watched in silence. He was petrified by fear, but I could just yell in amazement and happiness. Humans! And not just a few humans... They were twelve! I couldn't believe my eyes! They were all walking underwater as if they were striding by the deck of a ship! How could that be? I really wanted to go meet them and ask them all sorts of questions, but I wasn't really ready... And, all of a sudden, my father's words: "humans are dangerous" popped into my mind. I had never been as close to a human as now before in all my life...  
  
"Ariel, let's get out of here!" Flounder stammered, but I wasn't going to move.  
  
"Just a second, Flounder." I replied, in a whisper.  
  
There were seven men. Two of them were blonde. Other two had black, and very long hair, and one of them seemed to have some sort of metallic hand. A fourth one had light brown hair, and it was kind of long, but not as long as the other one's. The others had short, dark hair. Anyway, enough of hairs. Most importantly, every one of them was tall had beautiful (emphasis on beautiful) tough, well - built torsos, and two strong legs! Save one of them, who was actually very short. It was one of the blonde ones. But he had a really cute face, nonetheless. The others were women. Two of them were almost identical. They both had green hair and really beautiful bodies... Boy, was I envious. Well, another one was actually kind of strange, but very cute, nonetheless. She had blue hair and seemed to have... fur growing out of her body. I know what fur is, because I keep human's pictures in my Grotto, and one of them shows a little cat. A seagull named Scuttle told me that that specific hair was fur. He had told me almost everything I know about humans. But I later found out that he was wrong in almost all of what he had said to me. Either way, the others' hair was dark brown. One of them seemed to be around my age, and the second looked just a bit older, but was very fair. It was not until then that I noticed that a little spark of light that never dimmed was following them. I looked more carefully and found out that it was actually a miniature woman! I couldn't believe it!  
  
"Humans!" I exclaimed in a low, excited voice. "Humans, Flounder! This is amazing!"  
  
"Yeah, right..." he murmured. "Let's just get out of here, Ariel, okay?"  
  
"No way! I'm... I'm going to talk to them." I said, and tried to summon all of my courage to leave my hiding place and go to them.  
  
"No, you won't!!" he exclaimed. "No, no way!"  
  
"Yes way!"  
  
"No, I...!" he fell silent for a while, as we heard them talking amongst themselves. God, I was so excited! "I... I've got an idea." Flounder said. Shocking. "I'll go find out if it's safe to come out... And if there isn't any danger, then I'll signal you to come out, okay?"  
  
"What?" I asked. "Flounder, if it truly were dangerous out there, then I'd rather have something happen to me. I don't want you to risk your neck because of me. Besides, it's probably nothing bad..."  
  
"Then I guess that you don't mind if I do this..." he said and quickly swam away from me.  
  
"Flounder!" I called, but fear suddenly came over me and I hid behind the rock. I didn't believe it! Flounder was actually swimming towards humans! He's always been afraid of them; he even fears them more than Sebastian himself, and he's almost gotten himself trapped in their fishing nets a couple of times. At that moment, he seemed to me as the bravest fish in the entire ocean... and the stupidest as well.  
  
"Hey, look at that!" said one of them, as he pointed at my friend. "It looks as if we got ourselves some company!"  
  
"Ah... Anyone in the mood for a little sushi?" asked the tall, blonde man, while licking his lips.  
  
I gasped, and Flounder's body paled. I didn't know what he had meant, but it sounded as if he was thinking of my pal as food.  
  
"Cloud, stop being so mean..." the woman with the long, brown hair said. "I think that he understands you..."  
  
"Nah, don't be ridiculous. Besides, I was joking. I've never been a very huge fan of fish anyway... Although maybe the pussy cat may disagree with me." He said, with a smile, as he turned to the woman with fur.  
  
"Nope. I'm actually more in the mood for a glass of milk and some beef, believe it or not. No fish for me right now." She replied, and Flounder let out a relieved sigh, as did I.  
  
"Oh, beef!" exclaimed the young man with black hair, who wore a yellow piece of cloth around it. "That reminds me of Ukyo's Okonomiyakis... Her best ones were those that had beef and vegetables on them. It's a shame that you never got to taste them, Wilheim."  
  
"That is yet another one of my wild fantasies." The young man with violet eyes said. "To see my darling again, and to eat her food. Just a glimpse of her fairness would ease the very thirst for blood that torments me with every passing second."  
  
"You'll find her soon." The man with the long, black hair assured. He then walked to one of his friend, who had a somber face and red eyes, and asked: "How do you know that this is Atlantis, Vincent? How can you not know that this is merely just a piece of another ocean?"  
  
"I trust in the lady's words, Shiryu." He replied. "That is all I can say."  
  
"Oh, but you are in Atlantis!!" exclaimed Flounder, all of a sudden. That jackass! I covered my face with my hands and felt my heart stopped beating. I peeked between my fingers and saw how the humans slowly turned to him with amazed faces. And still, the little idiot kept on talking. "King Triton's palace is just a few miles ahead. It's the very center of Atlantis! And...!" it was not until then, after he had said all those things, that he realized what he was doing.  
  
There was silence for a long time, and Flounder's scales turned white again. He was frozen: I could see that he wanted to swim away, but he was petrified. Not even one of his fins moved... He slowly began to fall to the sand, and stayed there.  
  
"Did you just talk?" asked the young girl, in a low voice.  
  
"No, I didn't!" Flounder answered. Boy, what a genius.  
  
"Wow... A talking fish." Said the man with short, brown hair and thick eyebrows. "Now I've seen it all." "Be not afraid." Intervened the young man with violet eyes. He walked toward Flounder and caught him with his hands. My poor, little friend stared at him with terrified eyes and trembled. "We mean no harm to you. Pray do not take my friend Cloud's words seriously. I am certain that he did not mean to eat you. Stop trembling, little one. None of us seeks your flesh."  
  
"Uh... you won't eat me?" he asked.  
  
"Not at all." Replied one of the women with green hair. "I do not like the taste of fish much. And I deem that I would never eat a talking being in my whole life."  
  
"Well said, Morrigan." Said the man with long hair. "What's your name, little one?"  
  
"Uh... Flounder." he answered.  
  
"Hello, then, Flounder. My name is Shiryu. And, like Wilheim said, none of us will hurt you, okay?"  
  
"Okay..." he muttered, with a gulp, and the young man let go off him.  
  
The minuscule human approached him at an incredible speed, and spoke:  
  
"Fear not. I will not hurt you. My name is Tish, and I am a fairy..." she paused for a second, and then asked: "So are we really in Atlantis?"  
  
"Yes..." Flounder replied.  
  
"You spoke of a palace. Who is the ruler of this place? Is it Poseidon, perhaps? For we heard of Hercules, and I would not be surprised to think of a Greek god that reigns over the waters."  
  
"No, he's name is Triton..."  
  
I really wish he would shut up. My dad would kill me if he knew about all of this.  
  
"Could you lead us to him, then?" the 'fairy' asked. "We are travelers who have but one mission, and that is to destroy the darkness that has been spreading across the worlds. Armies of foes have risen all over the lands and seek to destroy them with their malice. Have you not seen any enemies in the night?"  
  
"Uh... do sharks count?"  
  
There was silence for a few moments, and then, all of them burst into laughter. Flounder tried to smile, but he was still too shocked.  
  
"Tish, why do you lay all this troubles on a little fish?" asked the little man. "I daresay that he is even more confused than we were when we first appeared in the Cave of Wonders. I don't know about the rest of you, my friends, but I suggest that we all stop asking so many questions. He obviously has no idea of what the Heartless are, and it is useless to worry him about them. He's still very surprised to be around us, I reckon."  
  
"I agree." The young man with the violet gaze said. "That is a good point, Merryck. Be at ease, Flounder."  
  
"Okay..." Flounder said, and slowly turned to see me. He let out a sigh and gently signaled me to go by his side with his fin.  
  
I couldn't just stay there. The humans obviously weren't dangerous. And poor, little Flounder was scared out of his wits. I took a deep breath and summoned all of my courage. And so, I poked my head out of the rock. None of them had seen me yet. I realized that I hadn't let my breath out. I exhaled as silently as I could, and began to swim to their side. With my heart pounding loudly, I got closer and closer. And still, none of them turned to see me. They were still to amazed with Flounder, I think. But suddenly, the young man with the violet gaze noticed me. I froze in my tracks, and he dropped his jaw.  
  
"Not in all my sixty - eight years of life would I have imagined to see something of the sort..." he murmured. His friends heard him, and they all turned to me.  
  
As I felt their eyes on me, I suddenly grew afraid again. I felt my face turn pale, and looked away. But I decided that I had to talk to them. I had longed to meet a human for the longest of time, and now I had twelve of them and a... 'fairy', whatever that was, in front of me. I couldn't just waste this opportunity.  
  
"Hi, all." I finally said, with a trembling voice.  
  
"Hi." They all answered. Then, the young girl with short, brown hair walked next to me, and smiled. "Wow." She murmured. "I never thought that I would actually see a mermaid...This is so awesome." She paused, and after a few instants, said: "Well, I... It's nice to meet you. My name's Sakura..."  
  
"H - hi." I stammered. "My name's Ariel."  
  
"That's a... pretty name." Said the boy with the yellow piece of cloth around his head. They all walked near me, and he added: "My name's Ryoga."  
  
"Hi." I repeated. I had to say something else. Flounder then swam next to me, and I felt less afraid. "I've always dreamed of meeting lots of humans. But I never thought that it would actually happen..."  
  
"Well, I daresay that none of us would've thought of meeting a mermaid either." Laughed the little man. "You are, however, not the first one that I've met. Anyway, I must tell you that not all of us are humans, Ms. Ariel. My name is Merryck, and I am a hobbit."  
  
"A hobbit?" I asked. What did he mean?  
  
"Well, yes." He explained. "As you can see, I am smaller than men. We hobbits are even smaller than dwarves. We have hairy feet and curly hair, most of the times. We are famous for being fat in the stomach, but, as you can see, this is not my case. As a matter of fact, in my town I am known as one of the few hobbits who are thin. But that matters not. For another thing, I'm also known as the crazy hobbit who always wants to meet new creatures. So, as you can see, we have that in common, Ms. Ariel."  
  
"I'm Felicia, and I'm a were - cat." Added the woman with fur. "That means that I'm practically half - woman, half - little kitty."  
  
"I am Morrigan, and Camille and I are both succubus." Said the woman with green hair, as she glanced at the one who looked a lot like her. "I will not tell you why our race is well - known, however. I will only tell you that we have great powers which men can't comprehend."  
  
"I am Tish, and I am a fairy." Said the fairy. "But I deem that you already knew that, since I believe that you have been hiding behind that rock all this time."  
  
"Yeah..." I giggled. I was feeling much more relaxed now.  
  
"The rest of us are all humans." Said the man with red eyes. "My name is Vincent, and the ones that you don't know are Shiryu, Seyia, Cloud, and Tifa. Oh, but I almost forgot about you..." he added, as he turned to the young man with the violet eyes.  
  
"It is alright." He said. "My name, Ariel, is Wilheim. I am vampire: a creature that can only live when the sun does not shine in the sky and that feeds upon other beings' blood. But fear not, for, as I have said to your little friend, I mean no harm at all."  
  
"Oh..." I muttered. That's all that I thought of. I kept silent for a few moments, and then said: "Well, I'm really glad to meet so many new creatures."  
  
"As are we, to meet such a fair mermaid." Wilheim answered.  
  
I couldn't help but to blush and giggle. I must have sounded and looked so stupid to him... But I couldn't help myself. After all, he was the cutest one of the guys. I liked his eyes a lot. I had never seen violet eyes in my whole life. And they seemed to tell a lot of things. But I didn't quite understand his gaze. And what was more, I believed that I had seen him somewhere before. I couldn't exactly tell where. Maybe in a dream of some sort... Anyway, that's unimportant right now.  
  
Then, a thought popped in my mind. I was so excited about meeting so many humans that I thought about showing them my secret Grotto. That's were I keep all of the human stuff that I find. Obviously, they wouldn't find it the least fascinating, but at that moment, I didn't think about it. I just wanted them to see the dark cave in which all of the things that I found were. I used the rocks as shelves to put every single human item in display, so to speak. There were all sorts of things. I wanted them to see for themselves; I wanted to show them how much I knew about humans (which was actually nothing, thanks to that seagull).  
  
"I want to show you all something!" I suddenly exclaimed, and all of my fear vanished. "There's a cave, not far from here, where I keep many of the things that I find among the ocean floor. I want to show you all my collection!"  
  
"Perhaps later." Replied the fairy. I stopped smiling and listened to what she had to say. "We need to speak to King Triton, Ariel, for there is evil here that needs to be sealed."  
  
"But..." I said. I had to tell them about my dad, whether they liked it or not. "My father doesn't like humans. And I believe that he won't like either were - cats, hobbits, fairies, succubus, or vampires, for that matter. If he knows that you're here, he'll probably try to kill you. He'll banish you from here, at the least."  
  
"She's right." Flounder added. I saw that he was no longer afraid. "I've seen her dad when he gets angry. It's not a pretty picture, you can be sure of that."  
  
"Oh, boy." Said Felicia. "So what do we do now, guys?"  
  
"Well, I don't know what you guys think, but we never really thought about talking to a king, right?" said Seyia, and we all turned to him. "We came to kick some Heartless butt in the first place. Not speaking to Ariel's dad makes no difference."  
  
"That's right." Shiryu added. "No one is stopping us from doing our job here. We only have to remain unseen by King Triton."  
  
"Okay, so let's go to..." Ryoga started, but Camille suddenly interrupted him.  
  
"Oh, no!" she said, and pointed up. We all turned with worried faces to see what was the matter. I didn't see any danger. I just noticed that the night was about to end, and that the sun would soon come out. "Morning comes! Wilheim, you must hide, quickly!"  
  
Of course. Now I knew what he had meant when he said that he could only live during the night.  
  
"The sun comes..." he whispered, with a frightened breath. "Not even water can stop its deadly light. I must hide, before it burns me to ashes."  
  
"Let's go to my Grotto!" I suggested. Only one ray of light poured into it, and I could always swim to the top from the outside and shut it with a stone if I wanted to. Other than that, I knew that he would be safe there. "It's dark in there. You can hide."  
  
"Is it far?"  
  
"If we hurry, we'll be there in two minutes."  
  
"Then make haste, Ariel, and take us there!" Camille pleaded.  
  
"Okay, follow us!" I said, and swam, along with Flounder, as quickly as I could to my Grotto.  
  
They all ran behind me, and amazingly, kept up with me. I had seen humans run all over their ships' decks, and they were all too slow. But these ones were quite fast. Wilheim was the one who seemed to have less trouble in keeping up with us. I mean, when your life is in danger, you swim (or run, in his case), faster, that's for sure.  
  
Before I knew it, we reached my Grotto. Its entrance was covered by a big, heavy rock. I could only move it enough so that Flounder and I went in. After all, we were the only ones who knew about that place. But this time, I would have to make a really big effort and move the rock as much as I could if I wanted all of them to get through. Before that, though, I had to swim to the top and cover the hole with a stone. I did this quickly, and then swam back to the entrance. I held on to its sides and pulled with all of my strength, but I couldn't open a path big enough for they to fit in.  
  
"Damn it! MOVE!!" I grunted, and tried harder.  
  
"The sun's out, Wilheim!!" Ryoga yelled, as he saw the waters clearing. "Get in there, go, go!"  
  
I then felt a chill, and saw a stain of grey water pass right by me and into the Grotto. I didn't know what that was, but I had to try harder, unless I wanted him to die. But then, I felt a hand in my shoulder, and turned to see Shiryu.  
  
"It's okay, Ariel." He said. "He's already inside."  
  
"What?" I asked. "When did he get in?"  
  
"Vampires can turn into mist." Cloud answered, and walked by me. "Did you see that thing get past you? That was him."  
  
"Oh! That's so cool!" I exclaimed, and let out a relieved sigh.  
  
"Yeah, it is." Cloud went on. "But he doesn't like it, does he?" he yelled at the rock.  
  
"Not when I must feed for blood for a living." Answered Wilheim's voice, from inside the Grotto. He was way cool! "I thank you dearly, Ariel. There is no trace of light in this blessed place. I owe my life to you."  
  
"No problem." I said, and let out a second sigh. "I was really scared."  
  
"Not as much as I was, I deem." The vampire answer, with a laugh, and I giggled along with him.  
  
"We have to find the oracle Gabrielle, so that he can restore his humanity." Camille murmured. "He gave me quite a scare."  
  
"I told you that it's all in hand." Vincent said. "Trust my words. He'll be human soon enough."  
  
"You mean that he doesn't like to be a vampire?" I asked.  
  
"No. He does not like to drink blood to live, as he has already mentioned." Answered Morrigan. "To him, being a vampire is a curse. And he has lived with that curse for fifty - one years."  
  
"That much?! But he looks so young!"  
  
"How old do you think I am, little mermaid?" she asked, with a smile.  
  
"I don't know... Twenty... something?" I guessed.  
  
"I am almost four - hundred and seventy years old."  
  
"What?!" Flounder and I cried. Was she joking? She couldn't be serious, I thought. But amazingly, she was!  
  
"Why do not we discuss ages later?" said Tish. "Let us first get inside the cave. I do wish to keep Wilheim company this time."  
  
"So do I." Shiryu said. "Wilheim! Get behind a wall! I'm going to move the rock!"  
  
"I am already out of light's reach. Open the way whenever you feel like it." The vampire answered.  
  
And so, Shiryu effortlessly moved the rock all the way. What kind of humans had I run into? I was so amazed that I couldn't stop smiling and giggling. I could only say one - syllable words such as 'wow' or 'cool'. I couldn't think of anything smart to say. All of them lost no time and went inside my Grotto. And when the last of them vanished under the shadow of the cave, I let out a chuckle, and thought about what they would say when they saw my collection. But then, I realized that there was no light inside. I wouldn't be able to show them anything... Oh, well. At least, I could talk a bit with them, I thought.  
  
"Get in, Ariel." Shiryu said, gently. "You and Flounder are the last creatures that should stay outside."  
  
"Thanks." I said, and got in. He covered the entrance with the rock again, and all I saw was darkness. But suddenly, I noticed a little glimpse of light that illuminated the cave. It was Tish! There was enough light for them to see my collection. I clasped my hands together, and murmured:  
  
"Yes!"  
  
"Wow!" exclaimed Sakura. "I never thought I would live to see a museum such as this!"  
  
"So many things are here." The little fairy said, as she approached a treasure chest. "Most of these items are quite old. Where have you found them, Ariel?"  
  
"All along the sea floor." I answered. "It's stuff that some boats drop. I have so much things, look!" I quickly swam to one of the things, grabbed it, and showed it to them. "See? Aren't they cool?"  
  
"Now, that's an original way of placing a spoon, a fork, and a knife!" Seyia laughed. "Instead of candles... It is pretty cool."  
  
"What?" I asked. I had always thought that they were items that humans used to brush their hair, to carve words upon paper, and to dig holes in the sand... But now I wasn't so sure.  
  
"Seyia, she has no idea what you're talking about." Tifa giggled, as she looked at my puzzled face with tenderness.  
  
"Right, right, I'm sorry." He said. He approached me, and grabbed the three things. "These we use when we eat. The spoon we use for food such as soup. The fork and knife we use to cut meat, and stuff like that."  
  
"I thought that you used this to brush your hair..." I said.  
  
They all burst out in laughter. I blushed and tried to smile. I must have sounded so stupid... Cloud's eyes then shone as he picked an item off the ground, and said:  
  
"This is what we use to brush our hair. It's called a calm."  
  
"I was almost sure that you would be the one to explain it to her, if you know what I mean." Seyia said, with a chuckle.  
  
"Of course! Believe it or not, my good looks do require a bit of help!" he said, and we all laughed as he passed the calm by his hair.  
  
"Oh, a pipe!" Merryck exclaimed, while he looked at another item of my collection. As I looked at it, I remembered that Scuttle had told me that that thing was used by the humans to play music. But this time, naturally, I said nothing. I didn't want to end up like a fool twice. However, Flounder saved me the embarrassment.  
  
"Don't you play music with that?"  
  
They all laughed again, and the hobbit replied.  
  
"Not at all, my good fellow!" he took it, and explained: "This we use to smoke leaf. Well, at least some humans do and many of the fellows that live in my village."  
  
"What's to 'smoke'?" I asked. I didn't really liked to show off my ignorance, but I wanted to know. This time, however, they didn't laugh. They only smiled, and Merryck went on:  
  
"It is kind of difficult to explain. I would say that it is what you do when you burn a leaf and inhale the smoke that comes from it. Do you understand?" I nodded my head. I kind of did. "Well..." he said. "Some folks around my town smoke pipes. The first time you smoke some leaf, you may find its taste rather repugnant. For my part, I spat out the foul smoke at once, rather than keeping it in my mouth. But some fellows can't live without their pipes and leaf. My cousin Tom is one of those chaps. You can always find him puffing on a pipe. Only that the ones in my town are much bigger."  
  
"I have always disliked the smell of those things." Tish said. "I thank God that you, Merryck, were one of the fewer hobbits that always stayed away from pipes."  
  
"The smell of pipes does not disturb me." Added Wilheim. "But I never have been able to stomach the odor of a cigarette. Those things, Ariel, are small pieces of concentrated leaf; a leaf called tobacco. If you could smell one of those foul things, I reckon that you would never come close to one of them again."  
  
"Oh, what a beautiful mirror!" suddenly exclaimed, Felicia, as she raced to the item. That one I did know. "Oh! Too bad it's a bit broken! But I can still see my cute face in there! I take it that you do know what this one's for, right, Ariel?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, it's kind of obvious." I replied, and all of them laughed once more, and I joined them as well.  
  
"Oh, a pair of glasses." Ryoga said, and grabbed the thing. "Ranma's dad also uses glasses." He looked at me, and added: "People who can't see very well use glasses."  
  
"A camera!!" Sakura chuckled. They all quickly went behind her and looked at it. "And it's an old one, too! It looks as if it were a camera of the sixties, or something!"  
  
"And it's German, too." Felicia added. "'Gerrrman', 'Herrrr' Wilheim!"  
  
"Indeed." The vampire laughed.  
  
"What's that for?" Flounder asked.  
  
"You take pictures with it." Sakura said. "You capture images with it. It has something to do with the light... I don't know how to explain it. I never really paid much attention to that particular class in school. I'm sure that it has to do with Physics, though."  
  
"Oh, I know what pictures are!" I exclaimed. And I did. "I have some!"  
  
"How is that?" asked Morrigan. "The images must have already been erased by the water, unless they are recent."  
  
"It's a good thing that you said that." I chuckled. "They're within glass, I think. There isn't any color in them. They're black and white, pictures. I think that's how you call them."  
  
"Ah, they are framed." Camille said. "Then show them to us, Ariel. I reckon that they must have suffered little or no harm over time, for this is a good camera. Perhaps we can explain a bit of what they depict. How long was it since you found them?"  
  
"I don't really know. A year, maybe." I said, while I looked for the pictures. I had about ten of them. All of them 'framed', as the succubus had said.  
  
"This is a fun way to spend the day." Tifa said.  
  
"Yep." Cloud added, with a chuckle. "I never thought that I would find a 'human museum' underwater. It's very cool, even though we see these things every single day."  
  
"Here they are!" I exclaimed. I quickly got a hold of all the pictures and counted them. Indeed, there were ten of them. I gave them to Seyia, who was the one who was closest to me, and said to him: "Be careful with them, please."  
  
"Don't worry, it's not like I'm going to drop them." He answered, and glanced at them. "Hell, I won't drop them! These pictures are actual museum items!"  
  
"Pass them, so all of us can see them, Seyia." Shiryu said. He took one of them, and exclaimed. "That's amazing!" he turned it around, and his face became even more amazed. "Have you looked at the date and place? It's the year 1967! And it's seems that it was taken in some city in Europe. It also looks like an artist's picture to me, because of the way it was taken, and... Oh, there it is." He then held it backwards. "It's his signature, and the picture's name... 'A bar in Berlin'. Have any of you ever heard of a man named Reiner Wagner?"  
  
"Never before." Camille said. "Some unknown artist, I believe." She looked at the picture, and said: "My! It looks wonderful. This is, indeed, Berlin not too many years ago. Not for me, at least."  
  
"Berlin, you say?" Wilheim asked. "Then I must certainly know the place, if indeed the year was 1967, as you have said, Shiryu. During that time, we traveled throughout the capital and became familiar with all of its corners and stores and hotels. Please, let me take a look a it." He grabbed it, and when he saw it, he let out a laugh. "Of course!" he exclaimed. "I remember this! This place is none other than the bar in which we ran into that gentleman, Pierre, and into those four, lovely ladies! My God, it has been that long!"  
  
"'We'? Who's 'we'?" asked Ryoga.  
  
It then hit me. I had, indeed, seen Wilheim before! I looked through all of the pictures as quickly as I could while the rest of them listened to him speak about the bar and the street. He hadn't answered Ryoga's question, though... But, without really knowing it, I was just about to.  
  
There it was. The tenth picture. It was the image of two young men, staring at their right side. I let out a chuckle, and Seyia turned to me. I glanced at him, and handed over the picture. He looked at it with amazement, and finally laughed aloud. The rest of them turned to see him, and Cloud asked:  
  
"What's so funny?"  
  
"You guys are not going to believe this!" he exclaimed, as he looked at the date. It had been taken in 1968... "'Two young men', it says... Ha! Look! It's Wilheim!"  
  
The vampire was shocked to hear this. He became petrified as everyone but him saw the picture. All of us laughed and saw him with a big smile in our faces. He too smiled, even though he hadn't taken a look at himself. Finally, he got his hands on the picture, and as soon as he saw it, he stopped smiling.  
  
"Who's the hottie that's with you, Wilheim?" asked Sakura, with a laugh, but quickly shut her mouth when he saw that he no longer smiled.  
  
But suddenly, he grinned again. He didn't laugh, however. His eyes kept still on the boy who was at his side, and he sighed. I looked carefully at him and noticed that he looked as if some sad memory had been stirred in heart. He then passed his hand by the young man, as if he were caressing him. A tear of blood came from his eyes. At first, I thought that he had been hurt in some way, but it was only his dark nature. He did give me quite a scare, though. Who was that man? Why had he become so sad when he had seen him?  
  
"Wilheim... Is that...?" Camille started, but didn't find the words.  
  
There was silence for a long while. It was Ryoga who finally spoke.  
  
"Oh... That's Siegfried, isn't he?" he asked.  
  
Wilheim nodded his head.  
  
"Yes." He answered. "Yes, indeed. It is Siegfried." He stopped speaking for a moment, and then continued. "Camille, Ryoga... Do you remember that I used to wear a reddish bandanna around my head? The very same bandanna that is now in my Ukyo's hands?" they both nodded their heads at the question. "Well, there it is." He pointed to the man's hair, and we all noticed that there was a lace tying it into a ponytail. "It was white then. Its red color is the one of my bloody tears, for I mainly used it to wipe them off my eyes. It was his. I took it when I found... his ashes, the night after Magnus drove that halberd through his stomach. I had never cried before in my inhuman life: I learnt how to weep when he left me. He used to be a Casanova. He could speak to every girl without any trouble at all, whereas I was too shy to actually go near one. But he was always so confident of himself... He was the smartest of us, and constantly kept bothering me about it. He said that I was a fool, but he did not mean it. I was stronger, and I looked after him. When he despaired, I held him. When he cried a tearless cry, I comforted him. He was my very best friend... my younger brother. For four years, we were together, roaming Berlin like two shadows that no one recalls: never did we came apart. At least not until that tragic day in 1969, when Magnus murdered him, and ended with over twenty years of brotherly love between us. And, for the longest of times, I was alone. What I would not give to bring him back..." another tear escaped his eyes, and then he fell silent.  
  
We all kept quiet, but only for a few moments. Seyia approached him, put his hand on his shoulder, and said:  
  
"I'm sorry, Wilheim. I didn't know that..."  
  
"Do not be sorry, by all means, Seyia. It is not your fault." He replied. "I cannot help it, but I just become sad whenever I remember him. Although I daresay that this picture has been a great thing to see, for Siegfried's face always lingered in my mind as an expression of pain and fear, because that was the last time I saw him: when he was killed. I still have nightmares of him being impaled... But now that I have seen this, I have forgotten that face, and can only see this unworried lad in my mind."  
  
"Why don't you keep it?" I suggested, and everyone turned to face me. "After all, you'll cherish it more than I do."  
  
"Would you let me have it?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah, of course." I assured, and smiled.  
  
He chuckled and held on to the picture as if he were embracing his younger brother himself. All of them smiled and let out a sigh.  
  
"Thank you, Ariel." He said. "I will never forget this... First you saved my life, and now, you have saved my memory of Siegfried." and, out of the blue, he hugged me. He felt so warm. My smile grew bigger, and I held him tenderly. He was so sweet, despite the fact that he cried bloody tears. He then looked at me in the eyes and said: "Now I know who you remind me of."  
  
"Huh?" I stuttered.  
  
"Elizabeth..." Camille mused. We all looked at her, and she added: "Yes, she looks a lot like her. If only her eyes were green, I would even dare to say that she is your first love with the body of a mermaid."  
  
"Your first girlfriend?" asked Ryoga. "You never told me you had had another girlfriend, Wilheim."  
  
"That was a long time ago, in the nineteen eighties, I believe. I do not recall the date exactly..." he said. "But it does not matter." he kept silent for a minute or so, and then, he smiled again, and said: "Enough of my memories. Why do not you tell us more about ourselves, Ariel?"  
  
"Sure." I giggled, and so I showed them every treasure that I kept. No one asked about Wilheim's past, although I sure wanted to know more about him. I wanted to know all about every one of them. It had only been a few moments, but I already felt that we had become very close friends...  
  
***  
  
We had swum for a very long time now, and we had found no trace of the Heartless. The night had not unveiled them, it seemed. And it was now nearly dawn... But those were actually good news, weren't they? Why would someone want to fight against dark shadows when they could just enjoy the touch of the sea and the warm rush of underwater currents? I was very relieved when we didn't find any Heartless at all. Amazingly, however, not all of my friends felt the same way.  
  
Ryu and Ken seemed a little disappointed not to be fighting. They didn't look like it, but I was sure that they would rather be battling against some foes rather than swimming around aimlessly, mostly because they kept hitting each other in a playful fashion. However, if one of them punched me as they punched one another, I would've slapped them in the face, because they were hard hits. I knew that Ryu was always looking for ways to improve himself, and that fighting excited him a lot. And he had told me that Ken also liked to battle, but unlike him, he mainly fought to show off his moves. Ken himself had told us girls that he couldn't wait to show us what he was capable off. But I believed that he didn't just want to show off. Ryu had told me that he and Ken not only were best friends, but they were also the fiercest of rivals, and never stopped competing. I think that, rather than showing his moves off to us, girls, he wanted Ryu to see them, and to find out if he could top them. If you ask me, I would say that Ryu was the strongest battler of the two, with an iron will and fists...  
  
Octavius seemed bored, too. He wasn't the type that liked to talk. All he did was to swim around emotionlessly and quietly. Nevertheless, I could somehow see in his eyes the desire to speak. I wanted to know about him and his past, but I couldn't ask him right then. Still, I was certain that behind that dryness of his, hid a great story.  
  
Ranma too wanted to fight against the Heartless. I had noticed that, in a way, he admired both Ken and Ryu, although he obviously refused to admit it. I guess that he also wanted to show the two fighters his true power. But, unfortunately for him (her at the moment), there was no creature there that could receive his attacks.  
  
Donald was also disappointed. His case was very simple to understand: his spell had turned him into that hilarious creature and he was terribly mad because he couldn't change his appearance. Hence, he wanted to punch the lights out of someone just to feel better. Since that someone couldn't be one of us, he would have to set with a Heartless. But when no enemies came, he became angrier and angrier.  
  
Finally, I could see that, surprisingly, Sora too was eager to battle. And I believe that I could guess why. He had spent so much time looking after Ukyo, so much time trying to cheer her up, that he had become terribly exhausted, and wanted to take out his frustration on something. This became clear to me when I saw him swimming from one side to the other at great speed, only to stop from time to time to give Ukyo a concerned glance. I knew that he looked up to her and thought of her as an older sister. He had become very fond of her during our adventure that he couldn't stand to see her that depressed. I thought that maybe he would feel better now that Akane and Ranma were by her side. But Ranma was too busy thinking about the Heartless, whereas Akane tried to talk to her a couple of times and then quit when she realized that she would achieve nothing. I obviously tried to convince Sora to stop worrying about her, but he was too stubborn to listen to me. Love, after all, can be quite harmful to one's self.  
  
As for the rest of us, we were quite thankful for the lack of foes. Shun was obviously the happiest among us: he had become a curious little boy who never seems to stop marveling with the things that surround him. He mainly swam by the coral reefs and by the little fish that we left behind us. He constantly kept turning back to us and calling us just to show us something new. He was, undoubtedly, the sweetest of the men there. And was also the one who told us how great we looked the most, I must say.  
  
"I still can't believe how beautiful you gals look with those mermaid bodies." He repeated over and over again. We all blushed (save Ukyo and Ranma) and thanked him for his compliments.  
  
"Isn't there anything else that you can say?" suddenly asked Yuffie, for the saint didn't stop to be marveled at us.  
  
"I wish I could, but you are all so good - looking that nothing more important comes to my mind right now." he replied, with a chuckle, and we all smiled to him. "As for you, Ranma, I would like to say the same thing, but I just keep thinking that you're actually a man, and that's sort of a turn off, no offense."  
  
"No taken, by all means." Replied Ranma. "Hold on to that thought, or I'll poke out your eyes and rip out your tongue." He added, and Shun laughed.  
  
For his part, Hyoga kept himself busy by forming beautiful figures of ice. He had only to move his hands and a fantastic, cold creature appeared right before our eyes. They all quickly melted under Ikki's touch, however, who claimed that we he shouldn't be messing with the sea. The Cygnus's saint said nothing, but didn't heed him. He kept on sculpting beautiful things, while Ikki kept undoing them. None of them seemed to be angry at each other, however (thankfully, I might add. Too many of them were upset about something; two more would have made me explode in anger, too).  
  
Demean, Link, and Leon also had some fun. They playfully chased fish and bubbles and, occasionally, one of us. However, I could see that they were always on guard, and were prepared to fight any danger...  
  
And so we kept on swimming even when day came, in hopes of finding the Keyhole. But this world seemed to be huge, and the Keyhole was nowhere to be found. We got lost a couple of times and swam in circles but then, we found our way and kept searching. The sea seemed to be empty of all beings but little fish and tiny crabs... But suddenly, we saw a cave. Apparently, it was a dark tunnel that lead to some unknown territory. A cold current came from it and told us to beware. Naturally, the most chilling breezes always contain great secrets within: we had to go in and see what could be found.  
  
"A hollow roar seems to come from its mouth." Demean said, in a low voice. "As if it were a foul beast that wishes to protect something evil. I say that we go in. But we must be cautious, I deem, for shadows cover the walls and many treacherous fiends can be hiding among them." He drew out his bow and readied an arrow. Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that... we were all still carrying our weapons, but the saints wore no armor. "Let us find out what lurks beneath that veil. I will go first. Watch my back."  
  
"I will swim by your side, elf." Said Octavius, and readied his katana. He obviously wasn't carrying his shotgun. What good could it do there, under the water? "The current that comes from that place tells me that fiends are about. And I reckon that my blade has rested enough time."  
  
"Let us go, then." Link added. He was the only one who had left his equipment behind. But he wasn't unarmed... He had acquired fins as sharp as scythes and a velocity that could match even the one of a shark. In other words, he was the fastest of us. "If any enemy dares attack us from the shadows, they will suffer the wrath of the Zora."  
  
"Let's get our weapons ready, guys." Said Cid, as he spun his spear in the water (by the way, I must say that that was the first time that I saw him without a cigarette on his mouth. Amazing!). "Okay, men. Let's get to it, before I get old."  
  
"Too late for that, I think." Ranma said, with a chuckle.  
  
"I heard you." Cid grumbled, while he eyed the grinning girl.  
  
We all slowly swam into the tunnel. The current grew colder as the shadows swept over us. There was not a single light to welcome us. I thought that we would have to make our way through there by defeating the darkness with nothing but our hands. But luckily, the tip of Donald's staff began to emit a guiding light, and we could all see what was around us. I felt as if I was traveling down the throat of some beast unheard of. It was as if we were being watched, only that none of us could see the eyes that spied on us. Ironically, I later learnt that I wasn't mistaken...  
  
As we made our way into the darkness of the tunnel, the cold waters stopped harassing us. Like the guard of a door that quickly retreats when he sees that his warnings don't do any good to the oncoming army, the current disappeared, and the waters started to grow hot. Then, a sudden burst of red light came out of the ground. We all put ourselves on guard and turned to it. It had been a crater, and it had spat a gush of hot air. The bubbles rose and crept out of the tunnel. We all took a deep breath and tried to gather our courage. That place could chill even the bravest to the bone.  
  
"It looks as if it's the path that leads into some sort of underwater volcano." Goofy guessed. "It's getting really warm. And to think that all that I could think of a few minutes ago was my jacket. We'd better be careful: this place looks like danger."  
  
"Sure it does." Donald agreed. "At least I've got some light. That way we can see the craters and we won't swim about them accidentally."  
  
"This is so weird." Sora murmured, in a soft voice. I heard him and turned to him. He noticed my glance, and said to me: "I don't know why, but I feel as if we were being watched."  
  
"I feel the exact same thing." I answered. "Be on your guard."  
  
"I hear that." He said, and raised his Keyblade.  
  
We looked all about us, but found nothing. As we kept swimming to the end of the tunnel that now showed us its way out, that nasty sensation grew stronger and stronger. Who could be hiding in the shadows? Certainly not the Heartless, because the day had just come.  
  
Suddenly, I turned to my right and gasped silently as I noticed to yellow eyes. I kept as still as a tree, and tried to think of what to do. I didn't know if I should try to attack them with a spell or tell my friends about them. Either way, I soon realized that the eyes' pupils weren't fixed on me. They were staring at Ukyo. She was swimming unworriedly, with her spatula still behind her back. It was as if she cared about nothing, not even about her life. I could see it in her eyes. And when the eyes saw her desperation - filled face, they seemed to grin.  
  
"Ukyo!" I called, in a whisper.  
  
She slowly turned her head to me and looked at me with her sad eyes. Then, she faced the other way and saw nothing but darkness, for the eyes had quickly vanished into the shadows.  
  
"What?" she asked, dryly.  
  
"There were eyes on you." I replied. "Didn't you feel their gaze?"  
  
"No, I didn't." She said, and kept on swimming.  
  
I was really worried about her, and now I was beginning to get angry as well. The lively girl with a big smile upon her lips and a short temper was lost at the time, and I couldn't seem to do anything to bring her back. She was dead on the inside, and there was no way of finding her former self. She was the only one who could do that, and seemed not to care about it. I didn't like people who didn't appreciate life; and this was in what she was turning into.  
  
Finally, we made it out of the tunnel. I didn't mention the eyes to anyone, because I was so mad at Ukyo that I couldn't think of the danger that they could represent. And besides, my thoughts had been stolen by the ghastly scenery that had received us. In front of us, there lay an enormous skeleton of a long dead animal. All around it, were many craters spitting out hot water and foul fumes. The water had become so murky that one would even think that night had already fallen. From the dead monster's back, another kind of fumes seemed to be rising. It was as if someone was working on potions or spells... And what was worse was that I felt an evil presence about. I couldn't tell were it came from, but it was really scaring me and some of my friends. Sora, Akane, and Yuffie's faces were filled by dread and their hands began to tremble. Leon gulped and even Cid tried to reach for his cigarette, but when he remembered that he had none, he sighed and held on to his spear...  
  
And suddenly, a host of Heartless came out of the dead being's mouth. All of these enemies were new to our eyes, and we didn't know what they were capable of. All that we could do was to fight against them in as best as we could. However, something wasn't right...  
  
"Heartless!" exclaimed Akane. "But how can this be! It's still day time!"  
  
"It must be because of the water!" guessed Octavius. "There is no point of thinking about it now! Let us fight against them and we will talk about it when all is quiet!"  
  
I noticed that there were only three new types of Heartless there: foes with the form of jellyfish, underwater knights that were armed with tridents, and scary, white ghosts who could conjure some magic spells and vanish right in front of our eyes. Still, their numbers were too great. I stopped thinking about how big the army was and started to cast fiery spells. I reckoned that a lightning spell would probably had gotten rid of all of them in the blink of an eye... but it would have wounded us as well. Thankfully, Donald thought of this too and only used ice spells against the foes.  
  
Ryu and Ken had, amazingly, already gotten used to their merman forms and fought as fiercely as ever. When an opponent sneaked behind their backs to attack them, they hit him with their tails. Although they couldn't perform many of their deadly techniques, such as the 'Sho Ryu Ken' or 'Tatsumakisempukiaku', they were still as powerful as ever, and were quite accurate with their insanely potent 'Hadoken'.  
  
Octavius and Demean didn't seem too accustomed to their new shapes as the other two warriors. Still, they fought valiantly and didn't fall. The elf's mystical arrows suffered much because of the water and didn't travel far before they became useless pieces of wood that floated up to the surface. Even then, he killed plenty of Heartless with his bow, and many more with his deadly daggers. Octavius got hit many times, but he was as resistant as a mountain, and no hit brought him down. He often responded an attack with a tremendous punch, which instantly killed the enemies that were about him. He used his sword skillfully and cut his way through the foes.  
  
Cid used his spear as ferociously as he always did. He didn't use any TNT sticks this time, though. Maybe he could have, for the matches of his sticks burnt like flares and not even water could stop them from exploding, but he could have damaged the rest of us as well. Nevertheless, he was as agile and dangerous as ever. Leon kept throwing fireballs at his enemies and kept them at bay, and when one got near enough, he slashed him with his gun blade. Yuffie relied on his heavy, giant shuriken to get rid of all the Heartless that came her way. Akane and Ranma fought side by side. The first one's punches were faster than the latter's, but Ranma's blows were simply devastating. She too made much use of his 'Moko - Takabisha' and slaughtered lots of opponents.  
  
Goofy was surprisingly fighting very well. Even that huge shell on his back couldn't stop him from dishing out some nice attacks to his enemies. It was, actually, the best weapon that he had. One heavy blow is all that it took to get rid of the Heartless that attacked him. He got hit many times, but he didn't even feel the blows with that sturdy shell and shield.  
  
Hyoga kept throwing blasts of ice at his opponents and killing them with just a few blows. His 'Diamond Dust' attacks were simply devastating, and were actually lowering the water's temperature, along with Donald's spells, despite my fiery conjures and Leon's fireballs. Ikki's fists were nearly as powerful as Octavius's. Whenever he discharged a blow on one of his foes, he vanished under his might. Shun, however, seemed to be completely helpless without his chains. All he could do was to dodge every Heartless that came his way. He was very good at it, and didn't get hit a single time. Nevertheless, at that moment, he proved to be a burden, rather than a helping partner.  
  
Link made use of his sharp fins to cut all his enemies' bodies down. Instead of just wielding the Master Sword, he now wore two blades, and was as quick as a shark. Whenever he saw that one of his opponents' blow would reach him, his fins grew wide and became as tough as metal. What was even more impressive was the fact that he could actually throw them like boomerangs! Every Heartless that stood in their way was killed by them.  
  
Finally, Sora fought bravely against all the Heartless that threw themselves at him, which were a lot, because he was the wielder of the Keyblade. Most of us fought to protect him from harm, whereas he fought to protect Ukyo, who seemed to be lost in thought. However, when one Heartless slipped by his sword and tried to attack her, she got rid of him with a fast, powerful attack, and then kept still.  
  
The battle lasted for a long time, but finally, it ended. Every last Heartless vanished under our attacks, and we claimed victory over them.  
  
"That was so lame!" Ken laughed. "Bring on another squadron! Let's see if they do better!"  
  
And as an answer to his challenge, another army of Heartless came from the monster's mouth.  
  
"Nice going, Ken." Cid grumbled.  
  
"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about." Cried the fighter, with a confident smile on his face.  
  
"I'll bet you a milkshake that I can kill more Heartless than you, Ken." Ryu said, with a chuckle.  
  
"A milkshake? You'll eat just about anything, won't you? Alright, whatever. Get ready to lose!" Ken replied, and got ready to shoot a 'Hadoken'.  
  
"I'm sick of these guys!" Shun suddenly exclaimed. "I didn't want it to come to this, because I don't like to hurt anyone... But I don't have any other choice." Then, he began to focus all of his power in his hands. The water around him began to boil and a purple aura of flames engulfed his body. His eyes shone with anger and finally, he yelled: "NEBULA STORM!!"  
  
The waters about the Heartless turned into a merciless whirlpool that burnt them to crisps in a matter of seconds. Even I felt as if that monstrous current was about to kill me as well! Thankfully, that didn't happen. There was silence for a few moments, and then, Ken yelled:  
  
"Hey! No fair! You didn't leave any for us!"  
  
"I guess you guys owe me a milkshake." Shun said, and forced as smile.  
  
"No way! You didn't bet anything in the first place!"  
  
"What awesome power!" Ryu muttered. "Incredible!"  
  
"And here I thought that you had become useless without your chains!" Sora laughed, as he swam next to Shun and patted him on the back. "Great going, Shun! That was even better than the one you shot at Ganondorf!"  
  
"I guess that I have more energies than then, Sora." The saint answered, and grinned happily at the compliment. But then, all of us were disturbed and became alert at the sound of a grave voice that came from inside the monster's mouth.  
  
"Oh, thank you, thank you very much!" it said. It belonged to a woman... "Thank you so much for getting rid of those beasts! I thought that I would never be able to leave my home again with those things lurking around!" and so, an old hag came out of the dead animal. She was very fat and had an evil face. Donald grumbled when he saw her lower body: she was a black octopus. Her human skin was purple and she had a big chin. Her hair was white and her eyes were filled by malice. I didn't trust her words... And I guess that none of my friends did. Two big eels followed her: both of them seemed to be one - eyed. They had mean expression in their faces and sharp teeth. I was very alarmed by now, for I noticed that the eels' yellow eyes were the same ones that had been staring at Ukyo in the dark...  
  
"Uh... No problem, I guess." Sora answered.  
  
"Still, there is something that I'd like to ask you." Hyoga said. "If those Heartless were truly your enemies, then why did you come out of the same place as them?"  
  
"Oh, but it is so simple, my dear!" the woman replied, as he approached the saint, and caressed his hair. "I was trapped inside my own house by them, as I've already told you. When you defeated them, I was released from my prison. And here I am, thanking you all."  
  
"Who are you?" asked Ikki. "And what is this place?"  
  
"My name is Ursula." The woman replied. "And you are in Atlantis. Home of King Triton and his proud host of mermen and mermaids." She approached Ikki and said: "Why don't you come inside, dear? It happens that I am skilled at the art of making potions, and maybe I could have something of your interest."  
  
"I'd rather not." He replied, dryly.  
  
"Have it your way." Ursula said, with a chuckle. She swam about us, and said: "Have you seen any mermaids around? There is one little girl that I am looking for, and I haven't found her. After all, I did spend a lot of time inside my own place, if you know what I mean. Those nasty Heartless wouldn't let me leave that easily."  
  
"We know no mermaids or mermen." I announced. "What does the one that you are searching for looks?"  
  
"Oh, her name is Ariel, and she is a beautiful mermaid with red hair and blue eyes. She's sixteen years old, and is always wandering about the sea. If you swim a bit, you'll surely find her. Why do you ask? Will you go look for her for me? Will you bring her to me?" she asked.  
  
"Rather, I think that I'm going to warn her about you." I said, with a defiant tone in my voice.  
  
"But dear! I mean no harm to anyone!" Ursula exclaimed, and laughed. "She is a very sweet little girl, and I care for her! I only wanted to speak with her a bit..." she then swam by Ukyo's side, and held her by the arms. She turned to look at her in the eyes, and suddenly, her expression changed, as if she had discovered some lost thought... "But don't think that that's all I want. Perhaps you could all do another little favor for me. You see, King Triton has a golden Trident. It is no more than an heirloom, and I would just like to see it closely for a moment. But he banished me from his realm long ago. If you could bring it for me, I would give you anything you want."  
  
"Anything?" Ukyo asked in a surprised murmur, and her eyes shone with hope, as did Ursula's...  
  
"Anything." She assured.  
  
"Enough!" Demean suddenly roared, and pushed her away from Ukyo's side. "Begone, witch! We will steal no heirlooms nor look for any innocent beings to your benefit! Go back to the shadows of your home, and stay there!"  
  
"Do not ever look at her in that way." Octavius added, to our surprise. "Because if you do, I will cut your body to pieces. And believe me: I am very skilled with my blade."  
  
"How rude!" Ursula exclaimed, and swam back to the monster's mouth, along with her eels. "If that is the way it's going to be, fine! You didn't have to tell me those awful things. You could have just said that you didn't want to do me any favor, and I would've let you all be. But I suppose that good manners are hard to come by in these days. Good day!" and so she vanished in the shadows.  
  
We kept still and quiet for a few moments. Finally, Ranma swam next to Ukyo and held her by her shoulders.  
  
"Ucchan, are you alright? Did she do anything to you?"  
  
"No, I'm fine. Thanks, Ran - Chan." She replied, and a sincere smile spread on her lips.  
  
It was the first time in a long while that I had seen a happy grin on her. It is quite ironical, but that actually worried me. I turned to look at the monster and whispered to myself:  
  
"God, Ursula... If you put any sort of spell on my friend, I swear that I'll make you pay: I'll roast your huge butt with my most powerful lightning spell if I have to."  
  
***  
  
We had stayed inside my Grotto all day long. It was beginning to grow dark, but it still wasn't safe for Wilheim to come out. Either way, I could see that they were all having a good time. None of them stopped talking and they all kept laughing at even the vainest things, despite what they had told me...  
  
When I asked them why they had come, they told me that a great host of enemies, named the Heartless, had been taking over the worlds, and that there was a good chance that this world was already on their possession. They mentioned a black hole; they said that it had swallowed all of them and that none of them had woken up in their worlds. I didn't remember anything of the sort. They then guessed that maybe the Heartless hadn't come to this world yet... but they said that they would soon attack us.  
  
I then realized that this was the reason why the ocean had seemed smaller to me. Surely other parts of it had vanished. I grew afraid at the thought that we might be next, but then felt safe as I saw all of them there. They seemed to be quite strong and resourceful. At least, I hadn't met anyone who could move the boulder that blocked the entrance of my Grotto with a single hand, like Shiryu did. Well, perhaps that's because no one but Flounder and I know where my Grotto is, but still, I'm sure that that stone is pretty heavy and not many mermen could move it with such ease.  
  
Anyway, I had asked them too many questions about the human world already, and it had been my turn to answer some of theirs. Some of them only asked a few things and then kept on swimming around the cave, but Wilheim, Merryck, and Ryoga were too curious to shut their mouths. Not that I'm complaining about that. It was fun to tell other creatures what I did all day. I've always been much of a talker. They asked me things such as 'What do you eat?' 'How do you sleep?', and on and so. I had also asked them the same questions, I might add, and felt a small chill run down my back when they confessed that they ate fish (well, most of them). Flounder gulped, but they all assured him that no one saw him as lunch.  
  
When we all answered each other's questions about our races, I told them (somewhat reluctantly actually), what the mermen thought about them. They considered them barbarians and killers (and I say they: I don't include myself at that statement), and my father's rules were not to speak to any humans or to reveal them our existence. Then they told me about what humans thought about mermen and mermaids.  
  
"During the old days..." Wilheim said. "Sailors feared mermaids. They thought of you as monsters with bewitching voices that were capable of ensnaring even the bravest of sailors: they thought that your singing would lead them to a certain doom. But then, the rumor came that you were not monsters, but beautiful creatures. And I believe that we can all agree with that."  
  
"Thanks..." I giggled, and blushed. Gosh, I was dumb. "So, sailors no longer thought that we would kill them?"  
  
"Oh, no. They still thought that." He confessed. "But we have proved them wrong."  
  
"Yeah, right." I said, and chuckled again. "What about you girlfriend, Wilheim?"  
  
"Ukyo?" he asked, and smiled. "I told you, I have yet to find her."  
  
"Yeah, but what's she like?"  
  
"She's my friend." Ryoga intervened. "I can tell you too. But what do you mean what's she like? Physically or the way she is?"  
  
"I know what she's like physically." I answered. "Wilheim told me, already. What's she like?"  
  
Before any of them could answer, I hear a loud clatter and quickly turn to where the sound had come from. I gasped and fell silent (as did all of them) when we saw Sebastian, who was staring at me in silence and with a pissed off expression in his face. He had a big collar of pearls around his neck and one of those pipes in his mouth. Apparently, he had fallen from one of the higher shelves... It was strange. He wasn't at all scared, despite my friends. I then knew that Mr. Gossip had been listening to us, and knew that they wouldn't hurt him. He was really furious. Well, like I cared that much, honestly.  
  
"Sebastian!" Flounder exclaimed. "What... what are you doing here?"  
  
"This is impossible!" the crab exclaimed. He began to swim to me, without minding everyone else. Gosh, he was really going to let me have it... "Ariel, what on Sea are you doing?? What is the meaning of all this?!"  
  
"It's... just my... collection." I answered, with a smile.  
  
"I see... your collection." He grinned, but then began to yell. "Are you out of your mind?! I am not talking about your collection! As if it couldn't get any worse, here you are, talking with humans!! You know that your father forbids you to establish any contact between them! Do you know what he would say if he saw them?!"  
  
"Um... and this is?" Felicia said, as he pointed Sebastian.  
  
"I am his majesty's royal composer, that's who I am!" he replied. I couldn't believe him! When did he become so brave? "And you should not be here! Not any of you!"  
  
"Oh, please, Sebastian, they're my friends!" I said. "They don't mean any harm! My father would never understand!"  
  
"But...!"  
  
"Please, Sebastian!" I said, and looked at him in the eyes. I am very good at that... You know, when you look into someone straight into his or her eyes with a sad face... He always fell for that. And this time was no exception. But things didn't quite work as I expected...  
  
"Oh, you are hopeless." He sighed. "All right, all right. I don't think that what you are doing is a bad thing... Nevertheless, they must see the King, if they are to stay here. I heard all about the Heartless and I believe that King Triton must be warned about the danger that is about."  
  
"Do you think he'll understand?" Flounder asked.  
  
"I don't know, but there is no other thing we can do." Sebastian said.  
  
"But what if he banishes them?" I asked. "I don't want them to leave!"  
  
"Ariel, if we are to stay here, then we must obey the rules of your realm." Vincent said. Somehow, he sounded much more convincing than Sebastian. I don't know why that was. "If your crab - friend Sebastian says that we must speak with him, then we shall. We can only hope that he won't make us leave."  
  
"Oh... okay." I gave up.  
  
Night had already fallen, and all was in shadow. It was perfectly safe for Wilheim to go out now. Shiryu opened the Grotto's entrance once again and we all went out of the cave. I sighed and thought again about all the wonderful things that I had learned that day. It had been the best day of my life.  
  
We reached my father's palace in no time at all. Well, so it seemed to me. I was very nervous at what my dad might say to them and I really didn't want to go to his throne. But, like Vincent had said, it was the right thing to do. There was no one at the palace's outer gates, and we all went through without being bothered, thank God. I was under a lot of pressure; I certainly wouldn't have been able to take any more of it.  
  
As we approached his royal chamber, I clasped my hands and hoped, against hope, that he wouldn't get all freaked out and kick my friends out of our kingdom...  
  
There he was, sitting down with a worried expression and holding on to his great, golden trident. God, I was so nervous. My stomach was even beginning to ache. Imagine that. I let out a long sigh, my heart nearly pounding out of my chest, as I approached him, and said:  
  
"Hi, daddy."  
  
"My little Ariel!" he greeted, with a smile. Oh, well. So far so good, I thought. "Where have you been? I was worried about you? I told you not to leave the palace!"  
  
"I know, I know. I'm sorry, daddy." I replied.  
  
"I found her not to far away, your majesty." Sebastian added. "Along with some fellows who wish to have a word with you."  
  
As he finished saying that, my friends stepped out of the shadows and into my dad's view. And when he saw them he... Well, I guess that I did have hoped against hope. His eyes were filled with anger and his trident began to glow in a terrible, frightening way. I let out a fearful moan and swam back.  
  
"HUMANS!!" he exclaimed. I had never seen him so mad in my whole life (and he got angry at me at least once every week). "Now you land - dwellers have adapted yourselves to the sea! How can this be?? It matters not. Either way, listen to me, intruders!! You are not welcome here!" he lifted his trident up in the air, and I knew that he was about to attack them. I turned to look at them, and noticed that they had all raised their guards, while both Flounder and Sebastian had quickly hidden themselves behind dad's throne.  
  
"NO, DADDY!!" I yelled and got between them and him. "Please, they're my friends!"  
  
"What??" he cried, even angrier than before. "Your friends?? Ariel, how could you?? I didn't believe that you would actually do something as idiotic as this, young lady!"  
  
"Daddy..."  
  
"Hey, don't talk to her like that!" Seyia exclaimed. "If you keep that up, I'll...!" But before he could go on, Shiryu grabbed his arms and scolded him.  
  
"Seyia, don't you dare do anything rash now!" he said.  
  
"And still they threaten me!" My dad roared and he quickly swam by my side. As if he were protecting me from some harmful beings, he put an arm in front of me and prevented me from going to their side. I really wish that he would stop... But Seyia had triggered a much more terrible side of his with those words. "I dare say that I would like to destroy all of you right now! But I won't do such thing in front of my daughter! However, I do not want any of you to go near her again! EVER!!"  
  
"Be at ease, Mr. Triton, sir..." Merryck intervened. "None of us wish to harm Ariel. On the contrary, my dear sir. You see, we are on a mission to..."  
  
"SILENCE!!" dad yelled and the hobbit hid behind Wilheim's legs, with a frightened gaze.  
  
"STOP IT, DADDY!" I demanded.  
  
"Don't you take that tone of voice with me, young lady!" he scolded, and I had no choice but to shut up. I would only make things worse if I kept on talking...  
  
"Merryck Goldengrass, I believe that it would be best if you did not say anything." Tish said in his ear.  
  
"King, don't you understand? Your kingdom is in danger!" Cloud exclaimed.  
  
"Certainly! With you humans wandering about it, I dare say that it is!!" my dad replied.  
  
"King Triton, please! I pray that you heed our words!" Wilheim said in a loud, but polite voice. Maybe he could squeeze some sense into my dad's mind... "There is danger about and I beg that you take my word when I say that we are not it. We mean no harm to your daughter or to the rest of your people. If you feel threatened by us, then I will unsheathe my sword and leave it at my feet." And this he did, as the rest of them all. My dad hadn't said anything for a while, and I was beginning to think that things were actually brightening up. "This I ask of you: hear what we have to say, and then decide. If you want us to leave, then we will do so without complaints. But do not banish these strangers from your realm without knowing their business first..."  
  
"I don't need to hear human business to make up my mind!" my dad interrupted, and I then knew that there was no way of winning this... "I don't want to say it again: leave!! I don't want to see any of you near my kingdom again! This time, I will let you go alive and unspoiled."  
  
"But...!"  
  
"Didn't I make myself clear?!"  
  
There was silence for a while. Wilheim took a deep breath and got ready to speak again. I hoped that daddy would listen to a few of his words, at least. But then, Camille put her hand on his shoulder and said aloud:  
  
"You have heard the King's orders, my dear. If this stubborn merman wishes to fall to the dark menace that is about him and wants to share his fate with his kin, then his fault shall weight heavily upon his head: not upon ours."  
  
"GET OUT!!" my dad ordered in a roar. They all nodded silently and began to leave.  
  
I couldn't stand the sight of that. I had finally made some human friends and now my... my stubborn dad was banishing them!! I had become so fond of them... I couldn't let them leave just like that! I wanted to go with them. And so, I swam away from my father and reached Wilheim. He stopped and turned to me as my father yelled:  
  
"ARIEL!! Get away from that human!"  
  
"I want to go with you!" I whispered to him.  
  
"Ariel..." he murmured, and kept still as we both noticed that my dad was aiming his trident at him. I couldn't hold it in any longer. I began to cry.  
  
"Please... don't go." I begged, between sobs.  
  
"Leave now, human." My father insisted.  
  
"I am sorry, little mermaid." Wilheim replied in a gentle voice, and his eyes shone with sadness. A red hue covered them and he let out a low sigh. "I am afraid that I cannot stay." He then disappeared into the shadows, and said: "Thank you for the gift, fair Ariel. I will remember you always."  
  
And then, they were all gone. We stayed still and silent for a while, and then, my dad yanked my by the arm and pulled me all the way to his throne. He sat there and looked at me with his stern, grave face. He only yanked my arm when he was really, really, REALLY mad at me. He had only done that four times, including that one. But I wasn't scared. I was really mad at him as well. And sad, too. And so, before he could scold me, I began to speak:  
  
"Why did you do that?!" I asked. "Why did you let them go? They were my friends! Now they will never come back again! Why are you so mean to me, daddy?"  
  
"Mean?" he exclaimed. "I am doing nothing but looking after you, Ariel! Don't you understand that those humans are dangerous? They could have killed you! I can guess that they were planning a worse fate than death for you and for all of us!"  
  
"They came here to help! They're not what you think! They aren't dangerous: they aren't barbarians! When will you see that, daddy? Why is it that you're so afraid of them? Besides, I don't need you to look after me! I'm sixteen years old, already. Why are you so stubborn?"  
  
"STUBBORN?! Don't you dare disrespect me again, young lady! I've had enough of this discussion! You are my daughter and I will protect you from whatever harm, whether you like it or not! Leave my sight! I am so angry with you that I can speak no longer! And I don't want you to ever mention the word 'human' to me again! You are punished, young lady! You are not to leave the palace until I decide that you have grown up!"  
  
"But...!"  
  
"No 'buts', Ariel! Now go!!"  
  
I burst out in tears again and swam as quickly as I could away from him. I didn't want to see him again for as long as I lived. I hated him at the moment. I didn't care about anything. I just wanted to be alone. I swam past the throne, past Flounder and Sebastian, who had already left their hiding place, and past a group of strange mermen and sea creatures who had only just arrived... 


	21. Chapter Twenty: Together Again

Hey, all. I'll be brief this time, so don't worry. :)

Okay, this one goes to the one who made the character request: received you mail and now know your name. I'll now be able to disclaim you know who when the time comes. Thanks!

Next: the same two narrators of the last chapter will tell the story here, starting Aeris, once again. Just a little, gentle reminder.

That's all. Enjoy the story:) Oh, and Happy New Year to everyone!

_Chapter Twenty: Together Again_

"They came here to help! They're not what you think! They aren't dangerous: they aren't barbarians! When will you see that, daddy? Why is it that you're so afraid of them? Besides, I don't need you to look after me! I'm sixteen years old, already. Why are you so stubborn?"

"STUBBORN! Don't you dare disrespect me again, young lady! I've had enough of this discussion! You are my daughter and I will protect you from whatever harm, whether you like it or not! Leave my sight! I am so angry at you that I can't speak no longer! And I don't want you to ever mention the word 'human' to me again! You are punished, young lady! You are not to leave the palace until I decide that you have grown up!"

"But...!"

"No 'buts', Ariel! Now go!"

It looked to me as if we had arrived at a very bad moment, and I am certain that all of my companions thought the same thing...

After our unpleasant little meeting with Ursula, we had swum off to look for the mermaid named Ariel in order to warn her about the witch. We had all decided that it would be the best thing to do, since we still couldn't find the Keyhole of the world. Luck smiled upon us and we found a merman who claimed to be one of the King's royal guards. He said that he knew the girl and that he would lead us to her father, so that we could warn him about the dangerous sea – witch.

And now, we were inside the golden underwater palace. Its pillars glittered like pearls and welcomed us with their fairness. It was a dream fortress, sleeping underwater, heedless of the waves and creatures that flowed and swam over it. We felt a complete tranquility in it... Until we reached the royal chamber, that is.

The King, a strong, big merman with white hair and beard, was scolding his daughter (I believe) like there was no tomorrow, so to speak. She was a little mermaid with long, red hair and blue eyes and a green tail. She cried bitterly and yelled at her father at the top of her lungs, but his voice overwhelmed hers, and so, she finally let out a long cry and swam past us. We turned to look at her as she vanished in the shadows of the night (along with a fat, yellow fish with blue stripes and a red, little crab), which had already covered almost everything under her veil. We turned to look at the King and kept silent. He noticed us and let out a long sigh. He covered his face with his hand and slowly shook it.

"My... Perhaps I was a bit too hard on her." He said to himself. "I am sorry that you had to witness that." he added. This time, he had talked to us. "She is the youngest of my daughters, and the most stubborn of them, I might add... But pray pay no attention to it now. I had never seen any of you in my realm. However, I welcome you to it: make yourselves at home. Every merman and mermaid and sea – creature..." he added, as he gazed at Goofy, Donald, and Link. "Will be received with kind words."

"Why, thank you, your majesty." I replied, with a bow. "My name is Aeris, and these are my good friends..." I eyed them and waited for them to introduce themselves. There was no way that I was going to name all of them...

"My name is Demean." The elf said. "I thank you for welcoming us into your kingdom, and pray that you forgive us for not bringing a token of our own realms. It is customary to do such a thing, at least from where I come from."

"My name is Georgius Octavius Chronicus Acvedus." Added the were – bear. "But Octavius will suffice, your majesty."

"I am Ikki, and this is my friend, Hyoga, and my brother, Shun." Said the saint, and bowed as well.

"I am Link." The Hylian said. "And these are my friends, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Cid, Leon, Yuffie, Ranma, Akane, and Ukyo." He named them all and they waved shyly at the king. "I would like to add more, your majesty, but I am afraid that this is not the time to do so. I fear that we bring ill news."

"What? Speak, please, Link." Said the merman.

"We had the misfortune of running into a sea – witch, called Ursula, an enemy of the kingdom, I deem." When he mentioned the fatso, King Triton's eyes grew angry. "She tried to trick us into doing her vile work. I believe that she is after your daughter, Ariel. I reckon that she is the same Ariel that she spoke about, for her eyes are also blue, and her hair is as red as the coral that adorns the sea floor. And what is worse, I fear that she also desires the very same trident that you hold in your hands."

"That traitor!" Triton growled, and swam about his throne. "I see that banishing her from the palace wasn't enough for her! I thought that she would learn her lesson and mend her ways. Yet she is now seeking my little Ariel! I am so vexed!" he kept on groaning for a few moments and then finally managed to contain his anger. "This hasn't been my day, I reckon." He sat down in his throne again and took a deep breath. "Your coming here has been a blessing to me, strangers."

"I'm sorry to say this, King Triton, but there is yet more to tell." I said.

"Oh, dear... What is it... Aeris, wasn't it?" he muttered.

"Yes, majesty." I answered. "Um... Ursula isn't the only danger around here. You see, we also ran into an army of evil beings known as the Heartless. These foul beasts are wreaking havoc in many other realms and we all believe that this one might already be under their attack. If we don't do something soon, they will take over the land. We have already defeated several of their armies in other kingdoms... But it seems that they don't grow that weak."

"I see." Triton said. "Well, these are certainly bad news. A great ending to a great day. Nevertheless, I thank you for letting me know of these matters..." he let out another sigh, and said: "You look somewhat weary. Would you like to rest a bit? Perhaps you could spend the night inside the palace. I wouldn't like you to rest outside with those evil creatures about. How about it? Will you grace us with your presence this evening?"

"I believe that we can manage that, don't we, guys?" said Ranma, as she eyed the rest of us.

"I agree." Ryu added. "Yeah, in that case, we'll take your offer, your majesty. Thanks for your kindness."

"No, stranger, I thank you all for your trouble." Replied the King.

He snapped his fingers and some mermen and mermaids quickly came. He then ordered them to take us to our bedrooms, or whatever they were. They wasted no time and quickly guided us to a spacious room where several giant seashells awaited for us. They were all frozen where they lay, and were opened. The mermen and mermaids signaled us to sit down in them and when we did, we noticed that they were very soft, almost as soft as silk. I lay down completely and sighed. I suddenly felt back at home, back at my own bed, right next to my mom's room, in Midgar... But it was better than Midgar, for here I felt the softness of the sea currents, rather than the chill of the wind. All my friends lay by my side and fell fast asleep.

I woke up when it was still dark. I looked around with a yawn, and noticed that Link was awake as well, and was peering out one of the windows of the castle, and into deepness of the sea. I turned to the rest of my companions and saw that they were all asleep. It was the perfect time to speak alone with him. I yawned one more time before I swam next to him.

"Hi, Link." I said. He spun his head to me and smiled. "How long have you been awake?"

"Ten minutes, more or less, I deem." He replied. "What is wrong, Aeris? Could you not find any sleep?"

"Oh, yeah. I just woke up. I was sleeping soundly. I don't know why, but I just suddenly opened my eyes."

"So no thought or dream roused you?" he asked.

"No, not at all." I answered. "What about you? Don't tell me that you're not thinking of anything. One who just stares out a window in the middle of the night must have something on his mind, don't you think? Otherwise, I am certain that you would have gone back to sleep."

"Well, I guess that you are right." He confessed. "I was thinking about Hyrule. Mostly, I was thinking about Lake Hylia."

"Lake Hylia?"

"Oh, yes. It is a beautiful lake. It is a shame that we could not see it. I was thinking of maybe taking all of you there, but it seems that Lon – Lon Ranch and all that lies south has vanished. I did not think that would happen, but it seems that Hyrule was a lot bigger than I expected. Well, when I became a pilgrim clad in green, it did not seem that large to me. But I was mistaken. Either way, I wish you could have seen it, Aeris. Its waters are fair and blue during the day, and mysterious and black when the moon is out. But they are always clear, and you can see every little fish swimming by without much effort. It is as beautiful as this scenery that lies in front of us, although not as big. However, when night comes, you can see upon its surface the nocturne sky mirrored. It looks as if the stars have all fallen into the water and still glitter under the water... And when I think of Lake Hylia, I cannot help but to think about the Zora's River. The waters that flow in there do so at great speeds, and drag along wood and life into the very lake. If you should ever spend the night by it, you would be carried away to the sweetest of dreams by its melodies..."

It was not until then that he realized that he could go on and on speaking about Hyrule. He laughed and shook his head.

"I am sorry." He said. "If I do not hush now, I never will. Why do not you tell me a bit about your own land, Aeris?"

"I don't really know what to say..." I replied and felt my face blushing. I knew that anything I would say would sound stupid and dull compared to his words. "It's just that Midgar isn't as interesting as Hyrule, Link. I'm almost sure that you'll go to sleep if I start talking."

"Do not say nonsense!" he chuckled. "Come on, I know that there are many fair things in your world."

"Hmm..." I muttered. I kept silent for a long time, and finally said: "All right, but then, you must tell me more about Hyrule, okay?"

"We have an accord."

"Well... Where should I start?" I asked myself. I really didn't have any idea of what to say. It had been so long since I had last been in Midgar... For a moment, I felt a chill and thought that maybe I had forgotten. But then, it came back to me. It was so simple. I decided to start by speaking of my own house and bed, since the seashell had reminded me of them. "I lived in a little house in the slums. Midgar is a very big city, which has two levels. I lived in the lower level, which means that we didn't get that much sunlight. However, some of it managed to pour through the cracks in the upper level. It came down and bathed the garden of flowers that was outside my home. Most of the flowers had lovely colors: I always went to tend them. I watered them every three days, since they couldn't have that much sunlight. When night came, I went to my room and lay in my bed. It was very comfortable, and had pink sheets. I was never been cold... But that's not really important.

"Well, when things weren't too busy in the upper level, I took the train that left me there, and sold some flowers. The upper level is a very big city, with large buildings, and parks, and many alleys. There is one giant building in its center that stands out. It used to be the Shin – Ra building. Now it is deserted, as the rest of Midgar itself, I suppose. But anyway, I'll tell you what I remember and not what I assume...

"I remember that there was a stop (at the train) that left you in... What sector was it? Sixth or Seventh? I don't really recall the number... Well, whatever it was, there used to be a bar there, the Seventh Heaven. It was Tifa's bar. I visited it only once, and I was in a hurry then... I..." I then could think of nothing more than the explosion that followed after I rescued Barret's daughter. Some men kidnapped me, and my mind blanked out. I only remembered Cloud's face, and I didn't want to talk about him right then. I fell silent and after a few instants, said in a low voice: "I'm sorry, Link."

"Do not be." He said, and put his hand in my shoulder. I believe that he sensed that I had remembered something ill. "I deem that Midgar is not the only city in your land. Why do you not tell me about some other town?"

"Oh... alright." I said. "I'd rather talk about the fields, if you don't mind."

"Go on."

"Well, outside Midgar, there are green fields that extend themselves to the very limits. When you walk on them, it is as if you were walking on the very waters of the sea. Only that those waters are green, and hide many monsters. Still, it's safe to sleep there at night. As long as you don't cross any of those animals' paths, you're alright. A little to the north, lies a ranch, a Chocobo ranch. If you take the path down the mountains, you'll find yourself in a damp wasteland that homes the Midgar Solom: that's a hideous, forty – footed snake with sharp teeth. No one goes that way unless they have a death wish, if you understand what I mean. And it's very fast. Only a Chocobo can outrun that thing."

"Before you go on, I must ask..." Link interrupted. "What the blazes is a Chocobo?"

"Oh, right! You don't know!" I giggled, as did he. "It's a giant bird – like creature. They're usually yellow, but there are some green, and blue ones. Black ones are harder to find, and there are even golden Chocobos, which are the strangest of them all. Anyway, that doesn't matter. The thing is that we use them as rides. You know, like horses. You do know what horses are, don't you? I mean, you come from another world, so you never know..."

"Oh, it is alright." He said. "I do know what horses are. As a matter of fact, I own one. Well, 'own' might not be the appropriate term. I tamed it and kept it, even though I never really paid for the beautiful creature. Her name is Epona, and she runs as swiftly as the wind. No other horse in Hyrule can match her speed. She can even jump across dangerous cliffs. She was my good companion over many perils. If it would not have been for her, I probably would have never reached the desert of the west, where the Gerudo dwell. There, the sun burns harder and the wind blows the driest. It is nothing like the Kokiri Forest. There, every tree that grows is taken care by the soft breeze and sweet rains. An inviting scent emanates from their leaves and tells you to go inside, even though it is forbidden. There are many wooden houses that home the Kokiri children. I remember that one of them once housed me. But it was such a long time ago..."

"Sorry, Link, but it's my turn to interrupt you." I intervened. "Before you go on, tell me something... Akane said to me that you aren't under Donald's spell, right? She mentioned a magical mask... Where did you get that? I'll only ask about that item, because if I ask about everything that you carry, I'm afraid that we'll spend both the night and day in here... But don't take it the wrong way!" I said, worried that he had misunderstood my words. "I like to hear everything you say. It's just that we have much to do..."

Link burst out laughing, but quickly hushed as he saw that some of our friends stirred in their sleep. He didn't want to wake any of them, I guess, and neither did I. Either way, I was feeling very embarrassed... I couldn't have been more obvious.

"I understand." He said, at last. "Well, I will tell you. When I was young, I lost my way in the Lost Woods. I was ridding Epona at that time, by the way... But it is quite a long story. I will only say that I arrived at a wonderful, beautiful land, and there I dwelt for three days. I ran into many creatures and faced many dangers. Before I left that land, I received three masks; each of them contained different magic. This specific one that I am wearing turns me into a Zora. The Zora are the water – people of both Hyrule and Termina. I became accustomed to this form as soon as I put on the mask: that is why I asked Donald not to turn me into a merman. Well, when my job was done in Termina, I returned to Hyrule, my fair country."

We both stayed silent for a while. I took a deep breath, and finally asked:

"Link, if you love Hyrule and Zelda so much, why didn't you stay there when you got rid of Ganondorf? I mean, it's obvious that you'd rather be next to your princess and land than with us..."

"Do you truly believe that?" he interrupted and looked into my eyes. "Perhaps I would like to stay there and see Hyrule renewed, for I only lived its ruin for the last years. Yet, I am a soldier of the goddesses, and I believe that I cannot go back until I have destroyed all evil. Besides, I am not unhappy. I am fighting not only for princess Zelda, who is but my queen and to whom I have sworn loyalty and love, but for my many friends and for the one that I have come to love."

"Zelda?"

"Aeris, do not be silly." He smiled gently and caressed my cheek... and all of a sudden, I forgot about Cloud and let out a happy giggle... A truly happy giggle. He kissed my forehead and added: "You know of whom I speak. Now, go to sleep. Rest for a while, for we have still much to do. We must get up before sunrise."

"Yeah..." I said. I then shut my mouth and didn't know what to add. All I could think of doing was kissing him... But no way in hell would I do that unless he took off that mask. And so, all I did was to smile sweetly at him and go off to my sea – bed. "Good night, Link."

"Sleep well, sweet Aeris." He answered and too turned in.

"I hate him!" I said to myself, as I kept swimming away from the palace, despite Sebastian and Flounder's cries that told me to go back. I only wanted to be alone at that time, but not in the damned palace. I thanked God for letting me go past all the guards without getting caught and swam as fast as I could.

There was only one place that always made me feel better when I was sad and angry. It's a little illuminated cave with no more in it than a little rock. Somehow, that place usually made me feel better. I entered the cave and crossed my arms on top of the rock, and cried bitterly, hoping that I would soon feel better. But, unfortunately, this time I didn't get over my sadness and my anger. This time, he had gone too far.

"I hate him..." I sobbed, between gasps.

I couldn't believe how stubborn and close – minded he had been. My friends had agreed to come to his throne in peace, and neither of them had behaved aggressively (save Seyia, but Shiryu stopped him), and still, he had banished them. He had always thought of humans as barbarians who think of nothing but hunting fish and killing them. But how could barbarians build so many wonderful things as the ones that were in my Grotto? How could some barbarians go peacefully before him and do nothing despite the way he insulted and yelled at them? How could he be so mean to them? I was just beginning to know them... They were about to become my friends, and all had ended because of him. I was certain that I would never see them again, and as I thought about it I cried more and more.

"Ariel..." Flounder whispered, as he and Sebastian quietly swam by me and watched me pitifully. I hated that.

"Go away." I said.

"I know that you didn't mean that about your dad..." Flounder continued, but before he could say another word, I repeated, this time in a louder and more shattered voice:

"Go away!"

"Ariel, please, you have to return to the palace..." Sebastian intervened.

At that moment, I was also furious at him. It had been his idea to take my friends before my dad. He hadn't meant any harm, but at that moment, I couldn't realize that. I felt like biting his head off, but I hadn't the strength or will to do so.

"Get out of here." I demanded. "It's all your fault, you stupid crab! If it weren't for you, they would still be here... I don't want to see you or him ever again! Go away!"

"Ariel..." he uttered, clearly hurt by my words.

"Shut up and leave me alone!"

Then there was silence. Neither of them spoke for a long time. I only heard Sebastian sigh and so he and Flounder swam away and let me be. However, instead of calming down, I wept more fiercely. I felt so lonely, and yet, didn't want anyone to be near me at the moment, save them. I only wanted to be by their side.

I didn't know how long I cried. I only know that after a long time, I began to feel cold. I wished that I could be inside the palace, where it was warm. I could go back anytime I wanted to, but at the time, I didn't want to be anywhere near my dad. If that meant freezing to death in the palace's outskirts, then die I would. I have to admit it: some times I can be a bit too proud.

But suddenly, I felt a new chill. It's not the coldness that you feel when you're alone... It's like... How can I say it? Like the chilling current of water that you feel when evil lurks around. I raised my head and turned around to see what was behind me. Everything looked blurry; I had cried too much tears. I wiped my eyes and looked harder. And so I gasped and clutched to the stone as I noticed three pairs of eyes staring at me from the shadows. They were all terribly frightening... But they didn't scare me for too long, for after a few instants, the creatures showed themselves.

"My darling, don't be so scared!" said a she – octopus. Boy, was she large. I mean, like whale – size large. Her tentacles were black, and her skin was purple. She was really, and I mean very ugly. But I didn't say anything about it... The other two beings showed themselves as well: they were eels and didn't have cute faces either. "I don't mean any harm!" she added, and swam next to me. "Oh, have you been crying?"

"I..." I murmured. I didn't know what to answer. It was obvious to me that she had been spying on me, but at that time, I was too startled to defy her.

"Of course you have!" she said, before I could answer. Duh! Of course I had! "But please, dry your tears! There is no reason to cry for! I'm here, and I guarantee that I can make you feel better!"

"Right. And how is that?" I asked harshly, not meaning to.

"It's easy." She replied, without minding the tone of my voice. "I guess that you still can't tell who I am, can you? Well, my name's Ursula, and I've come to make all your wishes true."

"The sea – witch?" I stammered. All of my anger suddenly vanished and I grew afraid once again. My dad had told me all about her. He told me that she was a very mean creature that had caused a lot of trouble in his kingdom when she lived in the palace, and that he had banished her because of that. "No, I... No! I can't! Go away!"

"You can't what, my dear?" she asked. "Come on, now, you know better than anyone that your father likes to exaggerate. Like the way he did with those poor humans."

Gosh, she was smart. In a bad way, I mean. With those last words, she immediately won me. I kept silent and decided to listen to all that she had to say. She smiled to herself and kept on speaking.

"I know that you want to go with your friends." She put her arm around me. It felt so cold. And still, I didn't get away. "And the solution to your problem is quite simple. To go with them, you'll have to become a human yourself. Now isn't that a swim in the coral bed or what?"

"What? You... you could do – do that?" I stuttered.

"That's what I do!" she exclaimed. "It's quite easy. But the thing is that I just can't give you something for nothing, if you understand. I need something from you first."

"But I don't have anything..."

"Oh, sure you do! Well, at least your father does. You see the golden trident that he always holds? There are much more secrets to it than he has revealed you. I could do so many wonderful things with it... But he won't let me have it because he thinks that I'm still a bad girl. Yet, you can see that that's no longer true. I've mended my ways, and all that I want to do now is to help little mermaids such as yourself."

"...If I give you the golden trident, you'll turn me into a human?"

"Of course I will!"

"And what about my dad? I mean, he banished you from the palace and all... Aren't you sore at him? Aren't you going to try and hurt him? 'Cause if I were you, I'd probably want to turn him into a shrimp."

"What, do you want me to do that?" she asked, an evil glitter in her eyes.

"NO!" I exclaimed and got away from her. "If you do that, I won't bring you anything...!"

"My dear, I was only joking!" Ursula laughed. "Of course I won't turn him into a shrimp... But you do want to turn into a human, don't you?"

Then, a short but ferocious battle between my mind and my heart began. I stayed quiet and listened to what each had to say. My head told me: 'Ariel, don't be stupid! Get out of here! Swim as fast as you can back to the palace and tell dad about this!' Yet, my heart told me: 'What if she can really turn you into a human? What if she has really mended her ways and she isn't lying? You'll have to leave dad behind, but you'll be with your friends... What'll you do?' And so it was that after a minute or two, I nodded my head and made the stupidest thing that I could've ever done in my entire life.

"Oh, good girl!" she laughed. "Well, then, off you go! Go fetch me your daddy's trident, and I'll see to it that you turn into a lovely human!"

"Okay..." I muttered, and so I was off to the palace.

I got there while it was still dark and no one was awake. The throne room was empty; my dad's trident was luckily left there, alone. I turned to both sides, making sure that no one was following me. There was no one, it seemed. I took a deep breath and slowly swam to my father's throne. It was so close... I had only to reach for it. But I was so scared that he would suddenly come in and catch me red – handed. Still, my desire to see my friends became greater than my fear, and after a few second thoughts, I finally took the trident and got ready to leave the palace again. But before I could go out into the open, a shadow blocked my path. I gasped, and asked in a loud, yet shaky voice:

"Who's there?"

A mermaid then came out of the shadows, and I sighed in relief. She was one of the strangers that had arrived when my father had just banished Wilheim and the others. She had a blue, glittering tail, long, beautiful brown hair and blue eyes, darker than mine. She wore a white ribbon as well, and seemed just a few years older than me.

"What do you want?" I asked. "Who are you?"

"Don't be scared, Ariel." She replied.

"How do you know my name?"

"Ursula told me about you. She..." she paused when she saw my surprised expression, and gulped. She then went on. "She told me that if I got her your dad's trident, she would grant me whatever I wished for."

"What? That's the same thing that she told me!" I replied.

"Yeah, so... that's why I came here. I was looking for the trident. But it seems that you already got it for her... Do you mind if I tag along with you? Maybe she'll be able to grant both of our wishes. What is it that you want, Ariel?"

"For starters, I'd like to know your name."

"Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Ukyo. It's nice to meet you. Sorry that I started to call you by your name when you didn't even know mine." She offered to shake my hand and I accepted. I almost let out a chuckle: this mermaid was called just like Wilheim's girlfriend, and fit her description perfectly. But, she was but a mermaid. And Wilheim loved a human, as far as I was concerned. Nevertheless, I later learnt the shocking truth... "So, what's your wish, Ariel?"

"I want to turn into a human." I confessed. "What about you?"

"I want to be by my boyfriend's side again." She said, and her voice somehow became sad and desperate. With that, Ukyo managed to gain my trust and so I said:

"Okay, then, Ukyo. Let's go, before my daddy wakes up."

"Right."

But then, another voice stopped us.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" it said. We both turned around and saw a young merman with blue eyes and brown, spiky hair come out of the shadows. "Ukyo, where are you going? Um... Are you Ariel?"

"Boy, it seems that Ursula spoke very much of me." I said, beginning to get worried at the sea – witch's plans. "Yeah, I'm Ariel."

"We're going to see Ursula, Sora." Ukyo replied. "Do you want to come with us?"

"Ukyo, are you sure about this?" the boy asked. "You saw how both Demean and Octavius reacted to what she said... And I sure don't trust her either. Why don't you just take the trident back to where it was and we go off to bed? You need to get some sleep before we go off looking for the Keyhole tomorrow morning."

"I'm sick of it, Sora." Ukyo said, firmly. "You heard what she said: she can grant whatever wish we ask for. I've waited long enough... If he doesn't find me, then I'll find him. I don't care what it takes. I've made up my mind: I'm not going anywhere until he's by my side. Don't you get it, Sora? Without his touch, I whither like the trees in autumn. I feel dead inside, and I need to be next to him. So you can either come with us, or you can go back to sleep. It's your choice."

The boy seemed to be deeply troubled and somewhat shocked at Ukyo's harsh words. He lowered his head and his eyes glittered with sadness. I was about to tell him to stay if he didn't feel like going with us, but after a few moments, he sighed and said:

"All right. I'll go with you."

"Good." Ukyo said and took the lead. But before we could leave the place, a third voice made us stop in our tracks and turn around.

"Hey, Sora! Where do you think you're going? Oh, Ukyo's with you..." out of the shadows, came a turtle with an extremely rare head. If I had been in a better mood, I would've certainly burst out in laughter. He was truly hilarious... "Oh, and I see that you've also got some company." He chuckled. "Anyway, so where are you guys going?"

"We're going to see Ursula, Goofy." The boy replied. "Will you please come with us?"

"What? To see that lady? She wasn't very nice at all when we last saw her... Why would you want to go back to her place?" he asked.

"Please, Goofy. Ask no questions and follow us, okay?" Sora pleaded.

"Oh... All right. You're the Keyblade master, I've gotta go with you either way." Goofy chuckled and followed us as we escaped the castle.

"Before we go to Ursula's, I've go to stop at my Grotto and pick up some things." I announced.

"All right, but be quick." Ukyo said.

Naturally, I didn't let them inside my Grotto. I didn't trust them enough. When we got there, I let them waiting outside and quickly got inside the cave. I had some magical potions in there that I had stolen from my daddy's armory... They were as tiny as marbles, but as terrible as the most powerful spells. Surely, if things went wrong, they would help us. I grasped all of them and quickly went out of the Grotto. Morning had already come, and, surprisingly, it seemed past noon. That could only mean one thing: the Heartless forces (the enemies of which my other friends had spoken of) had already arrived... Then, all of us began to swim to Ursula's lair.

As we swam through the clear waters, I heard yet another voice. However, I knew who spoke, and didn't stop. Instead, I let out a grump and lifted my head. I then felt Sebastian's little legs on my shoulder. The little crab had been following us, most likely since we had left my dad's throne room. I couldn't stand the sight of him. I wanted him to go away and to get lost. I really wanted to yell all sorts of terrible things at him right there. Yep, I was still that angry. But I knew that I couldn't make a scene, unless I wanted us to be discovered by some curious merman.

"Ariel, what are you doing with that trident!" he asked in a low, worried voice. "Get that back into your father's throne!" he demanded, but his voice shook as he spoke. So you can guess how seriously I took him.

"I'm going to see Ursula." I replied, with a firm, proud voice. "And I don't care what you have to say."

"Ariel, no! She's a dangerous witch! Please, stop this madness!" Sebastian pleaded.

"Why don't you go tell my father? You're good at that." I growled and shook him off. He then swam back to the palace as fast as he could. I sighed, and told my three companions: "We've got to hurry. My dad's servants are going to be looking for us really soon."

"Then let's swim faster." Ukyo said, and kicked with more strength.

I knew where Ursula lived. When I was little, I had wandered off far from the palace and had come to a ghastly place. A dead animal loomed above the many volcanic craters with an unwelcoming gaze in its empty eyes... So you can guess that I tried to go inside its mouth, being as curious as I am. But my daddy caught me before I could do so and dragged me back to the palace. He explained me that that place housed Ursula, the sea – witch who he had banished from the palace. He told me that she was a very mean creature, like I've already said before. Ever since that day, I had staid away from that place. But the time had come to go back into the monster's mouth, back to face danger. Hopefully, she would grant our wishes and wouldn't turn us into anything... unusual.

However, as we went towards the great skeleton animal, I began to have second thoughts, more than the ones that I already had. The thing seemed to be breathing hot fumes from its nostrils. It looked a lot more menacing than the last time I had seen it... possibly due to my dad's words. I held on firmly to the trident and took a deep breath before Sora, Goofy, and me followed Ukyo and went inside the creature's mouth.

I began to think that maybe Ukyo was a warrior mermaid from a far – away realm. She wasn't afraid: at least I couldn't see any fear in her eyes, and she kept on swimming without hesitation. Sora too seemed like a warrior, but he wasn't as brave (or mad) as she was. They both wielded weapons: he had some sort of a giant key, whereas she had a giant spatula – like thing... They looked very much like some of the human stuff that I kept in my Grotto, only in family – size. I sighed sadly when I thought about it... It had been Tifa who had shown me what a key was, and Ryoga told me what a spatula was. Anyway, that has nothing to do with it...

It wasn't long before we began to hear moans. Pain – filled moans that came apparently out of nowhere. I shivered and kept still, as did Sora and Goofy, while Ukyo kept on going without minding the dreadful sounds. I was also beginning to lose my confidence in her... Why was she so cold? Either way, I didn't have much time to think about it. As we all looked down, we noticed that there were several seaweeds coming out of the ground, and tried to trap us with their bodies. They were the ones that were doing the moaning...! They were alive! I let out a shriek, while both Goofy and Sora gasped and we all swam faster. Eventually, we caught up with Ukyo, who had already left the horrible garden. As soon as we came by her side, Ursula's voice greeted us.

"Hello, welcome!" she said. She slowly came out of the shadows, a triumphant grin her face when she saw the trident in my hand. "Well, my dear, you've outdone yourself, I must say!"

"Outdone...? We've only just met..." I said, but before I could go on, Ukyo took the trident away from me and handed it to Ursula. "Hey!" I started, but then, she gave me a quick, cold glance, and I hushed.

"Let's get through with this, already." She muttered, angrily and impatiently. "Here's what you wanted. What about our wishes?"

"All in due time, my dear, all in due time..." Ursula mused, as she put her hands on the trident, and all of a sudden, her expression changed from a serious, old hag into a menacing, horrible monster. She seemed like a hungry shark in search of flesh... and she had now found her stupid preys: us. "YES!" she exclaimed, and the trident began to glow. And then, Ukyo suddenly put her hands on her head and let out a moan. "YES, I'VE DONE IT!" Ursula laughed long and loud, and it was not until then that I realized what a terrible mistake we had made.

"No..." I muttered. "No! Give that back!" I tried to grasp it, but failed in the attempt. He shoved me back and laughed louder. "Give it back!"

"Never, little princess!" she said. Her voice had no longer been gentle, but it was now evil and threatening. "I've got what I want, and now I'll be the supreme ruler of the ocean, thanks to you and your little friends!"

"Hey, give it back!" said Sora, as he unsheathed his weapon and put himself on guard. But Ursula turned to him and snarled:

"I'll give you something a little better..." and out of nowhere, an army of terrible monsters appeared. They were the same ones that my dad's elite warriors had been slaying a few nights ago... They surely were the Heartless that Wilheim and the others had told me about!

"Oh, no!" I exclaimed.

"Heartless! Gwarsh, this isn't good!" Goofy yelled.

"I knew that you had something to do with them!" Sora said. "Damn it, Ursula! I'm going to kick your fat butt as soon as I'm done with these guys!"

"Sure you will..." she cackled. "But excuse me. I've got to go pay king Triton a visit."

"NO! Leave my daddy a lone!" I cried. "Damn you! You didn't mean to do anything for us! You only wanted to get the trident to hurt him! I hate you!"

"True!" the witch answered. "And I've got you and your... HUMAN friend to thank for that!" she then swam as quickly as she could away from us, along with her two horrible eels.

"Humans...?" I whispered to myself, feeling all sorts of emotions racing through my heart. I slowly turned to see Sora and Goofy fighting against the Heartless as fiercely as they could, and then at Ukyo, who merely stayed still, floating in the waters, and while holding her head. I gritted my teeth and threw myself at her, and pulled her hair as hard as I could. "You tricked me!" I yelled as tears of anger rolled down my cheeks. "You lying jackass! I'll get you!"

"OUCH!" she screamed. "Get off me!" and with a terrible strength, which could even be compared to that of Shiryu's, she shoved me away. Before I could react, I felt her weapon's tip right below my chin, and I froze. She was very mad... I got very scared and closed my eyes, thinking that she would chop my head off. But after a few moments, she murmured: "What the hell...? What have I done?"

And I felt the chill of her weapon no longer. I opened my eyes again, and saw that she was fighting off the monsters with full strength. She was amazing. Even Sora and Goofy, who had known her for a while, seemed to be impressed. Every time she let loose a blow, she let out a battle yell and a hot current of water stroke me. After a few moments, I snapped out of my trance and began to fight as well, only that this time I attacked the Heartless. I'll deal with her later, I thought. I was so disappointed... My dad seemed to be right about some humans, after all.

I took out some of my potions and began to use them on the enemies. I had plenty of them: fire potions, lightning potions, ice potions, and healing potions. Only that I didn't pretend to use these ones: not on any of them. At that moment, I was so angry at every one of them that I was even thinking about saving some attack potions for them... Every time one of them crashed into one of my opponents, they exploded in flames, shards of ice, or thunderous lightning, and the Heartless let out chilling cries as they were burnt, frozen, or electrocuted... When I didn't have time to use a potion, I kicked them with my tail as hard as I could. I didn't realize that I gave such powerful blows with it, because every time I used it, I managed to get rid of at least one of them... Or maybe they just were pretty weak.

Sora repeatedly drove his weapon through the monsters, while the turtle attacked them with his sturdy shell. But Ukyo swung her weapon with great speed and power and at least three Heartless died every time she attacked. Undoubtedly, I would have a very hard time in dealing with her...

The very last one of the enemies died, and I was exhausted. I let out a whimper and tried to get a hold of Ukyo, but she effortlessly evaded my charge and pinned me against the ground.

"Let me go!" I yelled, kicking my fin as hard as I could, yet her hands were too strong, and wouldn't let me go. "Get off me! Get off me, damn it!"

"Ukyo, what are you doing!" exclaimed Sora, as he raced to her side, and stayed still, apparently thinking if whether he should help me or not. "This isn't like you! Let her go!"

"What's wrong with you, Ukyo? It's as if you've been hypnotized, or something..." Goofy guessed, keeping his distance from us.

"I was!" she exclaimed, and got our attention. "I was, damn it! Listen to me! Ariel, stay still and listen to me!" she looked at me in the eyes, and I noticed them different. She no longer seemed emotionless; a great sadness was in them, and she also looked sincerely repented of what she had done. I kept still and decided to listen to her. "I'm so sorry! Please, believe me! I never meant to hurt you or your dad! Please, forgive me!" she then swam back and added, as she held her head: "I can't believe that she hypnotized me! That bitch! Damn her! I..." she seemed to vanish, and fell on the sand. "I was weak... She did it because I was weak. I had nothing else in mind, but him... That's why she took over me..."

"Oh, that's why you were acting so funny!" Goofy exclaimed. I guess that he was as smart as Flounder... and speaking of him, he suddenly appeared from the shadows, crying:

"Ariel, Ariel! Your..." he stopped talking when he saw the strangers, but after a few moments, went on. "Sebastian said you'd be here! I heard screaming, and that's when I decided to go in... Luckily Ursula doesn't seem to be here. But your dad's weak, Ariel!"

"Oh, no..." I muttered. "Flounder, where is he?"

"He's looking for you! I don't know where he is... He thought that maybe you wouldn't be here, and is searching for you elsewhere. He's worried about you!"

"Oh, daddy!" I exclaimed. "I'm so sorry!"

"Without his trident, he can't even beat Ursula!" my friend added.

"What did I do!" I said to myself. "I've got to go help him!"

"We'll go too!" Sora said. "This was our fault, and I..."

"Wrong." Ukyo suddenly interrupted. "It was my fault. If that fatso wouldn't had hypnotized me, none of this would've ever happened. I'm not going to let her hurt your dad, Ariel. I'm going to get her for what she did to me: for the vain hopes that she sewed in my heart, and for tricking me into hurting your father. Please, forgive me!" she pleaded again, with tears in her eyes.

Again, she had gained my trust. I didn't know what Ursula had done to her, but I was going to make her pay for everything. I was furious... And all of a sudden, a bravery inside me that I didn't know was let loose. I nodded my head, and said:

"Okay. I forgive you. But please, help me help my dad!"

"Can do!" Goofy exclaimed. "But let's get to it, already. I'm kind of slow with this shell, you know..."

"Let us be rid of her, once and for all!" Ukyo growled, and we all swam out of Ursula's lair, and into the fading day.

"Everybody, to the king!" said a loud voice, which roused us up.

It was already morning. I couldn't believe that we had slept for so long. I yawned and rubbed my eyes, as did all my friends. I then noticed that many mermen armed with spears were quickly swimming to the royal chamber. I turned to my companions with a puzzled glance, and they did the same thing. What could be happening? Why were all the warriors being summoned? I felt a chill, as trumpets of alarm suddenly sounded.

"What is going on?" murmured Demean, as he swam near me. "There is evil about, no doubt. The Heartless, I deem. Let us waste no more time and go to the king, like warriors of the deep."

"I agree." I said. Link swam by my side, and I turned to him and added: "There's trouble about."

"So it seems." He replied. "Then let us get ready for battle, fair Aeris. Grab your staff, and be on your guard. I am almost certain that you will have to use every last one of your mighty spells this time." And with that said, we all swam to the king.

When we arrived at Triton's throne room, we let out a gasp of fear. His face was covered by wrinkles and was as pale as the one of a ghost. His muscular body now seemed to be nothing more than a deformed mass of flesh, and his eyes had no color. It was as if he was dead: but he breathed, and he could still move. He got up from his seat and slowly began to swim about. I noticed that he wasn't holding his trident, and that his hand searched for it as it were somewhere near, but his golden weapon was missing. Yet things were actually worse, for then he spoke in a low, weak voice:

"My Ariel is missing. Sebastian here..." he turned to look at a little, red crab that looked at him with a worried face. "Tells me that she and some of your friends grabbed my trident and were on their way to see Ursula. I expect that you may have something to say about this." He turned to us, and asked, angrily, yet as weakly as before: "Where are your friends? What are they doing to my Ariel?"

It was not until then that I realized that Sora, Ukyo, and Goofy were missing. We all gasped and looked for them with our eyes, but they had vanished, as well as Triton's daughter.

"What?" Ranma stuttered. She looked at the king and said: "Are you thinking that Ukyo forced your daughter do steal your trident, or that she herself stole it from you? Don't you give me that! I know Ucchan, and she wouldn't ever do anything of the sort!"

"Yes, she would." Octavius suddenly interfered. We turned to him with stupefied eyes and he added: "If she was hypnotized. And I believe that our meeting with the sea – witch went worse than I first thought."

"Of course!" I exclaimed. "That's why she had such a strange look in her eyes! And I was beginning to think that she was acting weird!"

"What are we to do?" asked Triton, no longer angry, but even more worried than before. "Without my trident, I don't have any power. If Ursula gets her hands on it, she'll surely do horrible things to the sea. I fear for the safety of my people..."

"We will help, then." Ken said. "For whatever's worth. I say that we go get that fatso and smack her a couple of times!"

"And I say that we hurry up!" Ryu added. "When did you see them?" he asked the little crab.

"About half an hour ago, maybe a bit longer." He said.

"That's twice the time they need to get there, if they swim at full speed." Leon guessed. "Let's move! I really don't have a good feeling about all this! And that's saying a lot, considering all the things we have gone through!"

"Let's go save Ukyo!" yelled Akane and with that, all of us quickly left the palace, even Triton, who was in no shape of swimming, followed us. He was escorted by two of his warriors, who held him by his arms, and was given a lance, but he could barely hold it...

All of us swam as quickly as we could to the tunnel that lead to the witch's lair, hoping that it would not be too late. As I looked up into the sky, I saw that the sun was already coming down. That got me very scared, for it could only mean that the power of the Heartless was incredibly strong. Not even fifteen minutes had passed since we had woken up, and when we had opened our eyes, it seemed to be very early in the morning. I took a deep breath, and hoped that the night would not come, for when it did, it would last twice as long than usual. The shadows were growing darker, like savage creatures that reek out of holes in the ground, and began to cover all. But there was no time to think about that. We had to swim faster, unless we wanted Ursula to become the tyrant of the sea. It didn't sound pretty at all... I thought about Ukyo, Sora, and Goofy, and trembled at the thought that they might already be dead by then. Donald, Goofy's best friend, seemed very scared as well, and swam almost as fast as Link himself, who was on the lead along with the rest of Triton's warriors.

It got us only ten minutes to get to the cave that lead to the witch's lair. But, to our dismay, the way was shut. It looked as if it had been closed by a wall of sea – weed. At first, we all thought that the plants would easily yield to a spear or to one sword. But when Octavius (not just anyone: the strongest of us all) swung his sword at the weeds and didn't make even one scratch on them, we knew that magic was protecting the tunnel, and shut its entrance. Donald and I tried to burn them with magical spells, but there was nothing that could be done. None of us could get there, unless we shrunk to the size of a Gummy ship, and neither Donald nor me knew a spell that could shrink our bodies.

"The way is shut!" cried one of the mermen.

"Flounder..." muttered the king to a little, fat fish that had just appeared by his side. "Please, go in there, and find Ariel!"

"I... I..." stuttered the fish. "All right!" he finally agreed. I wondered if he would be able to make it through the weed with that fat belly of his. But in the end, he went through and disappeared from our sight.

"We must find another way!" Demean exclaimed. "Is there another path that we can take?"

"Not that I know of..." Triton said. "But we must look for one at all costs... Let's look for a way. If we all split up, it will be faster. Perhaps Ariel could even be somewhere else..."

"Then let us do that!" Link said.

Most of the king's mermen went one way, and a few ones went another one. The little crab followed Triton and his two guards through another little cave. The rest of us stayed still for a few moments, while we thought about what to do. In the end, we all decided that we should take separate ways as well. Octavius, Ranma, and Akane went one way; Ikki, Shun, and Donald went another; Cid, Leon, Yuffie, and Demean took another route, and Link and I swam as quickly as we could alongside Ryu and Ken down a fourth path.

"Damn that witch!" Ken exclaimed, angrily. "I never thought that she would represent any real threat! But the fatso not only hypnotized Ukyo; she's surely also gotten both Ariel and the trident now! Damn it, damn it, damn it! We're too late!"

"Don't think that, Ken!" Ryu answered. "Instead of saying that and cursing our luck, we should be doing our best to find another way into the lair! Now think: where can we find another cave that'll lead us to that monster?"

"I don't know, Ryu, it's my fist time in the ocean!" Ken grumbled.

"Save your strength for the witch!" Link intervened. "Let us believe that there is still time, but let us also remember that the clock is ticking. Focus and try not to waste your anger with each other!"

We took many other tunnels, but none of them lead us to Ursula's ghastly home. The way was shut, and I was almost certain that there was no other path to take. Ursula had thought of everything, apparently; she had taken her preys to where we could not help them. But we couldn't just give up: we had to try harder and to hope that we would find a way to ruin her plans before she received the trident's power...

The day had nearly ended. The waters had acquired an orange tone and it became darker and darker with each passing second. There was little time left before it was safe for the Heartless to come out of their hiding places. Surely the place was infested with them by now. What I could not understand was how they had grown so strong over so little time... And as this thought hunted my mind, I felt a cold thing about my body, which immobilized me and kept me from screaming. It was as if I had been suddenly tied with an icy weed... I tried to call for help, but not one of my friends heard my call, and they all kept on swimming away from me and as quickly as they could.

I was dragged into a dark cave and a few minutes later, into the open sea. I looked about me and noticed a sunken ship resting on the bottom of the ocean. It had slept there for a long while, I thought, for the wood was rotten and there was a skeleton resting in the deck. I let out a muffled yell and tried to get away from the force that had trapped me, but failed in the attempt. And then, two voices said:

"Stop struggling, mermaid. It's time that you already paid for getting in Ursula's way!"

It was not until then that I realized that the ones who had caught me were none other but Ursula's eels. They were very strong: I couldn't escape their bodies. I thought about hurting them with a spell, but I knew that if I did, I would surely be damaged by my own magic as well. They brought me to the ship's mast, and a foul spell made the rotten ropes of the ship come to life and tie me to it. A big one covered my mouth, and then I was helpless. With both of my arms tied and my voice trapped inside my throat, I couldn't cast any spells. I then saw Ursula, who was holding the golden trident, and was grinning maliciously.

"Well, what a pretty little mermaid." She cackled. "It's a real shame: such a beautiful creature as yourself will be nothing more than an awful mess after I'm done with you... But don't think that I'll do the killing, my dear. I've got other creatures now that can do the job." She turned around and I noticed a great – white shark swimming in the murky waters. It measured fifteen feet from the tip of its jaws to its tail, I guessed. Night had come, and predators had gone out of their hiding places for a taste of flesh by Ursula's command... My flesh. "I will see you later... Well, whatever is left of you. HA!" she concluded and got away from me at an incredible speed, along with her two cursed eels.

The shark slowly began to circle me. I struggled to get free, but the ropes were even more resistant than iron. I began to cry at the thought of being killed by a shark. I had always known that their reputation of senseless killers made them no justice. But this one's eyes told me otherwise. Rather than being black and dead like the ones of a normal shark, they were red, filled by an apparent hatred at me. Its jaws were tightly closed, but I knew that they would open up at any time and would cut me to pieces.

I wept even more as I thought about the way in which I would die. At least, last time I had been buried in the waters. But now, my body would vanish in the beast's stomach; it would be disintegrated by its gastric fluids. No one would know what happened, unless they guessed that the blood that would be left cooling upon the waters was mine... I then thought of Link and prayed that he didn't come. He would surely be too late to save me, and I didn't want him to see me die. Cloud had seen how Sephiroth had driven his sword through my stomach. When I stopped breathing and felt the sharpness of the blade as it pierced me, I lifted my gaze and saw Cloud's face filled by an infinite sadness. I died with tears in my face, thinking of that horrible expression: I didn't want to see Link in the same way. I only wished to die quickly; so that he could not see my body at the time it would be dismembered by the bloodthirsty shark. I couldn't be killed in front of him like that...

The shark moved closer, and closer. It passed so close to me that it even hurt me with its sharp skin. I let out a muffled whimper of pain and prayed for it to finish me soon. It swam by my back, and I closed my eyes, knowing that the white sharks always attack from behind. But a moment passed, and I looked again. The beast wanted it to see me coming at me: it wanted me to see its jaws to the very end. It then showed my its teeth and got ready to tear off my fin... It was worse than I thought. Ursula had surely commanded it not to kill me so quickly. She wanted me to be in agony... I closed my eyes again, and let out a terrified scream, which was muffled by the rope, and everything went black.

I heard a loud, thunderous noise, and thought that I had already died. I even felt pain in both my fin and arms, as if rows of knives were stabbing them repeatedly. But such agony could not last as long as it did. I dared to open my eyes, and to my surprise, saw that the shark had swum a few yards away, and was circling me again. Then, I noticed a hole on the ship's deck in front of me, and saw that a man – not a merman, but a human – stood between the shark and me, just as if he was standing on a waterless environment. He only wore boxers; he was very tall and muscular, and had long, light – brown hair, almost like mine, which fell down on his shoulders. He wielded a sword on his back, and his skin was unnaturally white. I couldn't see his face, but I could notice the strange, ghostly glitter of his violet eyes staring at the beast with anger...

The shark charged again, but the man protected me by pushing him aside with great strength. The giant fish actually growled and tried to bite his head off. The man, however, was as quick as a leopard and moved out of the beast's jaw's way. Before the shark swam away, the man hit him in the eye as hard as he could. The shark hurried up and got away from my defender, blood oozing from its empty socket. His punch had been so hard that he had smitten his eye...

The shark retreated and looked at my savior with its one good eye with rage. He merely put himself on guard again and stayed close to me. I tried to tell him to let me loose so I could help him, but my voice came out as muffled screaming. The beast charged again, but the man skillfully dodged its jaws. It tried to tear him apart again and again, not to avail, and the man just kept on jumping from one side of the ship to another. He then leapt up the sails and battled against the shark from there. Yet the beast had, amazingly, an evil plan in its mind. Once it had driven the man away from me, he swam to me, aiming for my head with its teeth. I screamed as its jaws closed again and again just a few inches away from my face. The man – I don't know how he did it – had run to the shark and was grabbing him by his tail. After many tries of killing me, the shark finally gave up and turned to bite him. My defender jumped out of its way just in time, but was bruised, nonetheless. The great fish swam away again, and seemed to smile wickedly at the sight of the man, whose arm was terribly hurt. I then saw his face. He was very handsome; he had manly, tough features, and his gaze was even more magical than I had first thought, despite the fact that he was really mad. His violet eyes shone fiercely as he looked at the shark and whispered to himself:

"It looks like evil has conquered you, beast. So be it. I did not want it to come to this, but you leave me no choice." And so, his wound vanished and he unsheathed his sword, and two small fangs came out from his mouth.

The shark charged at him one last time. He moved away, swung his sword and I shut my eyes. After a moment, I opened them again, only to see the lifeless, sliced body of the beast falling by the side of the ship and to the sea floor. I let out a relieved sigh as I closed my eyes again and felt two final tears flow out of them. The man then slashed the ropes that tied me with his sword, and asked:

"Are you alright?"

I couldn't help but to weep again and embrace him. He hugged me back, and said:

"Do not worry. It is fine. That beast will haunt you no longer..."

"Thank you..." I murmured, between sobs.

"Hey, what's going on up there!" called a voice from below the ship... a voice which I knew.

Out of the hole, came out another man, along with a woman. He wielded an enormous sword, and she was armed with nothing more than a pair of hard fists. I knew both of their faces. I knew his golden hair and once loved his blue eyes. And I knew her red – ruby glance and missed her pretty smile. They noticed me and dropped their jaws. I let out a happy giggle and clasped my hands. Still not understanding what was going on, he dropped his sword and his legs began to shake, whereas she started to cry merry tears.

"It can't be..." he finally said, in a bewildered whisper. "No way... Aeris?"

"Cloud..." I sobbed. "Tifa..."

"Aeris..." she muttered. She walked near me and touched my face, trying to convince herself that my skin was real, as were the tears flowing from my eyes. She caressed my hair and my ears. Finally, she let out a loud, shattered laugh, and exclaimed: "It is you! Aeris, it is you!" and hugged me so tightly that I could hardly breathe.

"Tifa!" I exclaimed, unable to contain my own laughter. Cloud stayed in place for a few more seconds before bursting into tears and hugging me as well. "Cloud!"

"Aeris, my baby friend!" he said, between sobs. It was the second time that I saw him cry. But this time, he was happy... And yet, he had called me 'friend'. And when I saw him and Tifa holding me in their arms, I understood. I thought about Link, and quickly forgot about the sudden pain that shot through my heart. It was time to be happy... "You're alive! Bless you, you're alive!" he turned around, and yelled: "Guys! Vincent, get over here! You're not going to believe this!"

And out of the hole, came out Vincent. When he saw me, his eyes were filled by surprise and he dropped the gun that he was carrying. I managed to escape Tifa and Cloud's hug and embraced him with a laugh.

"Vincent!" I cried. "I missed you so much!"

"Aeris..." he muttered, as if still trying to believe his eyes. "Aeris!" he hugged me as well, not as tightly as the other ones, but firmly enough not to let me escape. Then, I felt even something more amazing: I felt his tears on my shoulder. Vincent was the coldest person I knew before I met Octavius; I had never seen him cry. Never. And now, there he was, weeping on me! "I didn't think that I'd ever see you again..."

"I thought the same thing." I sobbed.

And then, many others came out. There were two green – haired succubus, a little fairy, a hobbit, a boy and a girl around my savior's age, two strong, young men, and a catwoman. I smiled at them and giggled. But before I could introduce myself to them, a manly voice called my name.

"AERIS!"

Then, Link appeared on deck, both of his sharp fins ready to attack whatever danger. But he quickly sheathed them as he saw my happy face and the rest of the other men. He walked to me and whispered:

"Are you alright?"

"Link!" I exclaimed, and threw myself at his arms (I have to admit that at that time, I most likely did it so that I wouldn't end up like a fool in front of Cloud and Tifa). "You've come!"

"A bit late, I suppose." He chuckled. "Who are all of you?" he asked.

"Apparently, friends of the lady, my good creature." Replied the fairy, while grinning. "At least, Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent know who she is."

"Cloud? Tifa? Vincent?" he asked. He turned to them, and added: "Aeris has talked much of you. Then I am relieved, for I know that you are friends with her. It is good to meet some normal people, at last. My name is Link, as she has already said, and we are very good companions." I giggled when he said 'companions'... he hadn't said friends!

"Well, nice to meet you, Link." Said Cloud, and shook hands with him. "But, I... Aeris, how the hell did you end up like a mermaid?" he asked, with a laugh.

"It's a long story; I'll tell you all later!" I said. I then turned to the man who had saved me from the beast and went next to him, while holding Link's hand. And so, I said: "He saved my live. A shark was after me, and he prevented anything bad from happening to me. Thank you very much." I added and bowed my head.

"Then I thank you too, for saving her life." Link said. "For there is a special bond between us, and if it would be broken, then I would fade away and die."

"I understand what you say..." replied the man, with a confused smile. Well, after all, Link was still in a Zora's body... "And pray, do not worry about it any longer. Pleased to meet you both, especially you, Aeris. It is a miracle that you came back to life, for I learnt that you died unfairly. But the fiend that dared to hurt you paid for his sins once again. I will tell you the story later: for now, I will only speak my name, lady. I am Wilheim."

It then hit me. Wilheim. His name echoed in my mind hundreds of times, and my smile vanished from my face, as did Link's. And then, I remembered everything: Ariel, Ukyo, Sora, and Goofy were still out there, and needed our help. We had lingered too much there...

"Wilheim?" whispered Link.

"What is it?" he asked, looking at us with bewildered eyes.

"Wilheim..." I said, and came out of my trance. Then, I exclaimed: "Wilheim! She's in trouble, and she might be killed if we don't do something! You've got to hurry, Wilheim! We've got to find a way to enter Ursula's lair, unless we want her to be killed!"

"Who? Whom are you talking about?" he asked, even more confused than before.

"Ukyo! I know her, and she's in trouble! She's with a mermaid named Ariel, and a boy, named Sora, and a turtle – dog, Goofy! She needs your help!"

Everyone gasped in terror, and Wilheim's eyes shone with fear and anger. He grabbed my by the shoulders, and stared at me with a flaming glance.

"Where is she?" he asked. "Where!"

"The path to the lair is shut..." I answered. "It is that way!" and I pointed to the murky waters.

"No rock, ship, or fiend will stop me now!" He growled, and his eyes became even fiercer. An aura of purple flames engulfed him and he yelled: "UKYO, I COME NOW!" and he took off running as quickly as he could. The sand of the sea floor was parted in two and thousands of bubbles floated up to the surface...

"Let's go help him!" Cloud yelled, and they all took off running after him, while Link and I swam by their sides.

"Aeris, there you are!" Ryu exclaimed, as he and Ken came out of the cave and swam next to Link and me. I grabbed them by their arms and yelled:

"Come on! No time to lose!"

"What?" Ken stuttered. "Wait a minute... Who are all these guys?"

"RYU! KEN!" the young girl yelled, and stopped running for a moment.

"Isn't that...? Sakura!" Ryu yelled and swam by her side. She threw herself at his arms and laughed. "Hey! What are you doing here? How can you be like that, huh? I mean, I..."

"It's the Underwater Materia." She explained, as she hugged Ken. "It's this little purple rock that lets you breathe under water, and..."

"You will talk later!" Link intervened. "We must go to Wilheim's aid!"

"Wilheim!" Ken exclaimed. "Wilheim as in Ukyo's boyfriend?"

"Yeah!" I replied. "We found him! And Ukyo's still in trouble, as well as Sora and Goofy! Let's go help them!" and with that being said, we all raced to the other's side, hoping that it would not be too late for Ukyo and the others...

Ursula seemed to have vanished into thin water. There was no finding her. And what was worse was that the stupid fatso didn't leave any trail for us to follow. I was half expecting her to leave a trail of black ink. But she had escaped our sight. We had looked around her lair and had found nothing. We then hurried to the palace, but there was no one there. Not even my dad... I began to get very worried. I could feel my arms trembling from anguish.

We searched all over the sea, what bit of it was left, because it seemed to me that the Heartless were starting to consume it. I was also worried that, at any moment, a black hole could appear in the waters and swallow us all! I was almost sure that they had already been devoured by one in the past, and dreaded to think what could happen to them if one ate them again... We had to finish with both Ursula and the Heartless quickly. And at these thoughts, I swam faster and faster.

Then, we finally got to a wide opening. There seemed to be nothing there but a few rocks and some seaweed. Even the little fish swimming about the place were very scarce. The water was icy cold. I even had trouble in kicking my tail, and I can bet that my companions also found the environment very cold. I could see Goofy's teeth chattering, and Sora rubbing his hands. However, Ukyo and I didn't do anything to warm ourselves up. I had only one thought in my mind... My dad.

And that was when I saw her. She had a golden crown in her head and was laughing wickedly. She held the golden trident triumphantly above her and her eels swam around her. And at her tentacles, there were three cursed seaweeds of the very same kind that we had seen in her ghastly garden. It then realized that the golden crown was that of my daddy's, and let out a gasp of terror... Sebastian was next to the three seaweeds and looked at the one in the middle with both horror and sadness.

"Oh, no." Flounder muttered, and trembled when he realized what had happened.

"DADDY!" I yelled, and we all raced to the three seaweeds. Just as I thought... The one in the very middle had my father's eyes and even had his beard! I began to weep as I looked down at him and gently touched his head. "Oh, daddy..." I sobbed. "I'm so sorry, daddy..." I then lifted my head and saw Ursula dancing and chanting to herself:

"I'm the sole ruler of the seas!"

I felt a terrible anger growing inside me, one that I had never felt before. My tears were no longer sad, and I sobbed with rage. I tightened my fists and cut my hands with my nails. But I didn't care. I didn't even feel pain. I only wanted to get that witch and to make her pay for what she had done to my father...

"You... YOU MONSTER!" I yelled and threw myself at her. But before I could get to her, both of her eels caught me and began to squeeze me. "NO! LET ME GO!"

"Ah, but if it isn't the lovely princess!" she cackled. "I warrant that you'll make a nice addition to my collection! But don't feel sad! At least, you'll be next to your daddy!" and so she fired a spell at me.

But before it could reach me, Ukyo rejected it with her weapon. She growled, and then shouted:

"You tricked me, witch! Now I'm going to finish you, unless you return that crown and trident! Those golden items are not fit for a monster such as yourself, abomination!"

"No." Ursula laughed. "You don't ask politely, and I shouldn't listen to what you, a puppet, has to say!"

"Have it your way!" Ukyo cried and charged at Ursula. Her eels let me go and tried to capture Ukyo, but she was too quick for them. She discharged a heavy blow on Ursula, but the witch managed to parry it with my daddy's trident. They stayed there for a while, without moving. I then remembered the cursed eels and threw them a fiery potion. They screeched in pain and went after me, while Ukyo fought against Ursula.

Before they could get to me, Goofy and Sora came to my aid and we began battle against them. Their teeth were twice as dangerous as the rest of their bodies; they were capable of even chewing through a rock. I didn't know that eels had such strength... Well, it was most likely one of Ursula's spells. Either way, we had to be very careful not to get bitten by them. Goofy often hid his head inside his shell so that they would not bite it off... After all, he wasn't as 'brilliant' as Flounder. And when I thought about this and remembered the little fish, I said:

"Flounder! Go get Sebastian and get out of here! It's dangerous...! No, wait! Please, watch over my dad!"

"Okay, Ariel!" he exclaimed as he swam next to Sebastian's side and stayed beside my dad.

I decided that it was time to quit messing around with the eels and took out my lightning potions. They were the most powerful that I had. I knew that all of us would probably feel a little shock, but nothing very significant. I couldn't hold back this time: my dad's life was at stake, as were our owns. I yelled as I threw two at the eels. When the potions crashed against their bodies, they exploded in a tiny storm of rays, and the fiends yelled in pain as we saw their bones flash through their scales. When the shock was over, both Sora and Goofy hit them with great strength and smashed them against the floor. But the eels were far from being defeated. They shook their heads and went after us again.

Meanwhile, Ukyo fought with a rage beyond imagination. Every time she swung her giant spatula, she shattered every rock that was in her steel's path whenever Ursula evaded her blows. When she parried them, she seemed to shrink before Ukyo's fury and had to use a spell to get her off. But our companion was really resistant, and no spell seemed to harm her. She charged at Ursula and kept on pressing the attack. The witch suddenly smiled as three of her tentacles wrapped themselves around Ukyo's body and began to squeeze. She let out a little yell and banged the tentacles with her weapon, but Ursula was much more sturdier than she was. But then, she kicked her tail and slapped her face a couple of times. The witch let her go, startled by the sudden hits, and then received a terrible blow on the head. She crashed against a rock and shattered it. Then she glanced at Ukyo with anger; her spatula was still shaking from that last attack. Ursula yelled and attacked: Ukyo was succeeding in making her lose her patience.

Sora, Goofy, and I were kicking the two eels' fins. I was so mad that I had even grabbed one from its tail and swung it against the ground. I quickly let go of it before it bit me and managed to throw an ice potion into its mouth. Its jaws became frozen and I slapped its face with my tail. Then, it growled and tried to capture me, but Goofy got in the way, and acting like a wall, stayed still while the eel crashed onto his shell. Sora kept on banging the other eel with his weapon, and the creature just got weaker and weaker. However, it suddenly moved out of one of his blows and bit his arm. He yelled as he tried to shake it off, but the eel wouldn't let go. So I prepared two fire potions and threw them at it. The scorched eel screeched in pain and got away from Sora. I then tossed a healing potion at him, and his wound vanished...

Ukyo had scored plenty of hits by that time, and Ursula was full of bruises. She found out that Ukyo was no easy target and that was stronger than she had first thought. The mermaid kept on slapping her with her tail, hitting her with her fists, and banging her with her spatula. The battle seemed to be nearly over... But then, Ursula growled and the golden trident in her hands began to glow.

"I've had it with you!" she yelled and aimed the tip at Ukyo.

"UKYO, MOVE!" I screamed as Ursula fired a ray from the weapon.

Our companion skillfully dodged the ray, but didn't realize that Goofy was behind her. The turtle gasped and quickly hid inside his shell. It bounced off his shield and amazingly, hit both eels. They screeched one last time before they blew into pieces. Goofy then popped his head out of his shell, and said, with a chuckle:

"Wow! Two down, one to go!"

"My babies!" Ursula cried. "Flotsam... Jetsam! My poor, little babies!"

"You're next, witch!" Ukyo exclaimed, and got ready to fight again.

Ursula didn't answer. She only stared back at her with eyes reddened by hatred, and growled. From her bottom, a cloud of ink arose and began to cover all. It was just great. The trail that we had so long wished for had finally showed up... In a rather nasty way. Everything turned black in a matter of seconds and Ursula's growls only kept growing louder and more fearsome. I let out a gasp and went to look for Ukyo, while holding both Sora and Goofy. If we all got lost in there, then there would be no telling what would happen to us.

"Ukyo!" yelled Sora, as he bumped into her. "You're here!"

"Don't worry, Sora." She replied, calmly. I was scared out of my wits, but she seemed to be cool about everything... "We lived through Ganondorf, didn't we? I bet that this fatso isn't half as dangerous. We can beat her, you'll see."

But then, a strong current of water came from below and shot us up. We yelled as we went up, and up, and up... and were shot out into the surface, above the waves. We seemed to fly for a moment, and then began to fall back into the sea again. My back touched the water first, and I let out a yell of pain as the waves slapped me. It had been a really nasty fall. My other friends shook their heads and then we all looked, with terror, at what now lay in front of us...

Ursula, the sea – witch, was no longer. She had turned into the most menacing, most horrible creature of the ocean. She was still herself... But had grown about eighty feet. Her eyes were staring at us maliciously, with red flames as the trident and crown glowed brightly, scattering many shadows about, and making the night almost as clear as the dusk. It was a golden dusk, but it was not as beautiful as it sounds. I could only see fear upon the surface and even Ukyo, who had stayed calm during all that time, swam back a few yards, with a terrified look in her eyes.

"YOU PITIFUL, INSIGNIFICANT FOOLS!" Ursula roared, with a laugh, and her tentacles began to whip the water about with great ferocity, as gigantic waves began to throw us around and as the cloudy sky began to roar with thunder. We fell many times as we were carried around by the aggressive waves, and were nearly struck by those powerful rays many times. I could only think about running away, but the sea waves wouldn't let me go. "IDIOTS! THE OCEAN BOWS TO MY POWER!" she added, as many strong whirlpools appeared by her and began to suck us into them.

In my desperation, I reached for a lightning potion and threw it at her. The monster actually seemed to be hurt by the lightning and the sea was calm for a moment. I had found her weak point! I let out a hope – filled giggle as I reached for more potions... But then, I let out a horrified whimper as I realized that I had none left! I had spent them all against the two stupid eels and against the Heartless! My heart stopped as Ursula looked at me with her horrible eyes and then, a wave threw me against a whirlpool. As its waters sucked me into it, I saw how Ukyo had managed to get near the monster and was hitting her with her spatula. But Ursula's hide was even capable of stopping cannon fire at the moment. She laughed and decided to end with us. Two of her tentacles came after us: one grasped both Ukyo and me and the other one captured Goofy and Sora. Thunder roared as she cackled and squeezed our bodies. I felt all hope escape me and let out a shattered yell.

"Let us go, witch!" I demanded, but my shout came out as a pathetic whimper.

"THAT'S IT! PLEA!" she roared. "WIGGLE LIKE WORMS ON HOOKS! YOU WILL GET NO MERCY! I WILL KILL YOU ALL!"

At that moment, she squeezed harder and we all let out pain – filled groans. And then, Ukyo burst out in tears. She began to cry like a little six – year old mermaid who cries at the sight of herself caught in a fishermen's net... Her loud moans pierced the air and Ursula laughed even more.

"CRY, YOU WEAKLING! CRY!"

"Oh, Ariel!" she yelled, between sobs. "I'm so sorry! This is all my fault! I'm sorry, Sora! Goofy! Please forgive me!" she paused and then raised her head to the sky and yelled in a cry that made the rest of us weep for her: "I'M SORRY, WILHEIM! I LOVE YOU!"

"I'M SURE THAT YOUR LITTLE BOYFRIEND WILL BE DELIGHTED TO SEE YOUR HEAD IN THE TIP OF MY TRIDENT! I WILL SHOW IT TO HIM WHEN HE GETS HERE!" the witch roared, with an evil cackle. "SO MUCH FOR TRUE LOVE!"

I sobbed and held Ukyo's hand, who could do nothing but to stare at the incoming trident with the saddest face I'd ever seen. I pitied her. But I couldn't help her... and this made me truly sad. I wept with her as her moans grew louder and as the golden trident came closer, and closer...

Lightning roared and the waves crashed. A thunderous clash nearly made our eardrums burst. Ursula jerked her hand back and a rain of sparks fell on us. The monster groaned in confusion, while lightning still fell on the furious sea. She looked around for the one who had shot that fireball; that mighty projectile that had saved us from my dad's trident. I could even feel a warm draft of wind stroking my friends and I. The monster's head suddenly became still and she smiled wickedly as her eyes glowed with a red color again. Even though her dark, evil tentacle was wrapped around my body very tightly, I managed to turn my head around, and then saw the one who had saved us, floating in the air...

I couldn't believe our luck! There he was, surrounded by lightning and purple flames! Two wings had come out of his back and he slowly flapped them up and down. Not too quickly, though, for he didn't move from where he was, but not too slowly either, for he didn't descent. His sword was in hand: it had turned into a living flame that even groaned and longed for Ursula's blood, I guessed. His fangs had cut his lips, but the wounds had disappeared already. And his eyes shone in the most horrible way you could ever imagine. But I wasn't afraid of them. He had a heroic air to him, actually... Two violet candles lit in the dark night, whose glitter was even fiercer than the one of my daddy's trident. The sea's surface became illuminated by it, and when this happened, I finally managed to shout at the top of my lungs:

"WILHEIM! SAVE US!"

And then, Ukyo slowly turned her head around, and stopped sobbing. Her eyes were lit by the violet glow and more tears flowed out of them. She seemed to freeze in time for a few instants; but she then wept again, and cried in an even louder voice than me:

"WILHEIM!"

Wilheim came out of his trance and let out an enraged yell that even deafened the thunders. Afterwards, he began to fly at us at an incredible speed: his body parted the waves and the sea seemed to tremble before him. Ursula barely managed to block his blow, and when she did, she tumbled and nearly fell on her back. Wilheim turned back and attacked again, and again, the monster parried the blow, and tumbled from side to side once more. The vampire didn't stop the attack, but didn't charge in the same way. Rather than that, he flew very quickly and tried to stab Ursula with hundreds of attacks. The monster parried several blows. However, Wilheim wounded her many times. He suddenly stopped and lightning engulfed him. Ursula growled and shot a ray of light at him from the tip of my dad's trident. But Wilheim grunted as he saw the attack and repelled it with his sword. Ursula dropped her jaw at the sight of this. Even I couldn't believe that there was a weapon capable of withstanding one of my dad's shots! She was now lost, no doubt about that!

But suddenly, she had a horrible idea, and smiled again. I heard her evil cackle, and she began to squeeze our bodies. I felt as if all the bones in me were about to be shattered. We all tried to yell for aid, but our screams got stuck on our throats. Nevertheless, Ukyo managed to overcome the tentacle's force, and yelled:

"OW... WILHEIM!"

As soon as he heard her yell, he flew down and came our way. Ursula had foreseen this and began to swing her tentacles, trying to whip him with them. But Wilheim merely turned into mist. Ursula froze when he did this. He didn't reappear until he was right by our side. And then, he swung his blade and cut both tentacles with one blow. We fell into the sea and I quickly swum away from the monster, along with Sora and Goofy. However, Ukyo raced to the beast and tried to attack her. Luckily, Sora and I were quick enough to swim to her and hold her by the arms.

"LET ME GO!" she yelled. "HE NEEDS HELP!"

"You can't help him!" I cried. "She's too powerful for us!"

"Listen to her, Ukyo!" Sora added. "She's right!"

We finally managed to pull her back to safety, even though she gave quite a struggle and almost got away a couple of times. From there, we saw how Wilheim kept on fighting against Ursula with all of his strength. Suddenly, she swung the trident at him, and he managed to parry it with his blade. However, he couldn't move, and struggled hard just to stay close to the monster, who was enraged at the vampire. Her six remaining tentacles tried to reach up to him, but he was flying too high for them, and she couldn't use just one of her hands to struggle against him, because if she did, he would surely beat her. Gosh, I wished that she would make this mistake...

Suddenly, we heard a growl. It had come from underwater. We turned down and saw a huge shadow of Heartless coming at us. I let out a gasp and tried to reach for my potions again, only to find out once more that I was out of them. Ukyo clinched to her spatula, with tears of desperation in her face, while Sora put himself on guard and Goofy swam in front of me with hopes of protecting me from the foes with his shell...

But there was no need of fighting this time. Many rays of light suddenly came from the bottom and caught the Heartless's attention. They turned back and most of them vanished as soon as they did. The other ones tried to surface in fear, but failed in the attempt. A few seconds later, a mermaid, two mermen and a strange creature surfaced. They were the same ones that had come along with Ukyo, Sora, and Goofy to my dad's throne!

"AERIS!" Ukyo yelled. "We've got to help him!" he pointed at Wilheim and kept on speaking. "Please, Aeris! He needs our help! Ryu, Ken, Link! Please, help him!"

"That's one REALLY large whale – octopus!" the blonde merman said. "God... Is that Wilheim over there?"

"What power!" the other merman, who wore a red piece of cloth around his head, added. "I can't believe that he is standing up to that monster! But... it seems that his strength is failing him! He must be using much more power than his body can withstand!"

"Then let us speak of it no longer and help him!" the creature exclaimed.

"She's weak against lightning!" both Ukyo and I cried. And then, she added: "Fry her ass with lightning spells!"

"I'll help what I can with a 'Hadoken'!" said the blonde merman.

"I'll use my 'Shinku – Hadoken'!" added the other one.

"Do that, and distract her while you can." Said the creature. He turned to the mermaid and told her: "Aeris, wait until my signal to let loose your fiercest lightning spell. Both of our electrical fields will make her yield. Look for my signal, alright?"

"Where are you going, Link?" she asked, as he got ready to dive underwater.

"Trust me, please!"

"I... I'll trust you, Link!"

And so, both mermen cupped their hands and began to summon some sort of magical wind to them, while the mermaid lifter her hands and thunder began to roar above her. The other one swam as quickly as he could to the monster's body. He avoided all whipping tentacles and managed to get a hold of the monster's stomach. And so, he delved one of his arms into it. Ursula hardly felt it, I think, for she only grunted and glanced at him as Link cried:

"NOW, AERIS!"

"SHINKU – HADOKEN!"

"HADOKEN!"

"THUNDAGA!"

Aeris, Ryu, and Ken's cries traveled through the waves, as did their attacks: two blue rays of energy, one fiercer than the other, crashed against Ursula's body. She tumbled and yelled in pain. Then, a thunder roared right above her head, and Ukyo yelled:

"WILHEIM! LET GO!"

Wilheim heard her cry and quickly turned into mist and flew away as the storm of lightning fell on the monster. And then, Link let out a battle cry as a blue field of electrical energy began to flow from his body and into Ursula's. The monster thrashed and yelled as smoke rose from her very skin. Still, she wouldn't let go of my daddy's trident. A long time passed, and both Aeris and Link grew weak. The last ray fell on Ursula and Link took his arm out of the beast's body. Although weak, Ursula wasn't beaten yet. She whipped Link with one of her tentacles and he flew all the way to where we were. Aeris swam at him and held him before he sank. He shook his head and let out a tired sigh: he wasn't hurt. He was only weakened, but that was all.

Finally, Wilheim decided to end the battle. He swung his sword at the trident as hard as he could: this time, it flew right out of Ursula's hands and shrunk in the air. Then, the vampire let out a furious roar and thrust his sword deep into her chest. Ursula tried to cry, but it seemed that the pain was so intense that she couldn't even speak.

"THIS IS THE END FOR YOU, MONSTER!" Wilheim yelled. "CONSUME HER, RENAMARK! EASE YOUR THIRST WITH THIS FILTH'S FLESH!"

The sword obeyed and suddenly, an explosion of yellow flames engulfed the monster. Black smoke rose from the sea and her tentacles shrunk. And then, she disappeared in the cloud.

The sea became at ease and the sky cleared. It was still night, but it was a clear, beautiful night, and it was filled with stars. Wilheim nearly turned into another one, because he was still floating in the air and seemed so small... He sheathed his sword and his wings suddenly vanished. He was too tired to fly anymore. Ukyo raced to him as he fell into the sea. He plunged into the water headfirst and began to sink...

As we all dived and followed Ukyo, I noticed that the trident was falling right to where my dad was. And when it touched the ground, Ursula's spell broke, and my dad was his old self again, as well as the other two mermen.

"DADDY!" I yelled, happily, and quickly hugged him.

"My Ariel!" he said, and hugged me back. I cried on his chest, and said:

"I'm so sorry, daddy! I didn't mean to do any harm! Please, forgive me! I'm such an idiot! I'm so sorry! I love you, daddy! I don't want anything bad to happen to you ever again!"

"Oh, Ariel!" he replied. "I'm sorry too. It was stupid of my also to banish those humans like I did. It seems that they're not so mean as we thought..." we looked up and saw that Wilheim was still sinking into the depths of the sea. But before long, Ukyo caught him and took him to the surface. All of her friends followed her, as did we. I noticed that the Underwater Materia had slipped off his neck and quickly grasped it.

When we surfaced, we saw that Ukyo had already taken him to a nearby rock, and had laid him there. She climbed onto it, and said in a low voice, not minding the rest of us as we swam closer:

"Please, Wilheim, baby... Don't you die... You're going to be just fine. Just be strong, and you'll see that you'll pull through!"

Wilheim, who seemed to have been unconscious until then, let out a weak chuckle, and replied:

"Of course I will. You know that I can heal my wounds. I only need a little rest... Or have you forgotten about the time when I revealed to you that I was a vampire? I only need a bit of blood, and I should be fine."

"Oh, Wilheim – honey!" she exclaimed and held him between sobs and laughter. "You can have all you want... Drink from me if you're feeling weak."

"Perhaps later, my love." He replied, with another weak laugh. He sighed, and said: "I was so furious that I let loose too much power. Too much for my own body to withstand it. Luckily, your friends came... I never thought I would experience a change like that. Gargoyle wings came out of my back, yet I remained in a human's shape... I wonder why that was?"

"Stop talking about it right now, Wilheim – honey..." she murmured. "I was thinking that I would never see you again! Here you are! At long last... Oh, baby, I missed you so much." She kissed him all over his face, and her tears fell on his cheeks. "Without you, I felt lost. There were only shadows... I see light, now. I don't ever want to lose you again, not ever: I don't care if you're a vampire still. I still love you. I love you, I love you, honey, and I'll never get tired of saying that. The nights will be beautiful again, no matter the perils, for you are by my side again..."

"My darling..." he said with a broken voice and a happy smile. He began to cry bloody tears, but she didn't seem to be scared by them. Instead, she wiped them with her hands hand kissed his cheeks. He embraced her softly and whispered in her ear: "I can live again. Do not think that just because I am a vampire I need no sun. You are the star that lights my path. I feel your loving touch and it is softer than silk, softer than the winds at dusk, and warmer than the embrace of the day, which I long have wished to feel. I see your loving, blue eyes again, and they are more precious than diamonds, fairer than the sea... Those are the only true jewels that haunt me. And I smell your hair and know that such pure air cannot be found elsewhere. For the wind turns venomous when you are not around. I deem that it has been no more than three months since our last meeting, but for me, it has been another fifty years..." he paused, and then added, in a lovely whisper: "Let me kiss your lips, for I long their taste. Let me savor your sweet fragrance, for naught but blood has stained them. Let me love you, my darling..."

"Wilheim..." she said, in a muffled breath as she kissed him passionately and shut him up.

I couldn't help but to chuckle and wipe off a happy tear that ran down my face and let out a giggle as my dad put his arm around me and kissed my forehead. I was so glad to see them together. The rest of the ones around me felt the same way, I guess, for they were all smiling and sighing silently. It seemed like finally, their long wait had ended. They were together again, and this time, nothing would bring them apart. A stage of their quest had ended.

I wish I could have that, too... I thought to myself as they finally stopped kissing and laughed merrily.

I couldn't believe the amazing luck that we had had by coming to Atlantis. Not only had Ukyo found Wilheim and I had met with Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent, and the little girl Sakura had met with our Ryu and our Ken... There was much more to it.

"I cannot believe this..." said Wilheim, breathlessly, as he looked at Demean with bewildered eyes. "For the longest time, I hoped that we would meet again, but this was the most unlikely place of them all for our reencounter, I reckon."

"Stop talking, little parrot!" laughed the elf, as he hugged him. "If you start speaking, there is hardly any force in the world capable of hushing you!" he then turned to see the little fairy and the hobbit, and his smile became bigger. "Oh, my little Tish! And Merryck Goldengrass!" he embraced them too, without letting go of Wilheim. "Merry times are here again!"

"Demean! I missed you so much!" cried the fairy as she held on to his cheek and wept happily along with him. "I was certain that I would meet you again! But I did not believe that the time would come so soon!"

"It's such a joy to see you, friend!" added the hobbit. "And this time, it is I who will most likely do the talking about many adventures! And there are still more to follow, I deem! This is certainly a joyful moment!"

After a few moments, Wilheim managed to escape the massive hug and joined another one...

"Wilheim! Ryoga!" cried both Ranma and Akane, joyfully, as both of them, along with Ukyo, hugged both Wilheim and another boy who wore a yellow bandanna on his head. "It's so good to see you guys again!"

"Likewise, Akane!" laughed the boy with the yellow bandanna. "I was so worried about you, girls!"

"Hey, cut that out, Ryoga!" said Ranma. "You know better than to mess with me! Oh, I can explain about it, Wilheim..."

"Ryoga has already been kind enough to tell me the story, Ranma." Laughed the vampire. "Do not worry about it."

Next, it was my turn to join a group hug. Cid, Yuffie, and I quickly went to Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent, and held them tightly. Then, they all promised me that they would never let anything bad happen to me again...

The little girl Sakura now held Ryu and Ken for a long time and told them all that she wanted to tell them (well, not all, I suppose, for I was certain that there was much more to say than just a five – minute talk, which is all that she got at that time).

Last but not least, our three most recent team members also found their friends. Shun, Hyoga, and Ikki were delighted to see the other two saints which they had told us so much about: Shiryu and Seyia, and they also seemed to be very happy to find them as well.

Our two parties had met at last. Hopes were renewed and our strength grew. We all went proudly to king Triton's palace as the night began to wane. The king, who had always disliked humans, had finally accepted that not all of us were as mean as he believed. It was truly something amazing... Not only had we found our lost friends, but we had also forged a special bond between land and sea. The Heartless's forces, which had been growing at such a fast rate in that land, had now become very weak, and what was better was that king Triton knew where the keyhole was hidden. He revealed that it was inside Ariel's Grotto, and when he mentioned this, his daughter looked at him with a surprised glance. Then the king revealed to her that he already knew about her collection. He had always disliked it, but had chosen not to say anything. Now, however, the time had come to enter the cave and put an end to the evil menace in the sea.

The only ones that entered the cave were the king, Ariel, Ukyo, Wilheim, Sora, and I, while the rest of our friends waited outside. The king raised his golden trident, and upon the rocks of the cave, appeared a strange marking. He stuck his weapon in it as if were some sort of a key, and Atlantis's keyhole was revealed to us. Sora smiled and quickly shot it with his Keyblade, and the evil shadows were finished.

We decided to spend the day in Triton's palace, who had offered us sea – beds again. Then, we would be off. But our strength had been renewed, and our hearts were now beating happily. We had become an unstoppable army: the Heartless would never be able to beat us now!


	22. Chapter TwentyOne: Hades's Tournament

Hey, kids. I just want to claim a character that I mention in this chapter, Rofell, and reclaim the three that I mentioned (not two; I forgot how to count for a second... :P) in chapter Nineteen, that's Siegfried, Elizabeth, and Tom. Oh, and, I apologize for the delay...  
  
That was short, wasn't it? Enjoy! :)  
  
Narrator: Wilheim  
  
Chapter Twenty-One: Hades's Tournament  
  
The light in my eyes had finally changed once again. As I looked onto Ariel's mirror inside her Grotto, I noticed that sadness had left them. For good, I hoped... Ukyo was again at my side. Now, like Cloud would say, 'Absolutely everything was cool'.  
  
The night waned, but the stars shone peacefully. Evil had been smitten in Atlantis, and I had found my beloved under the cool of the sea. I smiled happily, for not only was she near me now; I had also met my long lost friend, Demean, the legendary elf. When he had left me in the Rugliath ruins, I thought that centuries would pass by me before I saw him again. How merry I was when I saw that I had been mistaken. At long last, our two parties had met; our strength grew even more. I now knew that we were unstoppable. The Heartless would never beat a force such as cunning as ours, for we had also found the Keyblade wielder. But little did I know that we had not seen the true malice of the Heartless. Our mission was about to become even harder...  
  
It seemed that my Ukyo had spoken much of me to the other group, just like I had spoken of her to the rest of my friends. Every one of them greeted me with smiles upon their faces, and my own companions looked at her with happy eyes, knowing that they would not hear any more sad murmurs from my mouth. I was glad to know that my beloved had had many strong, good - hearted fellows looking after her all that time. A sword maiden protected by many iron shields, she had become, and I was grateful for it. There was one little fellow that seemed very eager to meet me: Sora, the Keyblade wielder himself, and Riku's friend. I chose not to speak about him at the moment; for all that I cared about at that time was my Ukyo. All other thoughts had strained off my mind. I could only feel her gaze and the taste of her lips still lingered in my mouth...  
  
All of us were very tired and wanted to get some sleep. King Triton was kind enough to give us shelter for the day, and provided me with a dark room where the sun's rays were something unseen. Ukyo insisted on spending the day by my side, and I smiled happily as I looked upon her innocent face. All of our friends looked at us with grins on their faces as we headed off to the dark room, and I even heard some of them murmur certain things, comments that will go best unmentioned... I only shook my head and chuckled, as did her, as we disappeared into the shadows.  
  
As I lay down upon a soft, sea - shell, she clung to me both softly and fiercely, and I held her tenderly. She rubbed her reddened cheeks against my own and giggled sweetly, and her voice was music to my ears. I sighed and kissed her brow, and closed my eyes. I had never been so tired in my whole life, not even when Demean and I had escaped the Ungolin forest and its giant spiders. I suppose that it was because Ukyo was by my side, and I knew that I would no longer have nightmares. I was about to fall into a sweet sleep, when her soft voice suddenly roused me.  
  
"Wilheim - honey?" she whispered.  
  
"What is it, my beloved?" I asked in a murmur.  
  
"I missed you so much." She said. "When I thought that I would never see you again, I despaired... Aeris said that my eyes were different. She said that they had been flooded by sadness... And the more she told me about it, the more I remembered you. I remembered your sad eyes, and how they became happy again when we succeeded in destroying Magnus. I knew that I would only become happy again when I found you."  
  
"Then I am glad I did." I said. "For I would rather die a thousand deaths than to see unhappiness upon your eyes. Now that we are together, both of our unhappy gazes have vanished. Do not weep anymore, darling, lest they be tears of happiness. And I will gladly cry along with you."  
  
"I'm so happy that you still talk funny." She giggled.  
  
"Oh, how I longed for you to mock my speech." I laughed.  
  
Ukyo rubbed my nose with hers and tickled me awfully. I chuckled some more as she began to giggle again. But suddenly, her smile faded, and she became serious. Only for a few instants, however, for then she grinned again, but her smile had become different. Even though all was in shadows, I could see her with my unearthly eyes, and she looked at them, for they shone fiercely. She knew the reason for such glitter, and asked:  
  
"You are weak, aren't you?"  
  
"What...?" I began to say, but she interrupted me.  
  
"I can see it in your eyes. You are thirsty... You need blood, don't you?" she said.  
  
"Well, I admit that I am a bit thirsty, but..."  
  
"Then say no more, and drink from me, silly." She quickly intervened.  
  
I feared for her to say that. I cannot deny that this was a temptation as great as any. I had longed for a taste of her blood for an eternity, for hers was the sweetest of them all, and when I drank from her, I could feel how our hearts became one. But I feared for her; I did not want to hurt her in any way, for to see her suffer would be the greatest of torments.  
  
"Ukyo, I do not want to..." I began, but she would not let me finish. My darling had always been very stubborn, and would not give up this fight so easily.  
  
"Wilheim, do we really need to go through this again?" she asked. She knew that this was an argument that she would surely win. She knew that I was weak: not physically, no. I was weak against her words. She was certain that she could convince me to drink from her, to let her sweet elixir stain my lips, to let her lovely nectar flow in my veins... "Stop arguing already, and drink from me."  
  
"But I do not want to hurt you."  
  
"How did you feed all this time? I'm certain that you didn't hurt any of your other companions, did you?"  
  
When she said that, I thought about the lust that had invaded me as I fed upon Felicia, Morrigan, and especially Camille. I felt ashamed and let out a low sigh.  
  
"Don't you remember last time?" she asked. "Wouldn't you like to do it again? And don't say 'no'. I'm sure that you enjoyed it as much as I did." She chuckled and her smile ceased to be a sweet, serious one, and turned into an erotic grin that devastated my thoughts.  
  
"But I..."  
  
"Wilheim, do you really hold on to the thought that you did nothing more than to suck my blood that night? Wasn't there anything else to it?"  
  
"Yes, there was." I replied, and my answer came out my mouth without hesitation. "What I felt was love. Even if it was in a somber way, I felt the tender beating of both our hearts. They pounded like the drums of a beautiful melody, and that music mesmerized my soul..."  
  
"As did mine. And with that said, wouldn't you like to do it again?"  
  
"Yes." I replied without a second thought, and fell into her trap.  
  
She smiled triumphantly, knowing that I could not say anything to undo my last statement.  
  
"Then shut up already, and do it." She insisted.  
  
I knew that it would be useless to fight against her words and against my own desire for her blood. I took a deep breath as I felt how my heart began to race. Her soft arms curled around my neck, and she pressed my head against hers. Her tempting fragrance reached my nose, and every memory in my mind, every thought, every feeling in my heart, vanished. I could only feel how my lustful breaths stroke her pure skin, and how my eyes looked at hers. They were filled with both eroticism and love. And so my heart began to pound harder and faster: I would again feed upon the love of my darling. As gently as I could, I bit her neck. She did not make a sound or shiver at my touch. Last time I had done it, I had felt a chill run down her skin, but now, she knew that no harm would fall on her, and that all that she would feel would be love and pleasure...  
  
Her blood began to run through my veins as soon as I gave the first gulp. The chill of the night vanished all of a sudden, and I felt as if her body turned into flames and engulfed me. Her touch burned me, but I could not move away, for her heat was passion, and I would gladly surrender myself to that fire. I heard her moan, and her voice echoed in my head for the longest of times, making me think of nothing more than lust. Her embrace grew tighter, and for a moment, I stopped breathing, but then felt my sigh muffled by her neck. And so I gulped again.  
  
She lowered her head and caressed my ear with her lips. I heard her lust - filled breath as it went up into my brain, and smothered the flames. But their love still lived and the water about me became alive. The quiet currents of the depths became violent and stroke me with all of their might. I was under their power; I could do nothing against their will. I could only heed their call and let them carry me to the Elysium, where she dwelt...  
  
Suddenly, I felt her hands grasp my skull. I stopped my doing and everything that I felt, all those incredible images that ran through my head disappeared. I was about to ask her what was wrong, but she did not let me say a word. Her lips sealed mine and her moans muffled my words. The fire that had vanished once again returned, and it hungrily consumed my heart as my fangs gently pierced her tongue. It was a somber kiss, but our love for each other made us forget about it. I kept on feeding on her, and instead of weakening her, I lost all of my strength, and she became the most powerful creature of them all. Her spell blinded me, but I still felt her lips, and I still heard her chant inside my body.  
  
It took only a couple of gulps of her blood to ease my thirst, but I felt as if I had been drinking from her for years. Eternal years of bliss, they had been, undoubtedly. And when we both came down from the Heavens, I stopped. Ukyo slowly retracted her tongue out of my mouth and looked at me with her beautiful, tempting eyes. I smiled at her, savoring the sweet defeat that I had suffered on our lustful battle, and let out a final moan as she rested her head on my chest. She then giggled, and said in the sweetest voice:  
  
"I love you, Wilheim."  
  
"I know too well, Ukyo. And you too know that I love you with all my heart." I replied.  
  
"I do... Well, good night. Or, as Siegfried would say, good morning."  
  
"Indeed... Good morning, my beloved. Sleep well."  
  
"I will. Sleep now, and dream about us in a distant, quiet shore, where only the stars heed our breaths, darling." She whispered, and I let out a soft giggle. Her words had been beautiful.  
  
"Yes." I said, and thought of nothing more to add.  
  
And so, we fell asleep.  
  
***  
  
"It's a shame that you all have to go so soon." Said king Triton, as the night grew deeper and we got ready to depart. "I sure would have enjoyed hearing of your adventures with those foul beings. But perhaps the tales of your journey will reach my ears some other way." He paused for a moment, and then added: "I am terribly sorry about the way I treated you, humans. I was rash, and shouldn't have banished you the way I did."  
  
"Be troubled about it no more, king." Said Tish. "Things happened for a reason, and now we have met our friends again, and the evil of the Heartless has been destroyed. We accept your apologies."  
  
"The only thing for which I am sorry for..." I said. "Is not to see Ariel anywhere near here. I certainly would have liked to say 'good - bye' to her."  
  
"Yes, now that you mention it, it is kind of odd not to see her around." Triton muttered and looked for his daughter with his eyes. When he found nothing, he shrugged and said: "Well, I'll be sure to tell her that you will miss her."  
  
"And we will, your highness." I assured. "I thank you for your hospitality, but we must be on our way."  
  
"Go in peace, and good luck!" said Triton.  
  
"Okay, guys. As I understand, there are five ships, right?" said Ken as soon as we had left the king's golden palace behind us. "How are we moving? We have to stick together, because there's no use in going to a planet to seal a keyhole without the Keyblade bearer."  
  
"I'm going with my Wilheim - honey, wherever he chooses to go." Ukyo announced, with a happy smile, and held on to my arm. I chuckled and grasped her hand.  
  
"Well, I was sure that you'd say that." Ken said. "But, how are the rest of us going to move? Who's capable of flying a ship?"  
  
"I can fly a ship!" Felicia exclaimed. "As long as there's something to do inside one, I won't get very bored. Please, please, can I pilot one?"  
  
"I kind of know my way around the controllers." Leon added.  
  
"So do I." Cloud said. "My ship, however, is very, very small. Only three of us will fit there, at the most."  
  
"Yup, and I suppose that you and Tifa would like to spend some quality time alone, huh, guys?" Cid laughed.  
  
"Shut up, you sick, old man!" Tifa exclaimed, and her face turned red. Indeed, I could perceive that there was already some... 'history', so to speak, between the two.  
  
"Well, whatever it may be, let us decide quickly." Demean said. He had always been somewhat hasty; he did not like to stand still. I once understood that feeling, but Ukyo had made me forgot about the meaning of being a wanderer. "The more we stay here arguing about unimportant matters, the more the Heartless's forces grow. We must make haste. However, I must add that I will not travel unless Tish and Merryck Goldengrass are by my side."  
  
"Don't worry about that, my dear elf." Merryck chuckled. "I was just about to say the very same thing, and I reckon that Tish would also had said the same."  
  
In the end, it was decided that Cloud and Tifa would go alone in his ship; Ranma, Akane, Shun, Seyia, Shiryu, Hyoga, and Leon would go in the second ship; Demean, Tish, Merryck, Morrigan, Sakura, Ryu, and Felicia would go on the third; Ken, Ryoga, Ikki, Yuffie, Octavius, and Vincent would travel on the fourth, and finally, Cid, Sora, Goofy, Donald, Link, Camille, Aeris, Ukyo, and myself would go on the fifth and biggest ship.  
  
"I see that some time will pass before you and I will be able to fight together again, Demean." I said to the elf. "Until then, my sword will wait patiently in my sheathe. Be warned, however, that this one is greater than the last blade that I wielded; the very same blade that your Quendi knifes stopped a long time ago."  
  
"I am aware that you wield Renamark, my good Wilheim." Laughed Demean. "I am eager to see what you can do with it. But until then, I will pray for the safety of your journey."  
  
"So will I, for the safety of yours. Take good care of Tish and of Mr. Merryck. He is a fine hobbit, though, and I deem that you will not need to baby sit him as much as you used to."  
  
"I resent that remark, Mr. Wilheim!" Merryck laughed. "I have traveled with you for so long, and still you don't think as highly of me as I thought!"  
  
"He is only joking, Merryck." Tish giggled. "I am sure that he thinks highly of you, as he should. Well, whatever the case may be, take good care, Wilheim. Hold on to your beloved as you have done in your dreams, and do not let her go again."  
  
"I will not. You can be sure of that." I said.  
  
"Well, Demean, it seems that our journeys together will end for a while." Ukyo said to my friend. "But not forever, I hope."  
  
"Not at all, Ukyo." He replied, with a smile. "In the meantime, take good care of Wilheim, for I am certain that he will look after you."  
  
"I will, don't worry about that. Good - bye."  
  
"Wilheim!" Vincent suddenly exclaimed, and ran to my side. "Before you go, there is something that I was bidden to give you." Then, out of the nothing, he retrieved a ball of light. As I looked upon its beautiful splendor, I let out an amazed sigh, and was mesmerized by the white glow. "Take it. It was a gift from the lady. The very same lady that told us to come to Atlantis."  
  
"The lady?" I asked. "What was her name?" My heart leaped with hope and my ears were eager to hear an answer.  
  
"Gabrielle, the oracle of whom you have spoken so much." He replied, with a smile. I let out a gasp as I heard him, and my friends' eyes were filled by surprise. I grasped the ball and felt tears of hope coming out of my eyes. Everything turned red, but only for a few moments, for then, a voice, beautiful and melodic as the sound of a flute, echoed in my mind, and washed my tears away.  
  
* My dear Wilheim... * it said. * I am sorry that I could not be by your side when your friend gave you my gift... But hear my words. We will meet before your quest is over.  
  
* I ask only one thing from you: aid the Keyblade bearer in his mission. Protect him as you would protect your beloved. For upon his hands lies the hope of us all. Let your strength be his shield and your fists be winds of righteous fury... All will go well, my dear Wilheim. For your hope will now be completely restored.  
  
* Too long have you suffered the evil of fate, and your heart has almost forgotten the youth of your innocence. Live again, and grow up, like you ought to. Feel the rays of the sun upon your face once more, my dear Wilheim! *  
  
And then, a holy glow engulfed me, and I could see nothing nor hear anything else than the light. A warm touch tingled through my body and my eyes began to itch. I slowly raised my hands as the light caressed them, and noticed that my nails no longer glittered. I let out an excited sob, but the glow absorbed my voice as I felt a slight pain in my mouth, and felt how my fangs began to shrink... Out of the devastating glitter, came two white hands that went inside my body and touched my heart. It began to beat with a different tune, and my thirst for blood suddenly vanished. My eyes stopped burning as the light about me faded away, and the sweet voice of Gabrielle ceased to echo in my head. I saw the night again, but its shadows were darker than ever, and its smell had changed. I felt tears coming out of my eyes and being washed off by the gentle currents of the sea. All of my friends let out an amazed gasp as they noticed that the waters did not turn red... For I was no longer crying bloody tears. I felt Ukyo's hand in my shoulder, and turned to her. She was smiling. She had the most thrilled, beautiful smile I had ever seen, and she wept happily.  
  
"Green, like emeralds..." she sobbed. "Your eyes are green, like I always dreamed they would be..."  
  
"Are... they?" I stuttered, unable to contain my crying. "Are they?" I repeated, and let out a sob that melded with hers.  
  
"Wilheim..." Demean said, and put his hand on my shoulder. I turned to him and noticed that he too was weeping, and smiling. "Your wish has come true. You are... human once again!"  
  
I was a human. I knew, because I no longer felt thirst. All of my friends smiled (save Octavius, although I could see a happy glitter in his eyes), and some of them cried happy tears. I was a human. My wish had come true!  
  
"A human..." I muttered. "A HUMAN!!" I cried and held Ukyo between my arms. She wept and laughed, as did I. "I AM A HUMAN!! THANK YOU, GABRIELLE!!" I exclaimed over an over again, while the rest of my friends cheered. I suddenly felt how someone else joined our hug. It had been Camille, and was later followed by Demean, Tish, and Merryck. And after kissing my darling on her cheek, I escaped their embrace and hugged every last one of them, even the ones that I had must met. "This is the happiest day of my life!" I exclaimed. "I am human, and Ukyo is by my side again! I am the luckiest being of all!"  
  
***  
  
As we walked off to the ships, I did nothing but to joyfully hum Beethoven's "Ode To Joy" at the top of my lungs. Eventually, Ukyo joined me, as some of my companions. I was so happy that I could simply keep on singing until my throat ached. And this time, I would not be able to heal it so easily, for my regenerating powers had gone. I could no longer turn into mist, into a wolf, a bat, or a hideous gargoyle. Even though I deem that such transformations were most helpful if I did them at the right time, I hated all of them (except the wolf, for it was as a wolf that I had met Ukyo), because they did nothing but to reflect my dark nature. I thought that maybe some of my friends would think of me as a burden, but they later found out that the power of the years had not entirely waned...  
  
Strangely, even though I lost the ability to cure my wounds, my resistance had grown, as well as my strength and my agility. I only lacked the speed of the Children of Cain, but was still dangerously fast. I was almost as strong as I was when I was a vampire and held the flaming blade Renamark in my hands. I would later find out that when I now held it, my strength became the one of a giant and my resistance was the one of a bearded dwarf...  
  
But I shall speak about that later. At the moment, I was very happy to be my old - human - self once again. I had fastened for half a century, and was very, very hungry. I longed for a taste of one of my Ukyo's delicious dishes, and could not wait to sink my teeth - my human teeth - into one of her Okonomiyakis. I was also very thirsty, but I was not weak. My veins no longer drew my face with their lines, and my eyes did not shone in a spectral way. And... this may sound very comical (and somewhat repugnant), but I had never been so happy about wanting to urinate!  
  
At any rate, after a while, we had left the rest of our companions on their ships (after all, Donald had to change them back into their old selves), and the only ones left were Ukyo, the Keyblade bearer, Donald, Goofy, Cid, Camille, Link, Aeris, and I.  
  
"What did it feel like to be a vampire, Wilheim?" asked Sora, with a smile. "I mean, is there anything that you're going to miss about being a vampire? You did have very cool eyes. Their color, their glow... And the ability to transform into so many things!"  
  
"Well, I agree that when I was a vampire I had many advantages over humans." I admitted. "But I must say that there is nothing that I will miss about my old existence. I gladly forsake immortality for the glow of the sun and for the glitter of my darling's eyes in the day."  
  
"I see that you still talk funny, even when you're no longer a vampire!" my Ukyo laughed, and hugged me. I chuckled and kissed her cheeks enthusiastically. But then, she looked at me and asked, with a smile: "So there's really nothing that you'll miss about being a vampire, Wilheim - honey?"  
  
"Well, there is one thing..." I confessed, and blushed, as did she. "But I will not say more."  
  
"Whatever it is, we could've sure used your help as a vampire." Complained Donald. I had only known him for a few moments and he was already upsetting me. Ukyo had told me that he was good at doing that. "We have already too many humans in the group. A vampire could've helped a lot more."  
  
"I think that he'll do fine, Donald." Intervened Goofy. He was a very silly creature, but very warm - hearted. "After all, he did have to wait fifty years to change back into a human."  
  
"Fifty - one, to be more precise." I said. "Yet I feel as young and as powerful as ever. And what is more, I still hold Renamark, the legendary blade of the vampires. Even the weakest of beings turns into the most powerful of monsters when he or she holds it and its magical fires burn with the desire of fight."  
  
"So there, Donald." Aeris intervened. "He did save me from a shark, so he has my support."  
  
"Okay, okay." Grumbled the duck.  
  
"Well, here we are." Said Cid, as he looked up. "On top of this rock is the magical field in which we landed. Once we get there, we'll be able to get out of here."  
  
"Up there?" I asked. "I guess that I will have to climb my way, for with this magical stone, I cannot float, and if I take it off, I will drown before I reach the end."  
  
"Do not forget that I can still fly, my dear." Said Camille, and put her arms around my chest. "Hold on tightly, and I will lift you." I heard her giggle and instinctively turned to see Ukyo. She had stopped smiling and seemed somewhat mad, even though she tried to hide her anger. I was not prepared to see her like that, but was not at all surprised. After all, my dear succubus had always been like that. What worried me most was the fact that Camille's appetite was insatiable, and that she would soon start to tease her... And after a few instants, as I had expected, she turned to Ukyo and said: "Why do not you come with us? By all means, I insist that you join our party, for without you, there will be no fun."  
  
"What?" my darling stuttered, and her anger turned into stupefaction.  
  
"Oh, do not pay any attention to her..." I chuckled nervously. "Camille, please stop!" I pleaded silently in the succubus's ear.  
  
"All right." She giggled. "But only for a while. She is too delicious, Wilheim. I am afraid that I will not be able to contain my hunger for you and her forever."  
  
"Dear God..." I sighed, and felt my body burning with a sudden lust. "Camille, please. I do not want you to keep on teasing her like that. And I am afraid that I will also have to ask you not to tease me any longer. Not only will she hate you if you keep doing so, but she will hate me as well. I know how she is."  
  
"All right." She agreed, with a reluctant sigh. I understood why she felt sad. After all, that was the way in which she displayed her affection. "If that is what you want, I will trouble you no more."  
  
"Do not take it the wrong way, Camille..." I said.  
  
"Do not be worried." She paused and her voice suddenly became sensual as she whispered into my ear: "I will tease you when she is not looking."  
  
"I... All right, I can handle that." I chuckled.  
  
We reached the top of the rock in just a few moments. Camille and I were out of the water now, and had taken off the underwater - Materia. The purple, magical stone stopped working its spell on us and I grew very, very cold. I sat down and embraced my own legs, and waited for the rest of our friends to come out of the water. After a few seconds, they all popped their heads out of the sea, and stayed still.  
  
"Okay, Donald." Sora said. "It's time that you turned us into humans again."  
  
"Not until we're back on the ship." Donald argued. "The minute I turn us back into our old forms, we'll be all wet. The spell includes clothing, you know."  
  
"Okay, no problem about that." Cid said. He took the Gummi ship out from his goggles, where he kept it, and laid it on the rock. "Hey, Wilheim, come and pick it up. Put it right in the center of the rock, will you? That's where the magic field is."  
  
"Oh, I just thought about something!" Aeris exclaimed as I did what Cid had asked me to do. "You guys didn't bring any clothing with you. I guess that you'll have to wear some of our own clothing."  
  
"Perhaps the Goron or the Zora tunics will fit you, Wilheim." Link suggested. "I will give one to you as soon as we enter the ship."  
  
"Thank you, but I must insist that you hurry up, for I am freezing out here." I said as the ship started to grow. It was truly something to behold. Even though I had seen our own ship grow many times before, I had never stopped to marvel at the magic enchantment. And this ship was much bigger than the other ones. The spell was greater, and I was amazed by it. "Such conjures will never cease to surprise me."  
  
"Okay guys, help us out." Said Sora as he clung to the rock.  
  
One by one, we carried all of our companions into the ship. I started with my beloved, of course, and as I held her in my arms and she clung to my neck, I noticed her serious.  
  
"My Ukyo, you must understand that that is the way Camille is." I whispered into her ear. "She is playful and erotic. She weaves a spell of lust on all those that are around her, even when she means no harm whatsoever. Understand this, please, for she is a very good friend of mine. She kept me in her beautiful castle until my youthful desires made me leave her alone. She was always very playful, but she never molested me without my consent..."  
  
"Without your consent?" she interrupted. "That's not a very smart thing to say, Wilheim."  
  
"Um... You are right. It is not." I muttered under my breath. "But... you understand, correct?"  
  
"I do." She sighed. "I'll try to work on it, Wilheim - honey. But don't think that I'm too thrilled about the idea. I know that she'll probably keep on bothering you... It's just that I don't like to see that. I assume that you understand why, don't you?"  
  
"Do not worry, Ukyo. I am yours and no other's."  
  
She smiled and kissed me tenderly as I left her inside the ship.  
  
I only had to come back for Sora, for Link helped us with both Cid and Aeris, and Camille had carried Donald and Goofy into the ship. As I took him inside, I noticed another trail of water that came from the other side of the rock. I stopped walking and kept still for a few moments as my eyes looked around for some other creature in the darkness of the night. I squinted a few times: I could not see through the shadows as well as I used to.  
  
"What is it, Wilheim?" asked Sora. "Did you see something?" he turned his head in all directions, but saw nothing either.  
  
"A trail of water." I replied. "But it is possibly nothing. Do not be alarmed, Sora."  
  
"Okay. Let's just get inside, before we freeze to death, eh?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
Once inside the ship, Donald worked his spell and a glitter of light engulfed the sea - creatures. I had to cover my eyes, and after a few moments, I felt the glow no longer. I saw again and noticed that they were back to their normal - selves. As I saw my beautiful Ukyo as a human again, I sighed happily and smiled. How had I longed to see her soft, lovely legs again... Donald's legs were the ones of a duck (a giant duck that is) again, and Goofy was now a very large and strange dog. Cid, Aeris, and Sora were two ordinary humans with ordinary (well, perhaps somewhat extravagant) clothing, and Link, who was the only one that had not fallen under Donald's spell, took off the mask that changed him into that fantastic creature and turned into some sort of an elf with large ears. He wore a green tunic and as soon as he saw that he had changed, he grasped the gear that he had left behind: a beautiful shield with many designs on it and a marvelous sword. Suddenly, an orange dog greeted us and barked joyfully.  
  
"It's good to see you again, Pluto!" Aeris said as the dog jumped on her and licked her face.  
  
"Well, I suppose that it is time that we get you two a pair of towels and some clothes." Link said to Camille and me.  
  
"Not before I get this baby out of here." Cid intervened. "I'm tired of just sitting around and not doing any piloting. Everyone, just sit down and get ready to fly. This time, we'll have to go really fast if we want to get to the Coliseum before something bad happens to Hercules."  
  
We lost no time and sat down as he took off. The sea became a little pond as the stars became but drops of rain that an invisible wind blew at the sides of the ship. We left Atlantis behind us and headed at full speed at the legendary Coliseum, where the Greek Semi - god needed our help. We became but a strange glitter in the sky, a shooting star that would never fall, a phantom in the night that vanished under the glow of darkness.  
  
As soon as the ship was stable and we felt its movement no longer, Cid announced:  
  
"That's it. You guys can get up now, if you want to. I remember where the Coliseum is, and it'll take us about two days to reach it."  
  
"Two days?" Ukyo exclaimed. "That's such a long time! Can't you go any faster? You're the best pilot around, you've got to find a way to get there sooner!"  
  
"Hey, you can't complain that much, Ukyo." Cid replied. "Last time, it took us a lot more to get there. It's a relief that I wrote down the location, huh? Either way, space is really, really big. You can't expect me to get to a place in the blink of an eye. This ship's really fast, actually. As soon as we get there, I'll try to make some adjustments to it and see if it can fly faster. But it'll take me about a day to make the proper adjustments; so turning back is a no - no. Get that?"  
  
"Whatever you say, captain." Ukyo sighed. "Well, let's just hope that Hercules manages to stay out of trouble. In the mean time, we have to get you some clothes, Wilheim - honey. Let's go to the back of the ship; that's where we keep our clothes. So you'll lend him another one of your tunics, Link?"  
  
"Certainly." Link said. "I can only hope that they fit him, for he is a very big fellow."  
  
"I believe that we are about the same size, Link." I said. "Let us go, then, my darling, for I feel as if I were about to turn into a solid block of ice."  
  
We went into the back of the ship and to the main closet. Before she opened it, Ukyo turned to me and said with a smile:  
  
"You know something... Link looks very good when he wears his outfit."  
  
"What?" I stuttered. "What are you trying to do? Have your vengeance on me because of what Camille said?"  
  
"No, that's not it!" she laughed. "What I mean is that you'll look extremely hot in that..." her smile became devilish and she let out an erotic giggle.  
  
"Oh... I see." I said, and chuckled nervously. "Well... There are plenty of folks about. Why do not we...?"  
  
"Come on, Wilheim - honey, have a bit of fun." She interrupted and kissed me tenderly. "It seems that I'm better at teasing you than Camille, huh?"  
  
"Of course you are." I agreed, as she began to open the door. "After all, you are much more beautiful than she is, and when your sensual voice is filled by lust, it becomes all the more irresistible, I might say... You are the most beautiful creature on... WHAT?!" I suddenly exclaimed, along with my darling, as we both looked into the closet.  
  
There she was, covered by many clothing, and strained of her fantastic tail. Two beautiful legs now adorned her body. She was obviously trying to hide somewhere in the closet when she had heard us near. I now understood why she had not come to wish us a safe journey with her father and Sebastian and Flounder. She had followed us all along. I was so happy about being a human that I had not noticed her, and I had clearly distracted the rest of my companions with my enthusiasm. Ariel, however, had now been discovered. She forced a shy smile on her face as she saw our stupefied expressions, and said in a low voice:  
  
"Hi."  
  
"What the blazes are you doing here?!" I asked.  
  
"I can't believe that none of us noticed her as she got inside the ship!" Ukyo exclaimed. "How did you get in here? Better question: how is it that you're a human?"  
  
"I think that your friend's spell affected the whole ship, not just you guys..." she replied. "I hid in here while you weren't watching."  
  
At that moment, the rest of our companions (save Cid) came to our side and found our little stowaway.  
  
"What is she doing here?" asked Donald, angrily. "Did you bring her?" he turned to me.  
  
"I obviously did not!" I answered, somewhat vexed at the question. "Did you see me dragging her while we swam all the way here? She is not as small as a pen, Donald: I very much doubt that I could have hidden her in my pockets."  
  
"Are you making fun of me?" he demanded.  
  
"Stop it, you two!" Camille said. We both kept silent, but did not take our angry eyes off each other. But then, Donald saw my darling's maddened eyes and gulped, as he looked another way. I had heard about what she did to him and smiled triumphantly. "What are you doing here, young one?" the succubus asked the girl. "I am certain that you father will be very displeased to know that you left his palace..."  
  
"I thought that maybe I could come with you guys and lend you a hand." Ariel argued. "Come on! I did very well against the Heartless back in Atlantis, and gave a lot of trouble to those two horrible eels, and found out Ursula's weak point, didn't I? Tell them, Goofy!" she turned to the dog, seeing that he was not as bewildered as the rest of us.  
  
"Well, yeah, but..." he began to say. "It's going to be very dangerous in the other worlds... You did quite well over there, but I don't think that you're ready for other dangers... I don't know about the rest of you, guys." He looked at both Ukyo and Sora with a questioning gaze.  
  
"No way!" my darling said. "Ariel, I know that you helped a lot, but the places to where we are going are very dangerous! You can't come with us!" she then turned to Cid and cried: "Hey, Cid, turn the ship around! We've got to return to Atlantis!"  
  
"No, please!" Ariel intervened. "Please, let me come with you! I even brought some potions with me! I'll be very helpful, I promise!"  
  
"What's going on?" Cid asked, from the ship's controls. "Is someone else there, with you?"  
  
"Yeah, it's Ariel, King Triton's daughter!" Ukyo answered. "We have to get her back to Atlantis."  
  
"No can do, unless you want to lose precious time, and I sure as hell don't want to. Sorry guys, perhaps when we finish our business in the Coliseum." He said.  
  
"Cid, she could be in danger!" she insisted.  
  
"Well, then look after her. I'm not turning the ship around. Captain's orders, remember?"  
  
"What...? I...! Ohh!!" she grumbled. To see her so upset was somewhat funny, but I decided not to let even the slightest giggle out of my mouth. I knew that such mistake could be fatal. "I'm not babysitting her, Cid!"  
  
"You don't have to baby - sit me!" Ariel interrupted. "I'll be good help, I..." she suddenly fell silent as Ukyo gave her a quick glance.  
  
"Excuse me, I'll go lock myself in a room before I kill somebody." She said and stormed off.  
  
"Well, you really made her mad this time." Sora said, softly.  
  
"I thought that she would be happy to see me..." Ariel sighed.  
  
"I am sure that she is, in a way." I said, and smiled. "But I reckon that not in here. This is no place for you, Ariel. Yet, now that you are here, there is not much that we can do. I do not know if we will be able to get you back to Atlantis once our job is done in the Coliseum. But I am certain that once the quest is over, we will be able to get you back to where you belong. In the mean time, I suppose that I will look after you."  
  
"You will?" she asked, and smiled tenderly.  
  
"Don't encourage her, she shouldn't even be here." Donald growled and went back to the control room.  
  
"Just give them some time." Aeris said to her. "You shouldn't have sneaked off like that, though."  
  
"There is no point in getting ourselves upset, or in scolding her." Link said. "We should do best in give her some clothes and maybe teach her how to fight, for the potions that she carries are not endless. When she runs out of them, she will have to do more than just run away from the dangers that will be after her, because we shall not be able to look after you all the time, Ariel, though that is what we want."  
  
"Thanks..." she giggled.  
  
"Let us leave the chat for later." Camille said. "I am somewhat cold and I reckon that she is too. Give us some clothes, lest you want to take care of three sick bodies. And let us scold her no more, for she might be very helpful, despite her sweet appearance. Even the most unlikely beings can alter the fates of many."  
  
"Yes, like Merryck did." I added. "I suppose that there is not much else to do than to welcome you aboard, Ariel."  
  
"Thanks!" she exclaimed, happily.  
  
***  
  
Eventually, my darling came back to her senses and apologized to Ariel, but warned her that she would not always be there to take care of her. The new human assured her that she would stay out of trouble, but I deemed that her feline curiosity would betray her sooner or later, and that was why I wanted to keep an eye on her. I could only hope that my friends would do the same: Ariel could mean a lot of help, but she could also cause a catastrophe...  
  
Either way, Ukyo's delicious Okonomiyakis brought my fifty - one year fast to an end. For a long time, the smell of human food had tortured me mercilessly; I always beheld it without knowing when would I taste such lovely dishes again. After some years, the smell of those dishes turned repugnant and I lamented this, for I thought that all hope of regaining my humanity had been lost. But now, as Ukyo cooked the Okonomiyaki, its fragrance invaded my nose and my stomach growled impatiently like it had not done over half a century ago. And when she finally served me my food, I quickly ended with it in just three bites. The salty, yet irresistible taste lingered in my mouth for a long time and when I finally felt food in my stomach, I laughed long and loud. But Ukyo scolded me for having eaten so fast.  
  
"Not even Ryu, who's the person who had amazed me the most when it comes to scuffing food, did something of the sort!" she said. "Wilheim, if you keep on eating like that, you'll eventually end up choking! And what a shame that would be, don't you think? You survived Magnus's malice for the longest of times; you survived the giant spiders at Ungolin forest, and the attack of a Garou. Imagine that you would be killed by one of my special dishes."  
  
"Do not say such things, Ukyo." I replied, as she cooked a second helping. "It is just that such a long time has passed since I ate my last meal and - I know this may sound ridiculous, but do not laugh - I have forgotten how to eat. I can only drink, and I daresay that I am not so good at it either, for I have only tasted blood that comes from others' throats and not from a cup or a glass."  
  
"Then listen to her words and do not let gluttony take over your mouth, Wilheim." Camille intervened. "Eat little by little and chew your food; do not swallow it like a hungry shark."  
  
"Well said, Camille." Said Ukyo. "Here you go, honey. And this time - WILHEIM!!"  
  
"'Whaf'?" I asked, my mouth still filled by the enormous piece of Okonomiyaki I had just bit. "I 'fif' eat a 'fmaller' 'fiefe', 'fif' not I?"*  
  
"About an inch smaller, you dope!" my darling scolded. "You'd best start eating little by little, Wilheim. You'll give me quite a scare one of this days."  
  
"I promise you that I will be more careful." I assured.  
  
After an hour, I had eaten six Okonomiyakis and four glasses of water. I was so happy to finally be able to eat, and did not care about the surprised looks on my friends' faces. It did seem that, after all, they had looked upon a terrible monster that would end with their food reserves before a week would pass.  
  
"He's even worse than Ryu." Donald muttered, and gulped. "You guys better keep him away from me if he's famished, or something. I don't want to be part of his menu."  
  
"I believe that I will never eat anything that asks me not to." I laughed.  
  
"That's good to know." Goofy added, and laughed along. "But it's best to take precautions!"  
  
"Seriously, Wilheim - honey, you've got to eat a bit less." Ukyo said. "Six Okonomiyakis are way too much food. Not even Ranma had eaten so much of them before. And let's not speak of Ryu."  
  
"Yeah, let's not!" Sora intervened, with a laugh. "Man, could that guy eat! But now I see that what he did was a child's play."  
  
"It seems that he has quite a reputation." I said. "I do not know whether to be disappointed or flattered by the fact that I have shattered it. But let us not speak about that at the moment." I turned to see Link, who had been teaching Ariel a bit of fencing. Two days would not suffice, but she did have to find a way to defend herself from the oncoming dangers, and swords are the best of weapons. "How is Ariel doing, Link? Has she learned many things? Or is she still a maiden with the heart of a warrior that does not even know how to hold a dagger?"  
  
"She has learned some things." The Hylian replied, as he eyes the blushing girl. "But there are many things to teach her, still. I presume that you know that already, correct? Perhaps you could help me a bit, for I understand that you know your way around the rapier, the two - handed swords, and the katana."  
  
"That much? Wow!" Aeris exclaimed. "I reckon that he's even a better sword swinger than you, Link..."  
  
"Perhaps, but he does not yet know how to use the shield, do you, Wilheim?" he asked. I could see that he did not want to be left like a fool by her own companion.  
  
"I am a fast learner. I hope that you will be able to teach me soon." I chuckled. "Yet agility does not have to do anything with how many techniques I have mastered. I am almost certain that a warrior such as Link is a much better fighter than I am."  
  
"Maybe, but we will find out about that some other time." Link said, and smiled.  
  
"Either way, we all know who the best fighter in the ship is, right?" Cid intervened, with a laugh. "Yours truly."  
  
"Uh - huh. And let's not forget who beat you at the Coliseum tournament, Cid." Ukyo giggled as she passed me my final glass of water. "Why don't you tell them?"  
  
"Hey, I'm the captain here. You don't want me to accidentally run into a meteor or something of the sort, right?" he replied.  
  
"No, but I am sure that you don't want to do that either." She laughed.  
  
"Well, enough talk." Link announced. "I will keep on teaching Ariel how to use the sword; she will use my last sword, a short one called the Kokiri sword. It is no more than a dagger, but its steel is strong: I reckon that it will be a good weapon until we find her another one." He then turned to the sorceress and asked: "Aeris, will you accompany us?"  
  
"What for? I don't have anything terribly important to teach her..." Aeris started, but Link interrupted her.  
  
"Humor me, please." He said, gently.  
  
"Okay..." she said, shyly, and grasped his hand tenderly.  
  
"I guess that now's not the best of times to ask you to teach me some magic." Ariel giggled, and both Link and Aeris' face turned red. "But, could you?"  
  
"Surely." The sorceress replied, without stopping smiling.  
  
"I could teach you too." Donald said, and his chest expanded proudly. "I am a great magician, you know. I know many, many spells that could be very useful for you."  
  
"I... thanks, Donald." Ariel uttered, and forced a smile in her face.  
  
"Well, whatever, guys. Get to it." Cid said. "There's only one day left before we reach the Coliseum, and I would sure like it if Ariel knew her way around the sword. I'm sure that you all know what I mean... And you'd better get some rest, or take a walk around the ship, Wilheim, or you'll regret it for the rest of your life. I had never seen anyone eat that much, and I include animals in that statement."  
  
"I did not realize that my behavior had been the one of a pig." I laughed.  
  
"We all let you know hundreds of times, my dear." Camille giggled. "But you chose not to heed our words and to better hear the grumbling of your stomach. Now walk a little bit before you pay the price of your gluttony."  
  
***  
  
The next day (after some hours might be a bit more accurate to say, for there was no sunlight in the deepness of space, and time would have flown by without any of us noticing it if some of my friends did not have a watch on them), I joined Link and Ariel and taught her some of the moves I had learnt when I had used the rapier. I was not certain if they would work for her, because she held a light sword, which was almost as short as a dagger. Still, I later saw that my teachings did do her some good. But the one who got to know the best of my skills was Ukyo. She insisted me to teach her some swordplay, and in return, she would teach me how to use her giant spatula. Over the years, she had stopped using it as a baseball bat, say, and had learned how to wield it as if it were a naguinata, for she did not have any trouble in swinging it as if it were a mere stick. I taught her how to use the two - handed sword - for that is my favorite style - and she learned quickly. In a few hours, she became a skilled warrior capable of shattering even the stoutest shield with a single blow. She then asked me to teach her the way of the katana and the rapier, but I would obviously had to leave that for later, for we were about to arrive at the Coliseum.  
  
Sora became fascinated with Renamark. As he saw that it could be as heavy as a giant hammer or as light as a feather, he asked me if he could hold it. I handed it over to him somewhat reluctantly, for Renamark is a mysterious weapon that many desire, and I do not trust the greed of any creature. But he quickly handed it back to me, and I smiled in relief. There was no greed or desire for power in Sora: he and Ukyo could, too, wield it if the occasion arose; yet I hoped that it would not be that way. The boy later asked me if I could teach him some moves.  
  
"I like the way you handle the two - handed sword." He said. "It's brute force! I somewhat like raw power... Could you later teach me how to use it?"  
  
"Certainly, for I deem that this style is possibly the best you can use; you seem to handle the Keyblade quite well with two hands." I replied. "But it will have to be some other time, Sora, because we are minutes away from the Coliseum, if Cid's calculations are right."  
  
"Besides, he has to teach me first." Ukyo interrupted. "The master has already got a student, Sora. Stand in line. And afterwards, the master will become the student, too."  
  
"Don't be greedy, Ukyo!" he laughed. "He can teach the both of us!"  
  
"He's mine, and no other's!" she giggled, and embraced me tightly.  
  
"I certainly am, miss Sméagol!" I exclaimed, with a laugh, but soon shut my mouth as she gave me a quick glance. I gulped and thought that she would suddenly leave my side, for I did not know how she would take my joke. Yet she smiled again, and muttered in a silly voice:  
  
"My 'preciousss'..."  
  
"What are you guys talking about?" Sora asked.  
  
"I believe that I will have to lend you the book some other time." I said, as I held my beloved. "It is quite a fascinating story, you see, and..."  
  
"There's the Coliseum, guys!" exclaimed Cid, interrupting me. "Get ready to step out of the ship!"  
  
"Finally." Camille's voice said, as she came out of her bedroom and stretched her body. "I was getting quite bored. It is time for us to meet a new world and new creatures. Yet what I want to see the most is the sun on your face, Wilheim. That has been your lifelong dream, has it not? And it has come true, now. And I am here, as is your darling, and we will share the wonderful moment."  
  
"Yes..." I muttered excitedly, as I turned to see Ukyo's happy eyes. "Yes, this will be a great day. A day; not a night."  
  
And then, the world's atmosphere engulfed us. I went into the control room along with my succubus and my beloved, and stood by the windshield, hoping to see a beautiful glitter that would blind my eyes, but only for a moment. And the glow appeared through the window. I felt warmness in my face and closed my eyes, but did not cover them with my hands, for I wished to feel the rays of the sun on my cheeks. I let out a happy giggle and tears of joy ran down my face. I felt Ukyo's finger as she cleaned them and then felt her lips as she kissed me. I opened my eyes again, and saw the beautiful blue of the sky. It was a dream come true. The sun glittered proudly in the sky and a warm wind blew peacefully at the ship, rocking it gently. I had been caressed by the star again; not burned, but touched tenderly. I then saw the white clouds that dwelled silently in the sky, slowly moving to where the wind told them. I felt renewed. And then, the door of the ship opened and the wind of the day came. I felt a slight cool in my skin and shivered with excitement. It was so inviting. It welcomed me to a new start; it welcomed me to my humanity.  
  
"Good morning, Wilheim, baby." My darling whispered in my ear and giggled happily.  
  
"My very first day after fifty - one years..." I sighed. "And I have you to share it with, my beloved Ukyo." I rubbed my cheek on her forehead and then gave her a quick kiss. "I have never felt better."  
  
We stepped out of the ship and marveled at the beautiful scenery that lay before us. The gates of the Coliseum stood tall and proud in front of the majestic mount which I assumed was Olympus, home of the Greek gods.  
  
"Wow!" Ariel exclaimed. "This is awesome!"  
  
"It certainly is." I agreed. "And here come the rest of our friends to join us."  
  
Four ships descended from the sky and landed right next to our own ship, which was now shrinking back to the size of an acorn. The doors of the ships opened, and out came our friends, all of them seemingly eager to face some foes. I did not want to face perils so quickly, but I was curious about my new powers. I wanted to see what strength hid my human hands... I yearned to unsheathe Renamark and swing it fiercely against many enemies. Yet I was somewhat nervous, for I knew that I could no longer heal as easily as before. But my humanity was well - worth the sacrifice.  
  
Our friends' glances were filled by amazement as they saw a human Ariel standing beside us.  
  
"What is she doing here?" asked Leon. "I thought that you had staid in Atlantis!"  
  
"Change of plans, apparently." Ariel replied, and giggled.  
  
"You guys let her tag along?" asked Sakura.  
  
"Not willingly, but she'll do fine." Aeris replied. "Cid told us that we should get here quickly, so turning back to drop her off was a negative. So, here she is."  
  
"She snuck into the ship when we weren't watching." Ukyo added. "Let's just hope that she'll be useful. She brought some potions with her and both Link and Wilheim taught her a bit of swordplay. She kind of knows her way around."  
  
"That's good to hear." Cloud said, and his face turned serious. "It was a good choice, to bring her along. I have a bad feeling right now, and I'm almost sure that things wouldn't be as quiet as they are if we had been delayed."  
  
None of us had completely understood what he had meant by that. But when the gate that was in front of us opened widely, we all knew... A strange man came from inside the building and slowly approached us. He was very tall - as tall as Octavius, the were - bear - and had a rough aspect. His skin was blue, and his hair was a living flame. His eyes were yellow and dead - like, and his mouth was riddled with rotten teeth. He had an evil gaze and a wicked smile...  
  
"Well, how nice of you to drop by!" he exclaimed. "I was waiting for you, man. Hey, aren't you going to introduce me to your friends? Well, whatever, don't bother, I'll do it myself. Hey, guys! My name's Hades, I'm Lord of the Dead, hey, nice to see you, how're you doing?"  
  
"Slow down a bit, will you?" Sora interrupted. Hades, indeed, spoke a little bit fast, and we did not understand much of his speech. "Who are you, again?"  
  
"He's the one who hired me to defeat Hercules." Cloud said, before the Greek god could answer.  
  
"That's right!" Hades said. "Oh, by the way, stiff - guy, the deal's off, 'cause we both already have what we wanted, so there's no point in sticking to the contract, eh? You've got your pretty, little girlfriend (who isn't, by the way, as little as I imagined)..." he added in a low voice, while eying Tifa with lust. Her expression grew angry as she tried not to heed the god's insulting words. "And I've got the greatest hero of all times in my power! What say you to that?"  
  
"What?!" Cloud yelled. "Where is he?!"  
  
"Hercules? Oh, don't worry about him. He isn't your responsibility now, stiff - dude."  
  
"What have you done to him?" Demean demanded, and he took a step forward. "And where is Phil? I do not see the satire anywhere near here and I am guessing that you have also wronged him, fiend."  
  
"Whoa, whoa, easy there, elf." Hades said, and raised his hands while giggling. "Jeez, you're so rash. What makes you think that I've done anything bad to them? Well, of course you're right, but you had no right to accuse me of anything in the first place. I feel somewhat offended... Not too much, 'cause you guessed correctly, but still..."  
  
"Where is he?" Ukyo interrupted, clearly outraged by Hades's foolish words. "Stop your unbearable jabbering and speak clearly!"  
  
"Jeez, you guys certainly have a bad temper." He said. "Okay, I guess I'll get right to the point, then." He took deep breath and began to speak very quickly. "I got Hercules's girlfriend to send him a nice gift, which was in fact, a poisoned robe, and the poison that I put in it works on everything, even half - gods like himself. Long story short, I did this since Cloud didn't show up again (a real bad business - man, he is), and I also caught the little goat - legged pest and the naïve girl. Hercules's isn't dead; he's rather the bait for you guys. Well, for the Keyblade wielder, mostly, but since you are all together, you all fall together."  
  
"What?" Sora exclaimed. "You're with the Heartless!"  
  
"You can say that." Hades admitted. "Anyway, since I'm such a nice guy, I'll tell you what. Let's make a deal... well, a bet, that is. Seven of you must compete in my tournament. There'll be a lot, and I do mean a LOT of fighting involved. If you win EVERY LAST ONE of the fights, I'll let Hercules and the other two weasels go. But if you lose one fight, then all of you will spend the rest of eternity in my hotel down - under. You'll be treated as fine guests, but still, I'm almost sure that you won't like it very much. Hell, it's still my home, so I can't say too many bad things about it. Well, whatever. What do you say? Will you do it? Oh, one last thing: the Keyblade bearer - this little midget, that is..." he mocked, while Sora grumbled angrily at the remark. "Has to participate. And... Cloud too. I never got to see him in action, and I can't wait to look at him. Those are the conditions. What do you say, eh, eh?"  
  
"Like we're going to believe you!" Ranma exclaimed, angrily, and took a step forth. "You're going to kill them even if we win! Here's a new deal: why don't we kick your butt, and..."  
  
"Stay your wrath, boy." Morrigan suddenly interrupted, as she put her hand on his chest. "While he is a despicable being, he's still a Greek god. That means that he is bound to his word."  
  
"Yep, you've got that right, missy." Hades laughed. "So, deal?" He stretched his hand and offered it to Sora.  
  
The boy turned to look at us with a questioning glance. Even though Morrigan's words were true, we still did not believe the being's words. Undoubtedly, this was a trap. Who knew what perils awaited for us inside the Coliseum's arena? But Hercules's life hung by a thread and, for good or ill, we were the only ones who could prevent death from falling upon him. And so, we all nodded our heads and Sora reluctantly shook Hades's hand.  
  
"Excellent!" Hades laughed. "Well, so it's a deal. Okay, then, make up your mind, boys, and pick a team. Remember, there's five more to go, all right? Come on, come, come! We don't have all day!"  
  
"So... you pick three and I pick two, Cloud?" Sora asked in a low voice.  
  
"I guess." Cloud sighed. He looked at us and studied us for a long time. He knew that he would put our lives at risk, and he had to choose wisely, though he seemingly did not want to put any of us at risk. However, that had not been his choice. And so, after a long while, he sighed again and said: "Okay, I choose Wilheim, if that's okay with you."  
  
"I will do what I can." I answered and stepped forth. On one hand, I was very eager to try my new human powers against the Heartless. But on the other hand, I was quite scared, for I knew that I did no longer had the power to heal myself. My body, in a way, was more fragile than before. I was mortal, and I could easily be killed. Yet, I had to fight...  
  
"Four left." Hades said.  
  
"Then I pick Ukyo." Sora said, after a few instants. "I guess that's what she wants."  
  
"I'm not leaving my Wilheim - honey." Ukyo announced, with a smile. She held my arm and noticed that I was not very pleased with her choice. But she did not care. She merely frowned and said: "I don't care what you think. I'm watching over you."  
  
"Three left." Hades interrupted.  
  
"We know how to count, jackass!" my darling exclaimed, angrily.  
  
"Just a little reminder." Hades chuckled.  
  
"Still, I am not very thrilled about this." I murmured. "Your life is at stake, Ukyo, and I am worried about you..."  
  
"Save it, Wilheim. I fought against Magnus for you: I'm willing to do something like that again."  
  
"Okay... I'll pick Morrigan." Cloud said.  
  
"Hey!" Tifa interrupted. "What about me?"  
  
"Don't take it the wrong way, guys..." Cloud muttered to the rest of our friends before answering Tifa's question. "I'm not putting you in danger, Tifa. You went through a lot against Sephiroth. If one of us is going to die, then I'd rather it be me."  
  
"Cloud..." Tifa began, but Morrigan stepped forth and said:  
  
"I will take care of him. It isn't your choice, dear. Let him be and worry not. My wings will turn into mighty shields before his body and will protect him from all harm."  
  
"But I..."  
  
"Hush now. The path has been set." The succubus joined us and spoke no more, while Tifa stared at Cloud with a worried glance.  
  
"Well, I guess that I'll pick both Tish and Demean." Sora said. "Those are my last choices."  
  
Both the elf and the fairy walked to us and nodded their heads. But then, Hades laughed and exclaimed:  
  
"Those are your other two choices?! I mean, I can understand the elf... But that fairy?! THAT'S INSANE!! I mean, do you really want to take that little fly into the battle? Well, whatever... It's really stupid if you ask me, but whatever. And since it's so stupid and lame, I'll tell you what: I'll let you guys pick another guy. An eight - men team... It'll be against the rules, but when did we say that this game was supposed to be followed by them?"  
  
"How dare you speak to me that way?!" Tish said, with rage, while Demean frowned at the Greek god. "It just so happens that I am a very powerful fairy, and my powers are capable of matching even the ones of..."  
  
"Tish, keep quiet." Cloud interrupted. "He's underestimating you. Let's not tell him about your powers, all right? It's an opportunity we can't miss." The little fairy looked at him with a confused expression for a few moments, but then understood his words, and silently sat on the elf's shoulder. "Sora, you pick the last guy."  
  
"Want me to do it?" Sora muttered, making sure that the warrior would not change his mind. Cloud nodded and so the boy announced: "I guess we do need a bit more of raw power. Care to join, Octavius?"  
  
"Not at all." The were - bear said. "I suppose that this is my chance to win the Coliseum's tournament. I did not admit it at first, but I was not too thrilled about losing last time. This is my chance to restore my reputation." He unsheathed his katana and threw away his shotgun, knowing that it would not be of any use in the following fights.  
  
"Great, great, great!" Hades laughed. "Then let's get to it, kids. This will be a fun thing to watch!"  
  
***  
  
We lost no time and entered the arena. An invisible force field grew around the ring. Unseen walls that trapped us along with hundreds of dark monsters merely waiting to taste a bit of our flesh. I took a deep breath and walked near Ukyo. The both of us had agreed that during the battles, we would not be more than nine feet away from each other. I was her shield: I had rather be shattered into a thousand pieces than to see a scratch in her skin, although I was certain that none of us would escape from the matches untouched, if we, indeed, escaped our doom...  
  
My good friend, Demean, noticed my nervousness and approached me. I looked at him and forced a smile as I said:  
  
"It seems that we are finally going to face another opponent rather than ourselves, eh, Demean?"  
  
"So it seems." He agreed.  
  
"You have fought harder battles than this, Wilheim." Tish said. She was still sitting in the elf's shoulder. I later learned that this was a habit that she had... "Remember your fight against Sephiroth. You emerged victorious from that last duel; I deem that the result will not be very different this time. And what is more, we are all here to help you."  
  
"I fear death, but not as much as the death of my Ukyo..."  
  
"We'll be fine, Wilheim - honey." Assured my darling. "You'll see. You just have to focus in battle, okay? You can't just be thinking of me all the time. We'll stay close, right? That way, nothing will happen to any of us. And besides, we have to look after our other friends too, don't you think so, baby?"  
  
"You seem so confident." I murmured. "I suppose that I could feel safer."  
  
"We'll get through. Believe in that."  
  
"Think of nothing more than defeating your opponents, Wilheim." Said Demean. "Remember the clear in the forest of Fingoth? Do you remember the stone circles that were put upon the grass?" I nodded my head as he continued speaking. "Those circles are the arena's walls. All that lies beyond those walls is just an illusion. Heed not the sounds of the wild things about, and pay not attention to the Olympus: this is our world, right now, and it will not grow bigger, until..."  
  
"Until all enemies have fallen to our might." I concluded, and smiled. "I do remember the lesson, Demean. Time itself will cease to have importance: only the present exists, and, maybe, the future."  
  
"Believe that the future is within our grasp." Tish added. "And we will meet with time's flow once again."  
  
"Wilheim - honey, be ready." Said Ukyo, and stopped walking. She spun her giant spatula as she looked at Hades, who stood outside the magical walls of the arena, and impatiently waited for us to begin the battle. Sora walked next to us and put himself on guard. Then, my darling gave both of us a quick glance and smile before she turned to the Greek god again and shouted: "All right, you blue lump of flame! We're ready for your sorry fighters!"  
  
"Bring them on!" Cloud added, and smiled confidently.  
  
"First match of fifty!" cried Hades, and cackled as nearly two dozens of little Heartless sprouted from the ground. The shadows quickly gained a pair of yellow, fearless eyes each, and they all ran at us with blind fury.  
  
"Is this the first match...?" Octavius grunted. "Do not make me laugh!!"  
  
And so, the were - bear swung his katana with all of his might, and every last one of our foes was cut down with that single, mighty blow. Astonished by our companion's might, we all stared at the empty space in front of us with opened mouths, but from them, not a sound came. At last, Cloud let out a long laugh and exclaimed:  
  
"How about that?! I didn't even break a sweat!"  
  
"Come on, guys! You can do it!!" our friends exclaimed, who were cheering at us from outside the arena.  
  
"Well... I guess I kind of underestimated you a bit..." Hades mumbled. "And since I've already got all of the fifty fights programmed... And if you're all as strong... Damn! That leaves me with just fifteen tough battles for them?!" he suddenly turned red and his eyes were filled by rage. He shouted incoherent sentences for a few instants, but finally regained his cool and turned blue again. "Easy, easy does it... They won't make it past the first of the hard battles... no problem, just keep calm..." he paused and then announced: "OK, you won this one fairly, I'll give you that. But the following fights won't be so easy!"  
  
"I guess we've grown since the last time we were here, huh, guys?" Sora chuckled as he swung his Keyblade effortlessly.  
  
"Either that or Octavius didn't show us his true power last time." Ukyo said.  
  
The next group of Heartless was formed by half a dozen of the same foes that Octavius had killed with that powerful attack which could be compared to the swipe of a bear's claw, and by other six little knights. I let out a chuckle as I saw our hapless foes standing in front of us: the fight could not have been easier (of course, I was not considering the last battle). And the rest of my friends thought so to, and so the succubus decided to put a quick end to it. A thousand needles came out of her back and stabbed all of our enemies before either of them could move. The vanished into nothingness and Morrigan let out a disappointed sigh.  
  
"I deem that this is going to be very boring."  
  
"Let's take turns." Cloud suggested. "That way, we'll save our strength for the important fights. What do you say, guys?"  
  
"I guess that is not such a wild idea, seeing that all of our opponents are nothing more than weak worms come out of the dirt." I said. "I will go next. I wish to try my new human arms against these foul creatures."  
  
And as I finished talking, a group of six small, floating, red mages materialized in front of us. I could feel the heat of their bodies, but was not intimidated by them. I felt as a lion that is about to hunt a pack of small deers...  
  
"Be careful, Wilheim." Ukyo whispered. I noticed in her face that she was not too happy about the decision I had taken, but chose to respect it and to let me fight alone.  
  
"Worry not, my darling." I said. "This will only take a few seconds..."  
  
And so, I leapt at the mages and swung my blade at them with all my might. Renamark seemed to grow as flames engulfed its black rock. It roared fiercely as it cut through three of my foes. They disappeared as the blade's fire consumed them mercilessly. Only three enemies remained. They surrounded me and fired little fireballs at me. I decided to take the risk, and stopped them all with my bare hands. Since I was no longer a vampire, fire was not one of my weaknesses anymore. I only felt a slight punch in my hand, but nothing painful. I laughed and decided to... 'show off', so to speak, my skills as a swordsman. Renamark's weight diminished as I held it as if it were a light rapier.  
  
"I will teach you a lesson on swordplay!" I exclaimed confidently as the Heartless flew at me in a desperate attempt to hit me with their bodies.  
  
I was amazed by my human skills; I could not turn into a Gargoyle, a wolf, a bat, or into mist, but I still felt an unnatural strength running through my veins. I gracefully dodged the three foes and thrust at them with great speed. That was all it took to get rid of them.  
  
"Well, it seems that Rofell's teachings still linger in my mind." I mocked while I sheathed my blade.  
  
"Oh, watch out for Mr. Musketeer!" Ken cried from outside the ring, making us all laugh with that remark.  
  
"This is terribly annoying..." Hades muttered, unaware that I had heard his words and smiled.  
  
"That was a great thrust!" Ukyo said, as she threw her arms around me. "Why don't you use those skills more often? All I've seen you use is your brute strength..."  
  
"I suppose that I am more comfortable with it." I laughed.  
  
"I'm up! Step back, guys!" exclaimed Sora as he ran up to the new group of Heartless that had appeared: three small knights, two blue, little mages, and three shadowy bugs.  
  
The two conjurers were the first to attack and also the first to fall. They shot a pair of icy projectiles at Sora; two frozen bullets flew at him at a great speed. But he quickly swung his Keyblade and bounced back both projectiles at his attackers. The mages did not react quickly enough and were hit by their own magic. Stunned, they floated helplessly a few inches above the ground. The rest of the Heartless lunged at Sora, but the boy quickly jumped over his foes and slashed at both of the mages without hesitation. The two enemies vanished under the might of his blade in an instant. He had gotten rid of the bigger threat, yet he had not won the fight yet. The knights leapt into the air and spun on one of their feet. They attacked Sora with a flying kick, and the boy was barely able to get out of their way. When they fell, he swung his weapon at their backs. A shriek came out of the mouth - less monsters and then they fell. The three bug - like Heartless were all that remained of the fourth raid; they stood still and one of them even took a some steps back, for they saw Sora as if he were a nimble leopard in search of their dark flesh. He gave a battle cry and leapt at them. He let his blade fall to the ground, and cut one of them in half. Of the two that remained, one of them leapt back in alarm, while the other scratched Sora's arm. It had been a small wound, but it had been a wound, nonetheless. Yet the Heartless not only succeeded in harming Sora: he also triggered his fury. With a swift, terrible movement that seemed to be the sudden gale of an oncoming hurricane, the boy slashed the Heartless's head, and killed him instantly. Then, he shot a fireball from the tip of his sword at the last of his enemies and won the fight as the foe fell and was consumed by the furious fire.  
  
"Damn it!" he exclaimed. "I thought that I was going to win a perfect match!"  
  
"These creatures are not to be trusted, Sora." Demean said. "Not even the weakest of them. Remember that even the lamest of enemies can still have a chance to win if your wits fail you. Be more wary next time." He then stepped forth and announced: "Bring on the fifth raid, dark god. I shall deal with your foul creatures quickly, for I am eager to test my strength against fouler beings than these."  
  
"Whatever..." grumbled Hades and then, a dozen of flying Heartless appeared in front of my friend.  
  
"I will help you deal with these creatures." Tish whispered and began to fly around Demean.  
  
"Suit yourself. These Heartless will fall in a matter of seconds."  
  
And so, he took out the bow of Feanorth and shot three arrows at once. Three shrieks were heard and three Heartless vanished into thin air as the arrows pierced their bodies. The elf did not put his bow away right then; he fired another three shots as the nine remaining fiends flew at him, and another three enemies died. He and Tish quickly evaded the attacks of the six Heartless and jumped away from them. The foes charged again, but the little fairy suddenly cast a powerful wind spell that made the Heartless stop in midair. Demean then leapt at them with his Quendi knives and killed all of them in a sigh. He sheathed his weapons, as Tish sat on his shoulder, and they both yawned defiantly.  
  
"I thought this would take a bit more time." Tish said. "But I suppose I was wrong."  
  
"That's cheating!" Hades exclaimed. "Hey! I said that only seven of you could be in a team! And there are eight of you!"  
  
"Oh, but I tried to warn you of my powers." The fairy replied. "Next time, heed the words of a little being, and do not mock him. This is no cheat, but a wrong choice. I am terribly sorry."  
  
"Ohh!! I...! Argh!" growled the Greek god as he tried to contain his anger.  
  
"I'm next!" Ukyo exclaimed and readied herself. "I'll beat these creatures in no time!"  
  
"Ukyo... perhaps I could fight alongside you?" I asked, but she glared at me with an angry expression and answered:  
  
"You fought against your enemies alone. I'm willing to do the same. I appreciate you looking after me, Wilheim - honey, but know that I can also take care of myself."  
  
"But I..."  
  
"No 'buts'. If you even touch the hair of one of my sparring buddies, you're going to be sorry." She warned and took off to the center of the battlefield.  
  
My darling was a strong woman and a great martial - artist, but she had picked a very bad spot to stop and fight against the Heartless. All of the enemies appeared around her; eight they were, in total. Three of them were little, yellow mages. Another three were small knights and the remaining two were large, armored Heartless. I could see that their only weak spot was on their backs...  
  
I panicked at the thought that Ukyo might not be able to break free of that predicament so easily. But before I could race to her side, Demean stopped me and calmly said:  
  
"If she sees you there, she will be very mad. I suggest that you leave the fight to her."  
  
"But she is surrounded! Can you not see that?" I exclaimed.  
  
"Do not be so impulsive, Wilheim." The elf said. "You should know better than me that she can handle those eight foes all by herself effortlessly."  
  
"Can she?" I asked.  
  
"Just look at her, Wilheim." Sora intervened and glanced at my beloved.  
  
She smiled confidently at her foes as the three mages conjured a lightning spell, the three knights charged at her, and the two giant Heartless tried to crush her under their weight. Like a sly fox, Ukyo quickly leapt out of her attacker's way, and they all crashed against each other. They did not die due to their own hits, however, and were only stunned by a while. She took advantage of these moments to throw three tiny spatulas at the wizards, who died instantly as the cold steel passed through their bodies. Then, she leapt at the rest of her enemies and drove her spatula through one of the large enemies. With a yell, it disappeared in a veil of black smoke. We could not see anything for a few moments, and then, the cloud of smoke vanished and the remaining Heartless flew away from my darling. Two knights died and the other ones seemed badly hurt when they fell to the ground. Ukyo proudly spun her weapon in the air and charged at the last, large Heartless.  
  
While she did this, I noticed that the remaining knight was just a few steps away from me, and tried to get away from my beloved's fierce attacks without taking its eyes off her. I knew that I could kill it with just a swift movement of my steel, but I also knew that if I did, I would suffer my darling's terrible wrath... Nevertheless, I suddenly had an idea.  
  
"If I kill this Heartless in self - defense..." I whispered at Demean. "Do you think that Ukyo will be mad at me?"  
  
"Yes." He replied, with a chuckle. "But it is not my skin, it is yours. Do as you wish."  
  
I was no longer worried about her. I only wanted to... add a number to my kill - count, so to speak. Ukyo had told me about Ryu and Ken's little competition and I thought about maybe having one with her. So far, she had beaten six Heartless, and was about to smite a seventh, while I had only defeated six and could not improve my score at the time. She would be ahead of my by two foes...  
  
"...Oh!" I stuttered as I put my foot on the Heartless's way, and made it fall. It glanced at me with rage and tried to attack me. But I dodged his blow and, using Renamark as a katana, stabbed it on its stomach. I twisted my blade inside of it and yanked it away as it vanished into nothingness.  
  
Meanwhile, my darling had swung her spatula at the stout armor of the last Heartless. The blow was so strong that it cut through the armor and instantly killed the foe. As it fell to the ground and disappeared, Ukyo looked around her, trying to find the little knight that had fallen before me.  
  
"Where's that coward?" she demanded and hit the ground with her spatula.  
  
I could not help but to smile innocently and slowly raise my head to the skies, hoping that she would not find out about my doing.  
  
"She will be very displeased to learn that you still do not trust her." Tish muttered disappointingly.  
  
"I do. But there is no harm in evening the score right now, is there?" I asked, with a giggle.  
  
"The score? Oh, I get it!" The fairy laughed. "Well, I suppose it is alright, but try not to cheat next time."  
  
"Oh, is that how it's going to be?" Cloud asked, with a mischievous grin. "Okay, then, here's the score: Octavius's killed twelve... let's face it, Octavius. Those little bugs only count as half a Heartless... Morrigan's nailed nine; Sora's defeated... let's round it up to seven...; Wilheim's killed seven, although he cheated..." he added, and all of us let out a chuckle. "...Demean and Tish killed twelve... is it okay if I put you guys together in the count?"  
  
"Certainly. We are a team, after all." Demean said, and winked at Tish, who giggled happily.  
  
"OK..." Cloud continued. "And Ukyo's beaten..."  
  
"WILHEIM!!" my darling interrupted, and ran up to me with a furious glance. "What did I tell you??" she demanded.  
  
"Nine!" I quickly exclaimed. "Those fat Heartless have stout armors on them. They should count as two kills."  
  
"What?" asked my darling, with a confused voice.  
  
"It was Wilheim's idea." Sora interrupted. "We're competing to see who kills more Heartless by the end of the tournament."  
  
"I cheated, so if you want to, the one that I just killed can count as yours." I chuckled. "What say you?"  
  
"So... you didn't do it to protect me?" she asked.  
  
"You needed no protection. Not now, at least. But I could not resist the temptation. He was the perfect fool." I answered.  
  
"Oh... Okay, that isn't so bad. That proves that you do trust me." She said, and sighed happily. She then put one of her arms around my waist and held my nose with her free hand. "But know this: if you cheat again, I'll squish your cheeks until my hands stay printed on your skin. It'll be like a birthmark. Is that clear?"  
  
"Inescapably." I laughed.  
  
"This might be amusing." Octavius said. "So I am on the lead right now, next to the elf and the fairy. I reckon that we should bet something to make this more interesting."  
  
"Great idea!" said Cloud. "But let's talk about it when I'm done, OK? I'm up!" he exclaimed. "Bring on the good stuff!"  
  
Before him, three large, armored Heartless appeared. And that was all.  
  
"That's it?!" he asked, disappointingly. "Oh, man! That's only six kills..." with that being said, he swung his sword fiercely and from its tip, shot a beam of green energy. It crashed against one Heartless and killed it instantly. Yet his attack was not over: the beam divided into two small gales that hit the remaining Heartless and finished with them. Hades yelled in anger as he saw that we were clearly dominating his game. Cloud sheathed his blade and said: "That was my Beam Blade. Not very spectacular, but it works alright."  
  
"Oh, I can't believe this!!" Hades yelled. "What did I do wrong?!"  
  
"Well, I do think that this little game of yours will make the fights more interesting." Morrigan said, with a sensual smile. "But when the fights get tougher, I suggest that we determine a lone winner and team up in pairs. What say you?"  
  
"I agree with you, succubus." Demean declared. "Tish and I will remain together."  
  
"I'll fight with Sora." Cloud said and slapped the boy's hand.  
  
"Then I will fight alongside Morrigan." Octavius said. "For I assume that you two want to fight together."  
  
"You assume well." I said, with a smile, as ran my fingers through Ukyo's hair.  
  
"This is all a matter of luck, you know?" my darling said. "It's all about what Heartless fight against each of us."  
  
"That is correct. And let us see what luck has in store for me right now." Octavius muttered as he unsheathed his katana and walked to the center of the arena, ready to battle against a new horde of Heartless...  
  
One after one, the Heartless groups fell before us. It was not long before the enemies began to grow in strength and number. Soon, we had to fight in pairs. But before we did this, we declared Octavius as the winner of individual battles, since he ended with a score of forty-three Heartless. Demean and Tish followed with thirty-nine kills. My darling Ukyo won third place, with thirty kills, and was followed by Morrigan and Sora, each with a score of twenty-seven defeated Heartless. Cloud had only killed twenty- five, and I had placed last with a pitiful score of twenty-one Heartless. I sighed unhappily when the competition ended; I wished I could have gone farther, but luck had not been kind with me at that time. Then again, it was all a game. A rather risky one, too, but we were too strong to take our enemies seriously.  
  
However, once Ukyo and I started to fight together, my fortune changed. We were lucky enough to face, on our very first battle, three large Heartless soldiers, five pirate - fighters (the very same ones that we had defeated in Never Land), and eight warriors who wore Saracen swords (those that we had destroyed in Agrabah). The three heavy soldiers threw themselves at us with hopes of crushing us with their wide stomachs. Yet they were slow for us... We leapt high into the air and they crashed against themselves. I was surprised to see how they had used the same strategy as they had done with Ukyo. It seemed to me that these creatures were not smart enough to learn from their companions' mistakes. Like a couple of spears that are thrown by an angel warrior, we fell hard on them, and drove our weapons through their bodies. They died instantly and only thirteen fighters remained. These ones did not try to run away when they saw our amazing strength; instead of that, they attacked as at once. They were thirteen, and we were only two... Still, we did not falter nor step back as we saw the oncoming attack. My darling quickly grabbed my arm and whispered into my ear:  
  
"Hold on to me! I've got an idea!"  
  
"What do you mean?" I asked.  
  
"Just do as I say! Hold on to my arm and stretch out your other arm! Hold your sword perpendicularly from your body and..." she paused for a moment as she waited for the last moment, and then yelled: "Spin!!"  
  
It was until then that I understood her strategy and spun in the tip of my foot as fast as I could, as did her, while we both stretched our arms and turned into a bladed hurricane. The Heartless had run too fast to us and could not stop their charge in time. We sucked them into our fierce winds and sliced three pirates and five of the other warriors, while the rest of our foes flew away from us, injured badly from Ukyo's brilliant attack. It took us an instant to recover our balance, for we had spun too quickly. Nevertheless, our opponents did not recover so quickly. They were at our mercy, and we decided to give them none. I leapt at the three remaining Arabic warriors and slew all of them with a single swing from Renamark. Ukyo killed only one pirate with a swift attack, for the other one was still far away from her reach. I ran at him, pointing my sword at him as if it were a spear, ready to run him through, with my beloved right behind me. I became a swift arrow, its tip aimed at the evil that stood in front of me. However, I suddenly stopped as I heard my darling yell:  
  
"Wilheim, duck!!"  
  
I obeyed and fell to my knees. Suddenly, I felt a weight fall on my back, and knew that she had landed on me. Once again, I understood her game and pushed her into the air. She leapt high away from me, and got lost in the glitter of the sun. After a second, she fell with a battle cry, her giant spatula cut through shade and rock. The floor slightly crackled under her might and the pirate Heartless was cut in half. In less than a minute, we had won the match...  
  
Ukyo and I made a great team. While I was stronger and more resistant than she was, she was quicker and more agile than me. And what was more, she was much more of a thinker than I was. Her strategies were brilliant and got us through the matches in a matter of seconds. She was quick to learn the enemies' weak points and even quicker to take advantage of them...  
  
The rest of our companions fought fiercely and valiantly. Cloud and Sora complimented each other perfectly, for the boy was agile and nimble, while Cloud's sword let loose devastating, unstoppable attacks. Morrigan and Octavius were another deadly team as well. The succubus's bizarre attacks distracted her foes while the were - bear's tremendous strength ended with their enemies in the blink of an eye. Demean and Tish fought as magically as ever; the Heartless stood no chance against their mysterious force.  
  
But in the end, Ukyo and I were luckier than all of them, and placed first with a score of a hundred kills. Demean and Tish followed, with eighty-four defeated fiends, while Sora and Cloud had only defeated eighty-two. Finally, Octavius and Morrigan placed last with a score of seventy-nine. It had been a very even match. I was very happy, for I had defeated Demean, the elf, who I admired so much. After all, his quick reflexes and unmatched aim had taken him to glory on the archery tournament... I had been defeated by Rofell, the very same vampire who taught me how to use the rapier, my first weapon, and he lost to Demean on the final match. Hence, I was proud to have won against the great elf... With a little help from my beloved, of course.  
  
Yet when our game ended, it did so abruptly... For there were only fifteen matches left, and Hades's angry expression had changed to a wicked smile.  
  
"Well, you did very good, I have to admit, but I'm afraid that you've run out of luck. I'm sure that you won't even make it past the first match. You'll see... Either way, I know a nice little hotel in hell that I'll gladly take you to after this." He said.  
  
"You forget that we had not shown you our full power." Demean warned. "For we have not fought together. If you are astounded by our force when we fight alone, your bones will tremble with the chill of fear when you see us standing side by side."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, right, keep up the trash - talk. Get rid of these goofs for me, will you?" he sneered as three new Heartless appeared before us. They seemed to be shadows of demons, and each held a sharp blade. Their yellow, evil eyes flamed wickedly as they silently floated toward us. Their glittering swords seemed to let out quiet, yet evil moans as they longed for our flesh. Yet, we were not intimidated by the fierce demons and let out a battle cry as we charged at them.  
  
The battle turned out to be a lot harder than we had expected, due to the simple fact that our attacks passed through the demon's bodies without harming them. We seemed to be attacking a dark fog whose malice could be felt by our own bodies. They constantly vanished from our sight and turned into black flames that surrounded us and closed in on us. We could only evade them by jumping our of their way, but many times they caught us and harmed us. Luckily for us, Tish was always by our side, healing our wounds whenever she had the chance. But her energies would surely fade away if she did nothing but to constantly take care of our injuries... We had to counterattack before our little fairy would stop flying and rest under Demean's care.  
  
What was worse was the fact that the enemies were great swordsmen too. Not as deadly as Cloud, myself or Octavius, but they were quite skilled, and cut our skin plenty of times. When we tried to counterattack, they flew away and our attacks passed right through their bodies. Sora tried to hit them several times by throwing his Keyblade as a boomerang, but not to avail. Demean shot many arrows at them, yet the projectiles passed by the black fog without achieving anything... We were losing the battle. And yet, the rest of our friends kept on rooting for us, hoping that we would come out of that battle alive. All that we could think of was to fight individually against the Heartless, trying to find a weak point. And while three of us fought, the rest of our friends rested a few moments in a corner, for a few instants, and while Tish tended their wounds. Octavius and Demean did not sit down even once, and kept on attacking with all of their might, but did not cause any harm to the foes. However, the enemies did not injure them as gravely as the rest of us, for the elf was nimble and agile enough to evade the fiend's attacks, and Octavius's skin was as tough as dragon scales, and the enemy's blows did not harm him at all.  
  
Suddenly, my darling had an idea. While we were resting in one corner, along with Sora and Morrigan, she snapped her fingers and said:  
  
"I think I've got it!"  
  
"What?" we all asked.  
  
"Wilheim - honey, get up and follow me. We're relieving Cloud!"  
  
"The both of us?" I stuttered.  
  
"Yes, the two of us!" she answered, and helped me to my feet. We ran as quickly as we could to our friend, who was seemingly weak. "Cloud, get to the corner! We'll handle it from here!"  
  
"Okay!" Cloud answered and leapt away from the foe.  
  
"Wilheim, I need you to fight quickly. Use Renamark as a rapier once more." Ukyo said.  
  
"What? Why?" I questioned.  
  
"Just do it. If I'm right, you'll see what I mean."  
  
I obeyed and began to attack the Heartless weakly but with great speed. The fiend parried my light blows and tried to counterattack with speed as well, but I was quicker than he. Suddenly, I noticed that he had not tried to stop my attacks when I had swung Renamark fiercely...  
  
"I think I'm right!" Ukyo yelled. "Throw him off balance, Wilheim - honey!"  
  
I stood still for a moment and waited for the Heartless to attack. At last, he tried to stab my chest, and I whirled my blade against his and stepped aside. The confused foe stumbled in the air, without knowing what to do next. Nevertheless, Ukyo's strategy had been successful, and the monster would move no more. My beloved gave out a battle cry and hit the enemy's sword as hard as she could. The dark weapon shattered into a hundred pieces and the monster cried in agony as its body vanished into nothingness.  
  
"Yeah!!" she cheered. "That's why they use their bodies! It's no use attacking their skin: their swords are their life - source!"  
  
"I cannot believe this!" I exclaimed, and smiled triumphantly. "How did you figure this out, my beloved?"  
  
"'Devil May Cry' stuff. Let's just say that these jackasses reminded me of the 'Sin Scythes' and the 'Sin Scissors'... I put the pieces together, and there you go!"  
  
"I did not understand a word of that, but it does not matter at the moment. Let us rush to the aid of our friends!"  
  
"Guys, shatter their swords! It's the only way of defeating them!" yelled Ryu from outside the arena.  
  
"Is that so?!" cried Octavius and swung his katana as fiercely as he could at the monster. The Heartless could not evade the quick, deadly attack and his weapon was broken. It died instantly. "Interesting. I never would have thought of that." The were - bear murmured as he sheathed his katana.  
  
"Give me strength, Tish!" shouted Demean as he reached for his bow. The fairy put her hands on the arrow that the elf readied and cast a powerful spell that turned the projectile into an icy blast. The Heartless was not quick enough to evade his shot. His sword turned into ice and Demean quickly jumped at it and slashed it with one of his knives. The last of our foes fell, and we won.  
  
"No way!" Hades cried, in shock. "You defeated the 'Invisibles'? What's with you?? I don't believe this!"  
  
"Now we know their weakness." Tish said. "No doubt there will be more of this opponents. Crush their weapons to crush them!"  
  
"Guys, before we go on, I've got something to say." Sora announced. "Before the tournament, Aeris gave me some potions. There's enough for three for each of us. In case we get really wounded, let's use them, so that we won't give Tish such a hard time."  
  
"Well thought, dude." Cloud said. "But I've got a better idea. Why don't we let Tish use all of them? That way, she can heal us until she's out of energy, and then regain her strength with a single potion."  
  
"I like that plan better." Ukyo chuckled.  
  
"It is a better idea." Octavius added. "Let us do it that way. Yet let us hope that we will not have so much trouble anymore. Thankfully, we now know these Heartless weaknesses, and I wager that we shall not have such a hard time in dealing with them..."  
  
The next group of Heartless were three weird creatures that appeared to be some sort of magical lamps with angel wings attached to their backs. They flapped them vigorously and feathers gently fell to the ground each time they moved. Knowing that I could not jump high enough to hit them with Renamark, I ducked and let Ukyo jump on top of me. I propelled her into the air and she tried to slash one of the foes. But the fiend covered its body with its wings, which turned as hard as stone, and my darling made no harm at all. When she fell to the ground, she quickly evaded the ray that the new enemy had shot from its body. Demean fired lots of arrows, but not even his projectiles were capable of shattering the magical shields that the beings created around them with their wings. Octavius could not jump high enough to try to slash them with his sword, and I found myself in this same predicament. Tish thought that perhaps magic could be the answer. She cast a wind spell and her ancient words echoed on the invisible words as the beings kept still in the air. Again, I propelled my beloved into the air, and Octavius did the same thing with Cloud. They slashed the same enemy at the same time, and broke its shield. Its body was uncovered only for a second, but that was more than enough for Demean to shoot a lethal arrow at it. As it fell to the ground, it broke into pieces, making a sound like the one of a glass that shatters, and was no more. Yet, the other two enemies began to shoot many blue - flamed energy balls at us, and we could not evade their attacks so easily. However, the Keyblade bearer had a thought. One of the energy balls was about to wound him when he suddenly swung his weapon at it as if it were a baseball. The magic of the Heartless turned against them and one of the creatures was killed by its own spell. The other one tried to shoot a projectile at me, so I mimicked Sora and the monster's attack became its own undoing.  
  
"Nice going, dude!" exclaimed Cloud. "That was a fine strategy."  
  
"Thanks!" laughed Sora.  
  
The next group of Heartless was composed by two magical beings like the ones we had just beaten, and by two armored, gigantic knights. Their shields had the head of a monster carved in them and they glared at us with fiery glances. From the monster's mouth, came out a breath of fire that tried to burn us all. But Tish countered it with an ice spell, thus turning the violent flames into white air. Demean leapt over one of the knights' head and drove his daggers into its back, which was barely protected. The enemy died as soon as he felt the cold steel of the elf in his body. Morrigan turned her wings into deadly wires and trapped both of the angel - winged Heartless. Unable to defend themselves against her attack, the foes kept still and tried to protect themselves with their wings. Yet the succubus would not allow that: some of her dark wires wrapped themselves around the creatures' wings and spread them apart, while some others turned into deadly spears that went through their bodies. They shattered like crystal jars before their might. The last Heartless meant little trouble for us. Cloud, Octavius, and I attacked his shield while Morrigan held its legs with her wires and Ukyo stabbed it from behind.  
  
We battled on and made our way through another eight fights. As we went on, the combats turned more difficult and tiring, but never enough to beat our unwavering will. We faced many dangerous Heartless, among them, flying pirates, dark energy balls, skilled wizards, and wyverns. They all fell before our attacks. Even though we were all concentrated on the fights, Cloud had still being counting how many Heartless we had beaten. Since the first match, where we had faced the three 'Invisibles', we had slaughtered nearly a hundred and ten foes. It was truly quite a number...  
  
There were only four battles left, and Tish had begun to tire. We gave her the first potion and she recovered her strength and gave us new energies with her warm light. We smiled to ourselves, because we knew that the end was nearly at hand, and Hades seemed to be somewhat nervous. I reckon that he never thought that we would get as far as we were. Yet, he still had some cards up his sleeve, as you will see...  
  
"Okay." He said. "You've done well. So, I guess it's time that you meet the team that won the last tournament... Let's see what you can do against the current champions!"  
  
And so, seven shadows rose from the ground. We all gasped in fear and amazement as we recognized them... One of the dark beings was none other than Ryu himself, all clad in black. Yuffie, the quick ninja girl was also part of the team, as were Akane, and Aeris... And next to them, stood the shadows of Demean, Sora, and my beloved Ukyo.  
  
"The current champions..." Demean said, in a low voice. "We won the last tournament. I did not expect this to happen... Things might go ill if we do not exploit our own weaknesses..."  
  
"I shall fight against the dark Ryu." Octavius said. "His fists are the toughest of the team, assuming that these shadow creatures are as tough as their counterparts. Elf, fight against yourself and do not let that shadow take out its bow."  
  
"Understood." My friend said firmly, and unsheathed his daggers.  
  
"Should I fight against myself?" Sora asked.  
  
"Yeah." Cloud replied. "I'll fight Yuffie. I've beaten her before, and I know that I can do it now. When I'm done, I'll help you."  
  
"Then I suppose that I shall fight against the sorceress." Morrigan said. "Let us hope that her dark spells are not as potent as the true Aeris's, for if they are, I might not survive the battle."  
  
"You'll do fine." Ukyo told her. "Just remember that she's weak up close. As for me, I'll fight against Akane."  
  
"Does that mean that I will have to fight against you?" I asked her, with a shaky voice. "But you are so strong! I do not know if I will be able to defeat you!"  
  
"You know that you can win, baby." My beloved whispered. "I'm quite fast and swift in my movements... Attack with all of your strength. If someone hits me hard enough, they can win."  
  
"Let us stop our chat and defeat these fiends!" Tish cried suddenly, and she and Demean leapt against his dark self.  
  
As the elves' blades clashed against each other, the shadowy Aeris cast an icy spell at Morrigan. She shielded herself against the sudden blizzard with her dark wings and took no harm. Sora lunged at his double, trying to run his Keyblade through his body, but the dark boy stepped aside and tried to counterattack. Yet Sora reacted quickly and parried his opponent's blow just in time. Ukyo, surprisingly, sheathed her spatula and began to fight against Akane bare - handedly. Octavius was hit by Ryu's flying kick and fell to the ground hard. Yet he quickly jumped to his feet and let loose a mighty kick that attempted to hit Ryu's head. The dark warrior covered his face with his hands and stopped the kick. However, he was sent flying far away from his enemy, for the were - bear's strength was even beyond his own. Yuffie began to throw many tiny shurikens at Cloud, but the warrior skillfully managed to stop every last one of them with his gigantic sword. When he was close enough to his victim, he let loose a mighty blow at her head. However, she jumped away from him and Cloud's weapon only cut threw the air.  
  
As for me, I was now on guard and waited for Ukyo's shadow to attack me. I was truly having a lot of trouble in concentrating. Even though I knew that she was not her, it was still the same figure, the same body that I loved so much. I did not if I would be able to strike a fatal blow on that creature... Nevertheless, I knew that I had to. The being leapt into the air and attempted to hit me with her weapon. I stopped it with my blade and tried to push her way. But she spun around and delivered a quick, yet powerful blow. I did not see that attack coming and got hit on the head. I rolled over the ground in pain as the creature chased me, eager to press on the attack. I finally stopped and stood up. Ukyo's shadow ran at me, with her weapon raised over her head, ready to let it fall once more. However, she would not fool me again. I swung my blade horizontally at her stomach, and the wind howled as Renamark cut through it. The shadow foresaw my attack and jumped over my head. But she did not catch me by surprise, for I too expected a reaction of the sort. I kneed her stomach and grasped her hair. She was an easy target, and I could slash her neck if I wanted to. But suddenly, I froze, and my sword did not move. I shook my head and thrust Renamark at her neck. However, my attack had come too late. She evaded it and kicked me in the face. I fell on my back and rolled to my right side just in time to evade her weapon...  
  
Meanwhile, the elf fought bravely against himself, along with Tish's aid. She was casting powerful healing spells on his body and fire conjures at their foe. Demean alone would have had a very hard time against that black illusion. But with Tish's help, he had the battle won. It was only a matter of time before the dark elf fell before his counterpart.  
  
Octavius and Ryu had engaged a fierce duel, and neither of them seemed to be taking the lead. Ryu's hits were as hard as cannonballs, and he was certainly a lot faster than the were - bear. He managed to wound him many times and to stop his attacks. Yet Octavius had not lost, for the few hits that he connected were even harder than the swipe of a dragon, and hurt his foe badly. For instance, the dark Ryu threw a kick at his opponent and Octavius caught it just before it hit him in the stomach. As if his enemy were a stick, he smashed him against the ground. Ryu tried to get up, but his legs failed him and almost got cut by Octavius's following attack, but in the end, he managed to dodge the katana.  
  
Cloud was only second's away from defeating his opponent. Yuffie had been hit many times by the great blade and she had only wounded her enemy a few times. The warrior swung his blade at his enemy one last time, and she disappeared into nothingness.  
  
Morrigan, on the other hand, was losing to Aeris. The black sorceress cast many spells that kept the succubus at bay, and forced her to defend herself. She had not been able to attack her, and her wings were starting to lose their resistance, for they had withstood plenty of fierce spells. She needed help, and Cloud noticed this. He raced at her aid, but too had to hide behind his weapon against Aeris's spells.  
  
Sora was fighting an even battle, and so was my Ukyo. Every time they attacked, the opponent blocked their blows and countered with a quick move. Their wounds were minimal, and neither seemed to take the advantage.  
  
After a few minutes, the fight escaped my hands. I had concentrated too much in defending myself that Ukyo's shadow had attacked me ceaselessly and with great speed. I could not counterattack or get away from her furious blows. I needed only a second to let loose a fierce blow, yet I was unable to find the time. Suddenly, she kicked Renamark out of her way and lunged at me. I tried to get her off me, but she jumped at my back and out of my sight. Then, I felt her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist. I fell to the ground, trying to get rid of her grasp, but without managing to do so. She was choking me, and I could do nothing to stop her... If I would still be a vampire, I thought, I could turn into mist and escape her. But I was not a child of Cain anymore. My time was running out and I had few options left. I could not cry for help nor attack her with my blade...  
  
I then had an idea. I managed to throw my head back against her face as hard as I could. I hit her nose hard and she let me go. I then turned around and tried to stab her stomach. But she held my hands and kept Renamark from even touching her. Our strengths were equal at that moment: I had barely wounded her, and she had hurt me greatly. My only hope was to drive Renamark into her body, or she would counterattack for sure... I thought that maybe the sword's magic would help me, but, somehow, the magical flames did not burn. For neither the sword or me longed for her blood in the blade... I let out a horrified gasp as I noticed that she was slowly succeeding in pushing my weapon away from her. She reached for one of her tiny, sharp spatulas and put it against my neck. But before she could cut my throat, a loud yell made her freeze. A silvery spatula fell on her neck, and her body vanished. I looked up and saw my darling staring at me with a worried glance.  
  
"Are you okay, baby?" she asked, concerned.  
  
"I am now..." I said, and rubbed my neck. "If it would not have been for you, I would have been killed. Thank you, my dearest... Where is your enemy?"  
  
"When I saw you losing to myself, I decided that it was time to end the fight. I took out my spatula all of a sudden and cut her in half. Since I fought with my bare hands the whole time, she didn't expect that..." she paused and turned at Octavius. "Wilheim - honey, you've got to help him." She said. "And this time, use all of your strength."  
  
"I... I will." I muttered, and lowered my head for an instant. She knew that I had not been able to destroy her dark shade not because I could not do so, but because I chose not to do so. Yet, I would not fail her again. Renamark moaned quietly and its fire screamed for blood. I rose to my feet and felt my strength renewed. "I shall not let you down again, my love."  
  
"Right." She said, and smiled. "Go on. I'll go help Demean and Tish."  
  
"Be careful, darling. Do not let the dark elf take out his bow."  
  
"I won't. Now, go!"  
  
With a battle cry, I raced to Octavius's aid. I swung my sword at Ryu's head, but he ducked just before my steel cut through him. However, Octavius kicked him with great strength, and sent him flying away from us.  
  
"Usually I do not like people meddling in my battles." The were - bear said. "But this time, your help is most welcome."  
  
"Worry not about it." I said. "Let us end this now!"  
  
Ryu was far away from us and had enough time to summon a Hadoken. Nevertheless, his strength was waning, and I managed to stop the projectile with my blade. But still the fireball's force was too great, and Renamark flew away from my hands. Then, Ryu threw himself at me with a flying kick. I rolled under his body and then let loose a roundhouse. A vampire of the Gangrel clan had taught me martial arts, and now was the perfect time to use them. The dark shade fell by my kick and I then jumped on top of him, digging both legs in his stomach. Before he could counter attack, I leapt away to safety. The shade got up and lunged at me. He was so fast that I did not have enough wits to stop his punch. I felt his fist in my stomach and let out a painful moan. He then got ready to hit my face with his left hand. But before he could do that, I ducked underneath the blow and, without really knowing it, mimicked one of his greatest moves, the Sho - Ryu - Ken. Though certainly not as strong as his, my move sufficed to put him out of combat. He flew high into the air, and fell right into Octavius's arms, who let out a loud yell and crushed him under his muscles.  
  
Meanwhile, Sora was on the ground and was about to get cut by his other - self. He raised his Keyblade in front of him and readied himself to black the oncoming blow. But the attack never came, for Morrigan, seeing that Aeris was busy casting her magic against cloud, grasped the shadow's hands with her wired and immobilized him. Taking advantage of his enemy's position, Sora drove his blade through his opponent's body. His black image fell on his knees and then disappeared.  
  
Only two opponents remained: Aeris and Demean. The dark elf was getting beaten badly by both the warrior of Feanorth, my beloved, and the fairy. Ukyo suddenly swung her spatula at him with such a force, that the shadow flew over the arena and crashed against one invisible wall. With the last of his strength, he took out his bow and fired an arrow at my darling. I yelled in horror as the projectile cut trough the air and headed at Ukyo's chest. But my beloved amazingly blocked the arrow with her spatula. She fell on her back and let out a relieved sigh, seeing that she was still alive, and so did I. Demean took out an arrow and Tish quickly cast a fire spell on it. The elf fired and the shade was gnawed by the furious flames of the fairy.  
  
Aeris was now the only one left. She focused all of her might and let loose a terrible blizzard against all of us. We hid behind our weapons, while Tish created a magical barrier around her body and Demean's. We were unable to move or to attack. But Octavius was away from the spell's magic and leaped at the sorceress with hopes of slashing her with his katana. Aeris reacted just in time to leap away from the were - bear. Yet her spell faded, and we were able to move again. Morrigan threw her wires against her prey, and they all wrapped themselves around her like hungry snakes. She pulled the shade to her and burnt her with a potent attack that came out of her fist.  
  
"Soul Fist!" she yelled, and the sorceress vanished from the battlefield.  
  
"No...!" Cloud shrieked and froze. We all turned to him as he shook his head and let out an unhappy sigh. "Sorry... I... I just remembered..." he murmured.  
  
"Cloud! I'm still here!" Aeris cried from outside the arena. The warrior turned to her and sighed again. He spread a relieved smile on his face and nodded.  
  
"Jeez... I didn't believe that you would actually win that." Hades muttered. "Anyway, there's always someone to back up a nice team. Get 'em, boy!" he yelled and turned around...  
  
One of the magical walls vanished for an instant, and a large gate that lay in front of us opened. A roar came from its shadowy interior, followed by three pairs of red eyes, peering at us with hunger. We all stepped back and shivered at the sight of them. Tish quickly restored our strength and Sora let her have a second potion, for she had grown quite weary from that last battle. Yet she knew, as did we all, that this combat could turn to be even harder... And when the gigantic, black, three - headed dog walked out of its cage, snarled at us, and showed us its spear - like fangs, we could not help but to moan in horror.  
  
"Oh, my God..." Ukyo stammered, and I felt her body pressing against mine. "Cerberus..."  
  
"The guardian of the Underworld." I gulped. "I did not think that he was so big when I read the Greek mythological tales."  
  
"Hercules once defeated him." Demean said, firmly. "And it is our duty to defeat him, for the great hero's sake. Let us end with this!"  
  
The wall rose behind the hellish dog as it let out a frightening roar. Then, hundreds of gigantic fireballs came from its three mouths. We all managed to evade them before they burned us to a crisp, but we still had to worry about the beast's feet, for it was now walking about the arena, making the floor shake with each step that it took.  
  
Demean shot a deadly arrow at one of Cerberus's head, but the projectile bounced off the beast's body as if it were made out of rubber. Tish cast an ice spell on another arrow and the elf fired again. Yet the attack made but a single scratch in the monster's skin... A drop of its blood fell to the ground, and then the wound vanished. The rest of us could not attack it as well as the elf could from afar; we constantly tried to hit it with our weapons, but when Cerberus saw us coming on to him, it would try to bite us with its spike - like fangs. Its jaws snapped close and we barely had time to jump back. It was quicker and more dangerous than a dragon, and inspired fear on all of us.  
  
All of a sudden, the beast stopped walking and arched its heads up to the sky. Then, it spat a river of black mist on the floor. We all stood still, wondering what it would do next. But as we looked at our feet, we noticed a black spot underneath us, and jumped away just before a dark stalagmite impaled us. The ground turned into yet another enemy that tried to pierce our bodies with a silent roar. After a few moments, the magic of the beast wore off, and the floor went still again. However, some of us had been wounded by that foul witchcraft. One of the stalagmites had cut my back, and another had nearly cut off Sora's leg. Octavius was also hurt, but not as badly as the boy or me. Tish raced to our help and her soft, yet trembling words made our skins whole again. I looked up to the beast and felt like a little rabbit that stands before a snake...  
  
We all retreated and did our best to stay away from the beast and close to each other. We had all decided that we had to attack him together, but could not find the right time to do so. Cerberus, apparently, did not have any weak points. Indeed, Hades had chosen a terrible adversary to crush us and prevent us from saving Hercules. More than once, I thought that our end had come, and I am certain that all of my friends taught the same thing. Yet we did not give up, for if that was to be our end, we concluded, then we would die bravely, like warriors that restlessly battle an evil unheard of before, and not like earthworms that try to hide beneath the dirt to escape from their predators.  
  
An invisible wall kept us from retreating any farther. We all gasped as the monster came closer and closer, closing in about us, cutting all exits... But then, we heard a voice. It was Felicia, who was standing right beside us, on the other side of the barrier.  
  
"Hey, Demean!" she yelled. "Demean! I've got an idea!"  
  
"By all means, share it!" the elf exclaimed. Even he, Demean, the child of Feanorth who had slain a dragon, seemed afraid.  
  
"Bounce off the walls when it lowers its head!" the cat - woman said. "Land on its back and shoot at its eyes from there!"  
  
"It is a very risky plan, but I deem that we have no choice..." Demean said, and took a deep breath. "The rest of you, run to the sides. I will stay here and try to lure him. Tish, go along with Wilheim and Ukyo. Should things go ill, get as far as you can and cast your most powerful ice spell."  
  
"Demean, I want to go with you!" the fairy answered. "If you are to die, then I want to die at your side!"  
  
"No, Tish. This moment is mine, and mine only."  
  
Tish was about to speak again, but Ukyo quickly held her in her hands and we bolted off away from the elf. Cerberus saw us as we escaped, but did not try to devour us, for the elf still stood in front of him. The beast lunged its three heads, its jaws wide open, at our friend, who skillfully jumped at one of the walls and then into another, and bounced off, like a quick lynx, into the monster's back. From there, he took out his bow as quickly as he could and fired three arrows, blinding one of the monster's heads, and smiting the right eye of another one. Cerberus trashed and howled in pain, and Demean was sent flying back with us. Cloud caught him just before he hit the ground, and rolled on his back with him. Seeing that he was safe, Tish flew at him and held on to his neck fiercely.  
  
"Do not ever do this to me again!" she scolded, with worried tears in her fair eyes.  
  
"I am sorry, Tish, but I will not let your blood stain this ground." The elf replied, firmly and yet, tenderly.  
  
"Here it comes, guys!!" Sora cried and we all looked at the monster as it roared and raced at us. "And it looks positively pissed!!"  
  
Before we could do or say anything, Ukyo jumped on top of my and used her powerful legs to propel herself into the air. She kicked me so hard that I fell down and rubbed my shoulders as I watched her, with panicked eyes, as she cut down her way through one of the beast's mouths. Her attack was successful and many fangs came crashing down into the ground as Cerberus raised its body and howled in pain yet again. My darling stood in front of it with a bewildered expression, petrified by the size of the creature. The monster recovered from the attack, and, with blood pouring out of one of its mouths, lunged at her. She let out a terrified yell, as did I, while she used her spatula to stab the creature inside its mouth and prevented it from snapping its jaws on her body. Cerberus struggled to get free, but Ukyo's weapon was deep inside its mouth. Yet the beast had two more heads, and one of them attacked my darling from the side... I yelled in terror and ran, knowing that I would be unable to reach my darling in time, to her aid.  
  
The jaws tried to snap on her, but two fierce, muscular arms prevented them from doing so. Octavius, who was using every last bit of his strength, held the beast's mouth and kept it open. We all knew that the monster still had another head, and so I kept on running. I reached Ukyo before Cerberus could attack again and raised Renamark in front of me, in hopes of slashing the creature's jaws before they would devour me. Morrigan, however, had other plans. All of her wires flew through the air and held the beast's last free head, keeping it from going after us. Cerberus trashed and tried to get free from the wires, but the succubus held on to them with all of her might, and the hellish hound could not do anything but to keep on growling and trying to release itself from her grasp.  
  
But suddenly, the beast yanked its head away from the succubus too hard. Morrigan was unable to withstand such force, and, with a surprised cry, she crashed against one of the walls, and fell to the floor unconscious. Tish flew to her and tried to wake her with healing spells, but the wound was too deep and needed more time before she would open her eyes again. Seeing both of them helpless, Cerberus tried to break free of Ukyo and Octavius, so that it could tear them apart with its sharp fangs, or burn them to a crisp with its foul magical blasts. Nevertheless, my beloved and the were - bear did not let it turn around even a bit...  
  
The monster's head was now free and ready to attack. It lunged at me, and I saw its deadly fangs shining with delight, for the beast was certain that I had no escape. Luckily, an idea hit me right before it did. I jumped back and bounced off the head that Ukyo fought, and landed right on top of the attacking being. And I was luckier still, for Cerberus did not try to attack my beloved, but rather tried to shake me off. Yet I held on tightly and stabbed its skull with Renamark. I cried and Renamark moaned: it had heeded my command and its lust for blood had invaded its still. Cerberus whimpered while both Ukyo and Octavius kept it under control, and while Renamark's flame burned through its head.  
  
I then heard another roar... Yet it had not been Cerberus who had emitted it, but Octavius himself. We all turned to him in amazement as his body began to grow more and more. After a few moments, he was easily ten feet tall and fur had begun to grow from its skin. His teeth turned into fierce fangs as his eyes turned black and menacing. His hands became strong paws armed with deadly claws... He had become a gigantic bear. His strength was even more terrible than before: he held Cerberus's mouth open without making much effort. Demean took this opportunity to fire an arrow at the beast's throat. It roared and tried to back away. Ukyo fell to the ground, exhausted, as Cerberus retreated. But Octavius chased it and took a swipe at one of its legs. Even I felt the blow as the hellish dog stumbled and fell to its left side. I held on to Renamark, waiting for it to consume the head's life, and did not fall down. While Octavius single - handedly beat the left head with his powerful claws, both Cloud and Sora came to his aid and battled against the middle head. Both of their swords proved to be too much for the beast, and before long, both heads fell. Tish, who had just finished curing Morrigan, flew to their sides and froze both heads with powerful magic. And after some moments, Renamark finished its work, and Cerberus was defeated.  
  
"Yeah, we won!!" Sora exclaimed, and the rest of our friends cheered.  
  
"Are you hurt, daring?" I asked Ukyo as I raced to her side.  
  
"No, thanks... I'm fine, Wilheim - honey." She replied, in a weak voice. "Just a little tired..." after a slight pause, she smiled and added: "You saved me. Thank you."  
  
"It is my duty. There is no reason to thank me." I answered, and helped her to her feet as I kissed her forehead.  
  
"That was a wonderful trick." Hades grumbled, referring to Octavius's transformation, who still remained in a bear's form. "I guess that you guys made it to the final match..."  
  
"Final match?" we all asked.  
  
"Well, yeah. I thought of nothing more to add for this final battle, so I decided that the tournament ends right after this fight." He said. "But I assure you that you won't make it alive out of this one..." and with those words, he walked into the arena, and the flame on his head burned even more fiercely than before. "Hey, guess what... I've got a nice place for you down - under!!"  
  
"Look out!" cried Cloud as Hades shot a river of fire at us. We moved just in time to evade the blast, but we could still feel the heat of his power on our legs.  
  
It was like the breath of a dragon. Though the flames were some feet away from us, we could feel them as they scorched through our flesh, as if they were a horde of infernal mice. I turned to our opponent and saw that he had practically created a wall of blue fire in front of him. We could not attack him from the front. Demean quickly jumped high into the air and bounced off the walls in order to land behind the fiend, but Hades quickly turned around and burned the elf. He began to roll on the ground and put out the flames, while Tish cast a healing spell on our injured ally. Octavius was the one who had a hardest time in evading the flames, because he was so big and sluggish in his bear form. Morrigan constantly protected him from Hades's attacks by covering both of themselves with her wings. They were strong enough to withstand the heat, yet the succubus was slowly growing weak. Sora tried to throw his weapon as a boomerang, but the wall of fire kept it from going far. Ukyo covered her body from the flames with her spatula... but her weapon was all metal and was growing very hot and was beginning to burn her hands. I could do nothing but to jump away from Hades's attacks, for my weapon would not be able to cover all of my body from the fire... Or could it?  
  
Suddenly, I had a desperate idea. Seeing that my beloved would not be able to stand the fiend's attacks much longer (as the rest of my friends), I thought about Renamark's fire. Perhaps it could be a match for Hades's... I held my sword fiercely and awoke it. The flames burned fiercely through the black steel in a way, which I had never seen before... I held a living fire that gave out loud, hungry moans, and every one of my allies heard those moans, as did Hades, whose face was filled by amazement. I swung Renamark with all of my might and created a wall of flames, too. Hades's fire could not come near me anymore. Yet it would be of no use to defend myself eternally. Eventually, I would have to attack. Nevertheless, the wall of flames held long enough for my friends to take cover behind my body.  
  
"Is that all you can do?" Hades laughed. "Come on! This is too easy! Well, after all I am a God. But come on! If you beat me, I'll give you that stupid hero of yours who can't tell a stick from his sword, and that little goat of his! You have my word on that!"  
  
"I suppose that that is an incentive..." I muttered. I took a deep breath and yelled, as I swung Renamark as hard as I could, letting it breathe a roar of new flames: "This is the end of you, Lord of the Dead!!"  
  
I did not expect it to be that way, but the fire that came from Hades's hands flew away with the wind. The god of the Underworld himself looked quite surprised to see this, and I kept on swinging my blade. And soon, the wall of fire was no more...  
  
"Leave him to us, Wilheim!!" yelled Morrigan. I noticed that he was flying above us, and held Octavius in her arms. Where did she find the strength to lift such a weight, I do not know. But the were - bear was right above Hades's head, its claws ready to swipe at his body. Morrigan let him fall and Octavius hit the enemy as hard as he could, making him squeal in pain and sending him back against one of the walls. Hades shook his head and got back on his feet after a few instants: the blow had been devastating.  
  
"That does it!!" he growled, and is body changed from a dead, blue color to an evil, red one. "Feel the heat..." he floated to the center of the arena, and stretched his arms. From both sides of his body, came out a pair of blades made out of solid flames. I instantly knew that not even the fire of Renamark would be able to undo such malicious conjure and jumped high in the air as he began to spin in circles. All of my friends did the same, but we could still feel the heat of the attack underneath us as we landed on the ground, and grew weaker every time that we propelled ourselves into the air. I looked at the invisible walls and again had a desperate thought. Ukyo could not find the strength to jump again, and I noticed it. As quickly as I could, I ran to her side, held her with my left arm and jumped as high as I could to one of the walls. I delved the sword in it and thanked that my magical blade was able to hold but Ukyo and me above the ground. She clung to my back and did not let go. I then saw that Sora would not stand much of that hot air too long, and yelled at him:  
  
"Jump up, Sora!!"  
  
He looked at me and obeyed. He barely reached my arm, and I held on to him tightly. The rest of my friends mimicked me and escaped Hades's fire. Demean used his Quendi knives, and Cloud used his gigantic blade, while Morrigan held Octavius in the air, whose claws were incapable of clinging to a wall with that heavy body of his. Tish helped them by casting magic spells of wind beneath them, and keeping them airborne.  
  
We would not be able to stay in such position much longer. The heat was unbearable.  
  
"It's burning me!!" Sora exclaimed, as his grip around my arm grew stronger.  
  
"I can't stand it!!" added Ukyo, and her arms squeezed me harder.  
  
But all of a sudden, Hades's attack ended. I turned to him and saw that he had grown very weak from making such effort. I let out a sigh as he passed his hands through his flame hair and readied himself to let loose another burst of flames. Naturally, however, we would not let that happen. Demean quickly sprang off the wall and kicked him in the face. The fiend let out a yell and took a few steps back. Morrigan saw that the attack had ceased and dropped the were - bear on top of his prey yet again. Octavius swiped him with a roar, and Hades flew over the battlefield into my blade. I swung it at his body and even though he did not die (for gods are immortal), I injured him gravely and sent him high into the air. Morrigan caught him and flew into the ground with him. She flew away as Tish lifted him with a fierce gale, making him an easy target for Cloud's attack. He shot an energy wave at him from the tip of his sword, which made our opponent fly right into my darling's attack. Amazingly, we had coordinated a fierce offensive, which our enemy could not counter. Ukyo slammed Hades into the ground and Sora finished the combat by falling on top of him with his blade.  
  
The fiend let out a groan as he began to shrink to the size of a bug. We stood around him, with triumphant smiles, and then Demean said:  
  
"And to think that your guardian was more of a match than you. I suppose that you thought too much of yourself."  
  
"I don't believe this!!" the fiend yelled in a high - pitched voice, and we all laughed as we heard him. "I can't believe that you beat me!"  
  
"To be completely honest, neither can we." Tish admitted. "You did not prove to be much of a challenge, foe. But we are victorious, and you have yet to fulfill your word."  
  
"My word... my - MY WORD?!" Hades exclaimed. "What are you talking about? I said that you had to win fifty fights, and you've only won forty - nine!"  
  
"What??" Sora yelled. "That's stupid! You also said that if we beat you, you'd give us Hercules and his friends!"  
  
"Yes, but I did make the other promise first, didn't I?" the cheater snickered. "And here are your last opponents! Let's see what can you do against them!!"  
  
We heard a loud, thundering noise and turned back as Hades ran out of our sights. And from behind the gigantic walls that surrounded the Coliseum, came out two monstrous creatures that froze our breaths... One of them was a golem made out of rock, with two heads on top of its body. Two thick arms and legs stormed the ground fiercely as it roared a grave roar... The other one seemed to be a gigantic, ice skeleton. Its skull had an evil grin and its limbs were sharp, icy stalactites. Each of them was as big as a mountain, and under the darkening sky, they seemed all the more terrible and fearsome... We all stepped back against a wall and shivered with fright, not knowing what to do against the two abominations...  
  
* Translation of Wilheim's words: "What?" "I did eat a smaller piece, did not I?" 


	23. Chapter TwentyTwo: Return to Halloween T...

Hey, folks. Another short note...  
  
The character that will appear in this chapter isn't mine. He's property of Mr. Kiosce, a.k.a., Agent D... Sorry about the delay with your character, man. But, as promised, here he is. :)  
  
Oh, and I'm terribly sorry about the delay, but I've had a lot of work to do at the university... I haven't had time to write until just a few days ago! Please, just bear with me and be patient: this semester is a lot tougher than I expected...  
  
Okay, on with the story.  
  
Narrator: Ukyo  
  
Chapter Twenty-Two: Return to Halloween Town  
  
We were horrified. We didn't know how on Earth would we be able to battle against those two titans. The ice monster roared fearsomely and its chilling breath froze our gasps, and the rocky abomination made the floor shake under its feet with every thunderous step it took. I held on to my Wilheim's arm, hoping that our strength would be enough to give those two creatures battle. Yet I was scared to death, and I could see in his eyes, that he feared for our lives.  
  
We knew that Demean's arrows would break upon their skin and that my Wilheim – honey's sword's flames would not be hot enough to melt the ice titan. Octavius's strength wouldn't suffice to shatter the rocks of the other monster and Cloud's tornados would prove useless against them. I couldn't help but to feel as a mouse that's about to challenge a tiger... I knew that there was no way we would beat the two titans by ourselves. Unless our friends helped us, we wouldn't survive the clash against Hades's champions...  
  
"What are we going to do?" asked Sora. He tried to walk back, but the walls kept him from going any farther. We were trapped like bugs on a cage that await to be devoured by a bat... "Tish... Can't you melt that guy with a spell? Maybe if you take one of them down, it won't be as hard to get the other one..."  
  
"I do not think that my fire spells have enough power to even undo one of its fingers." The fairy replied. "I am weak... Potions are not helping me anymore."  
  
"We stand..." muttered Demean. "We stand until the end. Like the warriors of legend, we will not suffer these monsters to finish us without a battle."  
  
"I have just become a human..." my honey said. He held on to his sword tightly and then added, while putting his body in front of mine as if he were a shield: "I do not mean to die so shortly! I have just begun to enjoy life once again! I will not be parted away from it! And neither will my beloved! Let Renamark speak for me from now on!"  
  
"Well put, Wilheim." Morrigan said. She then began to fly in the air, and shot one of her projectiles at the monsters, catching their attention. "Come on, foul creatures! We will send you straight into the abyss!!"  
  
"Guys! Guys! Look who I found!" a voice suddenly yelled from outside the arena... It had been Ariel's. We all turned to her and gasped in amazement as she dragged an enormous man out of one of the Coliseum's passages... Apparently, she had sneaked off from the rest of our friend's sight and, thanks to her curiosity, she had found Hades's prey... Hercules, along with the annoying little satire, Phil. The Semi – God was tall and had a strong build. His eyes were almost closed, and were blue, yet they glowed weakly, like the flame of a candle that is stroke by the wind. He wore a great armor and was armed with a sword. But the Hero could not get up and shine like gold... Hercules was covered by some kind of blanket, while Phil was only bound from his legs. Ariel had to get away from Hercules, for the blanket that covered him was reeking with poison. She fell to the ground, and Cid quickly dragged her away from the Greek Semi – god. Aeris went with them, and used her staff to remove the cursed cloth from the hero's body. As she did this, even she felt dizzy and stumbled to her sides. Link held her before she could fall, and carried her away from the poison. Hercules tried to get up, but he was too weak.  
  
Nevertheless, he had been saved. Ariel had saved him. Seemingly, it had not been such a bad idea to bring her along... Well, actually, the right thing to say that to let her stay with us had been a wise choice. Curiosity isn't always an evil...  
  
And when the two titans decided to engage us in battle and shattered the walls of the arena with a mighty roar and a swing of their arms, and when the cold breath of the ice monster and the echoing growl of the rock creature reached our ears, the rest of our friends gave out a battle cry and ran to our aid. We smiled and shouted triumphantly as well.  
  
"Wait, wait, WAIT!!" Hades yelled, with a squeaky, funny, little voice. Truly pitiable, actually. "You can't do that! I said that only seven of you could fight against them!"  
  
"We've got what we wanted, don't we?" Cloud answered. "So I guess the deal's off!!"  
  
"Too bad, Hades!" I laughed, as I ran to the titans along with the rest of my friends. "That's what you get for trusting in humans!"  
  
Half of us attacked the rock giant – those of us who relied more on physical power than on magical might, that is – while the other half – the ones who could cast fiery spells or summon terrible flames to them – challenged the ice titan. As the rock titan saw us running to it, it swung one of its gigantic arms at us. A howling wind came from it as it came closer. I froze when I saw it; I didn't know how the hell was I supposed to dodge something as big as that. My other companions managed to leap out of the way, but I just stood there, like an idiot. But then, Wilheim shoved me out of the arm's way and evaded the blow himself. If it hadn't been for my baby, I would've been left without a head.  
  
Octavius roared and attacked. It swooped its claws at the giant creature, but made no more than a few scratches. Cloud followed the were – bear, and slashed the titan's legs with his sword. Again, no great harm was done. I got up from the ground and tried to stab it with my spatula... But we weren't just attacking anything: we were trying to bring down a giant of rock. And so, the monster attacked again. This time, I was able to jump out of the way without my honey's help, and he managed to escape the blow on his own. He tried to cut the titan's hand, but his sword bounced back at him. Sora stepped back in panic as he saw that not even our fiercest warriors could do anything at the creature. Ikki tried to use his Flying Phoenix against it and achieved nothing. Ryu and Ken both unleashed their Hadoken, yet the monster still stood.  
  
"This is no monster rock... This is a pile of diamond!" I muttered under my breath.  
  
"What do we do now?" asked Sora, as he ran to my side. Wilheim and the rest of our companions caught up with us.  
  
"It is no use!" Wilheim exclaimed. "We will never be able to defeat an abomination of the sort!"  
  
"Our other friends don't seem to be doing that well, either..." Ken said, and signaled our other companions. The ice titan kept them from coming close to him by blowing a chilling wind from its horrendous mouth. To counter it, the mages let loose as many fire spells as they could. Yet they did not succeed in extinguishing the freezing air, and the titan didn't seem to suffer from shortness of breath, so to speak. "Jeez, I didn't think this would be that bad! Ikki, why don't you go help them?"  
  
"I don't know if I'll make any difference, but I will do my best!" the Phoenix saint exclaimed and bolted off to help our friends.  
  
"The heads!!" suddenly exclaimed a voice from behind our backs. We turned to it and saw Hercules, who was struggling to join us. However, he was too weak to do so, and could hardly stay on foot. Although he was slowly regaining his power, he didn't have enough to even battle against the weakest of us. He took a deep breath, and yelled: "Attack the titan's heads! That's its weak point!!"  
  
"LOOK OUT!!" Ryu cried as the titan brought down his arm and slammed the ground. It almost turned us into a pile of pancakes.  
  
"The heads?!" Sora exclaimed, in dismay. "We can't attack the heads! We'll never be able to jump that high!"  
  
"And the ones who can't fly won't be able to bring it down, either..." I said. "What about Ryu and Ken and the saints? Can't they attack the heads from afar?"  
  
"Impossible." Wilheim said. "The beast's gigantic stomach blocks the view of the heads, and these are very small. They should get very far away from it, and there is not enough space, and have an accuracy that can even match the one of Demean's. And there is much difference in shooting an arrow and releasing a wave of energy."  
  
"You're right." I sighed. "We need to trip him!"  
  
"Let's keep on attacking the legs until he comes down!" Sora suggested.  
  
"Whoa!!" cried Goofy. He had just blocked a blow that came from the rocky monster and flew all across the arena. Wilheim caught him and fell down with him. "Whoa... Thanks for breaking my fall, Wilheim." He chuckled. "That is one very strong rock giant."  
  
"Yes, and you are lucky that your shield is so sturdy." My honey said. "Otherwise, you would have been broken by now." He then looked at Sora, and said: "We cannot attack the legs. It will never fall. And although it is sluggish, it does not seem to get tired. We will be very weak if we keep on struggling against him as we are doing now..." he paused as we all saw how the rest of our friends kept on attacking the rock titan. The beast didn't even suffer a scratch. I could not believe that such hellish enemies existed. "Damn... If only..." he stopped talking yet again, and in his eyes, I saw that he had an idea.  
  
"What are you thinking of, Wilheim?" asked Goofy. "I... we'd better hurry up. We've got to help our friends: they won't last long against that ice thing!"  
  
Indeed, the rest of our friends still kept casting fiery spells against the ice titan, but were beginning to tire. I could see Donald stumbling for a few seconds and after taking a deep breath, he would call more flames to him. The ice monster was beating them, and even Ikki, like he had said, was not proving to make much of a difference.  
  
"I have got it!!" Wilheim exclaimed and jumped up from the ground, knocking Goofy away from him. "Ukyo, is it true that the Andromeda's saint's chains can grow to hundred of times their size?"  
  
"Yeah...!" I muttered in amazement, understanding his plan. "Where is he? Shun, where are you?!"  
  
The saint, who was close to the monster, turned around when he heard my voice. He was using his greatest power, the Nebula Storm, but not even that could bring the monster that. He backed away from the monster and ran to our side. He seemed very tired and it looked as if his legs had turned into lead...  
  
"Shun, can you wrap your chains around the beast's legs?" Wilheim asked.  
  
"I can, but I don't think that I'll do much harm to it if I electrocute it." He answered.  
  
"You can do that?" my baby asked, amazed by the chains' power. But then he shook his head, and said: "That is not what I meant. Its heads are its weak point: we must bring him down, and we need your chains to accomplish this task."  
  
Shun stood still and quiet for a few moments. We heard our companions yell as they barely dodged another of the monster's blows and shivered. The titan's roars were growing more menacing by the second, and the ground trembled more violently with each angry step that it took. And the ice titan was quickly gaining ground against our other friends.  
  
"Do you think that we'll be able to trip him?" the saint asked.  
  
"If we work together, I believe we can." Wilheim answered.  
  
"Okay... Let's try that."  
  
"Guys, come on, get out of the way!!" I yelled. "Get over here! We need everybody for this!" I looked at Wilheim and said: "Somebody's going to have to distract that monster while we pull..."  
  
"Why don't both Morrigan and Camille do that?" Goofy suggested. "They can fly..."  
  
"Great idea, Goofy!" Sora said. It was surprising, actually: Goofy had been having some good thoughts lately. I think that none of us would have ever imagined that he would come to that... "Camille, Morrigan! Distract that thing, girls! Come on, guys, come on over here!"  
  
"Nebula chain!!" Shun yelled and his magical chains rushed to the titan's right leg, and held it firmly. The monster looked at them and got ready to break them with his fist, but the two succubuses quickly drew its gaze, and it was unable to free itself. Rather, it tried to swipe our two friends as if they were a couple of bees with deadly stings...  
  
"We're going to trip him!" Shun announced as our friends rushed to our aid.  
  
"Good idea!" Seyia exclaimed as he got a hold of a chain. "Let's do it!"  
  
"Let's do it together." Hyoga said. "Everyone, on the count of three!"  
  
My Wilheim – honey, Sora, Seyia, Shiryu, Ryu, Ken, Goofy, Cloud, and I got a hold of Shun's right chain, while Ranma, Akane, Ryoga, Cid, Leon, Yuffie, and Octavius, who used his jaw, grabbed the left chain. I took a deep breath and wondered if our powers as one would be enough to lift that mountain. I was felt as if I was about to pull an entire city just by myself, even though the rest of my friends were there...  
  
"We will make it, darling. Have faith..." Wilheim whispered in my ear.  
  
"Okay." I sighed, and held on to his hand while he clinched to the chain.  
  
"One... Two...! THREE!!" Hyoga yelled and we all began to pull as hard as we could. Amazingly, our strengths combined were more than a match for the titan. We became a monster greater than any other, and the titan let out a yell as he stumbled and fell down.  
  
"He's down, he's down!!" Ken cried. "Let's bust its jaws open!!"  
  
We jumped on top of the beast's stomach and ran to its heads before it could get up: no doubt our puny weight wouldn't impede it to rise to its feet again. Camille and Morrigan used their dark wires to keep the beast hands still: I could see their struggle in their faces, yet they succeeded in their mission and the titan did not attack us. Camille seemed to be in less pain than Morrigan, because she was stronger than her (although Morrigan did have many more tricks up her sleeve). Shiryu was the first to reach the heads, and he let loose a nasty blow on the right one. The monster shook under his fist... I didn't know that man's strength and was very amazed to witness it firsthand. Then Seyia attacked with hundreds of energy blows that came from his hands. I had never seen such speed... The titan bobbed its heads and tried to knock us down, but Shun jumped behind the monster, and onto the ground while holding its necks with his chains. Hyoga jumped along with him and gave him a hand in this task. Ranma got down and too helped them, while the rest of us began to attack the heads as hard as we could. Octavius blows began to shatter it, and Wilheim blinded one of its eyes with his sword. I did the same thing with my spatula and another red eye went black. Sora banged him with his sword and Goofy attacked with his shield. Both Ryu and Ken went after the other pair of eyes and the monster went completely blind, and Leon, Cloud, Yuffie, Cid, and Akane attacked the necks. The monster began to crumble under our ceaseless attacks. Seeing that it was utterly defeated, Ryoga decided to give him the 'coupe the grace'.  
  
"BREAKING POINT!!" he yelled and delved his finger onto the titan's chest. The beast let out a final roar before all of its body creaked and then exploded into a thousand pieces. And after a thunderous noise, the rock titan disappeared.  
  
"You could've done that at any time?!" Leon yelled at him.  
  
"Yeah, but I don't think that I would've harmed him much..." Ryoga answered.  
  
"Well, at least you could've tried!" Yuffie exclaimed, angrily.  
  
"Hey, let's look at the bigger picture, guys." Cloud interrupted. "We got the thing. Now we've got to help the rest of our friends!"  
  
With a battle cry, we ran to aid the rest of our companions. We tried to attack the ice titan by the side, but the fiend saw us before we could get close to it and from one of its hands shot a row of icy spikes. We yelled as we skillfully evaded the rain of projectiles and once every one of its spikes shattered on the ground, we tried to go at it again. But this time, the enemy let loose a blizzard from one of its hands. The chilling wind was so fierce that it drove us away. But what was worse was that this new attack was deadly cold: I began to shatter my teeth as soon as it touched me and felt how my arms turned into ice! I tried to move, yet was unable to do so... And so the terrible beast froze my friends and me. Only Hyoga withstood the devastating blow and countered with a freezing blast of his own. But the titan's winds were more terrible than his and he couldn't drive them back.  
  
"AURORA'S EXECUTION!!" he cried. I saw how he clasped his hands together and shot at the monster. I was unable to move because of the cold, and everything began to go blurry as the beats of my heart began to slow down. I felt a horrible fright as I looked at Wilheim. I was lying on the ground, his lips were blue as was his skin, and he didn't even shiver...  
  
Donald and Aeris tried to free us from the cold with their fiery spells, but their conjures were unable to pass through the curtain of ice that the monster had laid between them and us. There was no hope for us. Our friends' screams faded as I began to faint...  
  
But then, a golden glimpse caught my eyes. It advanced through the blizzard without hesitation and walked up to the monster. All of a sudden, it moved violently and the titan let out a yell as it fell to the ground. The light shattered the wall of ice and our companions' spells reached our bodies. Their heat melted the ice and I fell on my knees, breathing hard. My honey coughed as he stood up and helped me to my feet. Seeing that I was okay, we all ran to the monster and attacked him with all our might. Demean emptied his quiver while Tish kept casting fire spells on his arrows; Tifa shot many energy projectiles at it; Ariel threw many fire potions at the ice monster, and Vincent changed into some sort of were – wolf and unleashed a storm of fireballs. The rest of us attacked them up close, along with Hercules, whose body glowed like gold... He had been the light who had saved us. With each punch that he gave, the ground shook and the wind howled. His hits could bring down a mountain... and it didn't take long before the ice titan crumbled beneath our combined strength.  
  
"NO, NO, NO!!" Hades cried. "No way!! I can't believe it! I refuse to believe it!!"  
  
"Well, you'd better believe it, little ant!" Donald laughed. "We got here, saw what was the matter, and kicked the titan's butts, ha!"  
  
"Well said, Donald!" my honey exclaimed, with a laugh. "'Vini, vidi, vinci'*!"  
  
"And it looks like somebody could use a lesson!" chuckled Hercules as he grabbed the tiny, defeated Lord of the Dead.  
  
"Hey, hey... Take it easy, Herc!" Hades laughed, nervously. "Maybe we could cut out a deal!"  
  
"You'll have to discuss that with my dad." Hercules replied. "But right now, I believe that you need to take a nap!" and so, he slapped Hades and put him to sleep.  
  
***  
  
After the battle was over, we learned that a dark keyhole recently appeared in the Coliseum. The Heartless had poured through it like water pours through a broken dam. With their help, Hades had managed to take control over the Olympus without Hercules noticing it. He planned a scheme and sent the poisoned cloth to Meg, as a present from Zeus himself. She gave it to Hercules and when he put it on, the poison began to flow. But now that his foul craft had been undone and the keyhole had been sealed by Sora, Hades had been completely defeated. Hercules took him to Mount Olympus, where the Greek gods reside, and came back with a little present and, sadly, ill news.  
  
"Who's the Keyblade bearer?" he asked. Sora stepped forth, and so he handed him a keychain. "My father sends this to you. It'll give your sword power. It's even better than the one you gained in the last tournament. Mars himself forged this one. How about that? He's the best smithy in Olympus, so be proud when you use it."  
  
"Yeah, I will!" Sora exclaimed, and quickly attached the keychain to his blade. "Thanks, Hercules! But... why the long face? We won, didn't we?"  
  
"Yeah, we won, but it's a bit more complicated than that." Hercules sighed. "It's Meg. When she was captured with us, someone came out of the shadows and took her. I couldn't do anything because I was under the potion's effect... She's still alive: my father told me so. But still, I don't know what I'll do if something happens to her. I'll never be able to forgive myself."  
  
"I do not believe that the Heartless will kill her." My baby said. We all looked at him as he kept on speaking. "Somehow, I believe that your lady Meg is one of the princesses of heart that the Heartless need to open the final and most deadly keyhole..."  
  
"Well, as a matter of fact, she is." Hercules said.  
  
"Princess of Heart?" I asked. "Would you mind explaining that to us, Wilheim – honey?"  
  
"Basically, there are seven women chosen by destiny who serve as the ultimate key." Tifa explained. "Will the dragon told us about them. And if all that he said is true, then the Heartless are missing but two princesses of heart... That's not very pretty."  
  
"As to that, my father, Zeus, told me something." Hercules said. "They're good news and bad news alike... The good news is that I don't think that the Heartless are that close to achieving their goal of capturing all the princesses of heart." We all looked at him with confusion. He took a deep breath and explained: "Because of the keyholes that you guys have sealed, the Heartless are losing strength. This means that seven woman won't suffice to unlock the final keyhole... My father believes that they are looking for more that can help break the spell."  
  
"So now there are more than seven princesses." Muttered Merryck. "Well, those are, like you've said, Mr. Hercules, good news, in a way. That gives us more time to find the place that the dragon Will spoke about, Hollow Bastion. Hopefully, we still have enough time to reach it before the Heartless get every princess, I reckon."  
  
"I hope so." Hercules sighed. "What I'm most concerned about is the fact that those who have been captured have had their hearts stolen..."  
  
"Stolen?" we all asked, in shock. "That's awful!" Felicia exclaimed. "If that's true, then what about Jasmine? We promised the Sultan that we would get her back for him, didn't we?"  
  
"Hopefully, there is a way to restore their hearts to them." Demean sighed. "Let us believe in that."  
  
"There's always a way." Vincent assured. "We'll find it."  
  
"Your negativism has hardly come afloat, Vincent. You've changed since last time we were together." Yuffie said, with a smile.  
  
"I've learned that many things can be saved. Hope doesn't die until last." The man replied.  
  
"In that case, perhaps we could delay the Heartless even more by sealing more keyholes." Tish suggested. "I say that we go back to the worlds where we have been in and have still that foul entrance that remains unlocked."  
  
"That's a good plan, fairy." Said Morrigan. "And in that case, I must insist that we go back to Halloween Town, for it was the place where our quest began. I am somewhat concerned about Jack Skellington and the others. They have a stout heart, but I don't know if that will be enough to drive the hordes of Heartless back. For even though we have defeated them several times, let us remember that their strength can grow at an alarming rate to a terrible level."  
  
"That's true." Ryoga agreed. "Let's go back to Halloween Town, you guys. And I say that we do so right now."  
  
"And after that, it's back to Traverse Town." Leon said. "We also parted from there, and never got to find the keyhole."  
  
"Why don't you come with us, Hercules?" Ariel asked. "You beat that monster just like that." She snapped her fingers and went on. "You'd be very helpful if you came with us."  
  
"I can't." Hercules replied. "The Heartless have made some terrible things here. I have to stay here and help to undo them... And if they go back, someone's got to be here, besides my father, to watch over the world." Then, he smiled and added: "But I wish you luck on your quest and hope that the next time we meet, it'll be under... brighter circumstances."  
  
"Then let us all hope for that." Link said. "Farewell, then, Hercules. Watch over the lands and may the goddesses be there to aid you if battle should arise."  
  
***  
  
We were getting ready to depart the Olympus and go to Halloween Town, the place where my Wilheim – honey's group had begun their journey. When all was done, we decided that we deserved a rest. After all, the battles had been very tiring. Even Cid refused to fly the ship if he wouldn't get an hour of sleep. I couldn't blame him. I was even more tired than he was, for I had fought restlessly against many hordes of enemies, perhaps not mighty in nature, but very large in number. My baby was also very tired; he could hardly keep his eyes open. Demean, I think, was the one who seemed less beat, as well as Tish, but still they welcomed the rest. Octavius – who had now changed back into a human form and had put some clothes on – was resting against wall. Cloud was sleeping while holding Tifa close to him, and Morrigan slept under the shadow of the gates of the Coliseum. Soon, all of our companions fell asleep, and so did we. But after merely half an hour, Wilheim woke up. I guess that he didn't want to wake me up, but a gentle kiss of his was all it took to make me open my eyes and stare at him with a smile upon my face.  
  
"I am sorry... I did not mean to stir your dreams." He whispered, gently.  
  
"Hey, don't worry about that, Wilheim – honey." I said, with a giggle. "I feel much better already. Besides, Cid's the one who's going to pilot the ship, right? We can get some more sleep inside. After all, we deserve it. We fought fifty battles, no less. Those potions worked, but only for the moment. Right now, I'm still dead tired... but not as much." He smiled too and kissed me again. Then, he sighed and looked at the sky. It was midday: we had fought for an entire day. "What's on your mind, baby?" I asked, seeing him so quiet.  
  
"Hmm? Oh, I was just thinking about the gods." He answered.  
  
"The gods?" I asked. "You mean the Greek gods?"  
  
"Precisely. I did not imagine them or the mythological creatures or their heroes like they are."  
  
"I think I understand what you mean."  
  
"According to the myths, Zeus was a mighty god who lacked mercy... And now that I have heard of him, he seems more godlike than human. If you remember well, the Greek myths said that the gods were powerful and ancient, but they had human emotions."  
  
"I know the stories well, Wilheim. I did go to school, you know? You didn't, now that I come to think of it."  
  
"Yes, but I have read many much." He chuckled. "Do not think me ignorant, Ukyo. I am older and wiser than you."  
  
"I agree in the 'older' part, but not in the 'wiser' part." I giggled. He was about to kiss me with passion when we suddenly saw Sora coming at us. I turned my head and his lips touched only my cheek... What a shame. I really did want to show him the meaning of passion. "Hey, Sora." I greeted. "What's up?"  
  
"Nothing." Sora sighed. "It's just that... I just keep thinking about Kairi, and Riku. I hope that they're alright."  
  
"They are, don't worry about that." I assured.  
  
"Are you so sure about that?" a voice suddenly said. I turned to it in alarm and got up from the ground, along with Wilheim. The voice belonged to a young boy, who was just a tad taller than Sora. He had blue pants and a yellow – black shirt. His hair seemed as if were made out of silver and his eyes shone like sapphires... "Well, well, look who we have here." He added, and smirked grimly.  
  
"No way... Riku!" Sora exclaimed, and let out a joyful laugh. "Riku! I can't believe that you're here!" he was about to run to his side and hug him, I suppose. Things seemed to be getting better and better... Now Sora had found one of his friends. I smiled and giggled happily. But suddenly, Riku raised his hand, and Sora stopped short. "What...? What's the matter, Riku?" he asked, confused.  
  
"You can't fool me, Sora." Riku replied, dryly. "I know what you're up to. You've been had by these guys. Can't you see it?"  
  
"What?" Sora and I uttered.  
  
"I heard what Hercules said about the princesses of Heart. You didn't notice me, did you? I guess you're still as sloppy as before." He laughed. "Anyway, it's all a trick. You see, I know where Kairi is..."  
  
"What? Where??" Sora demanded.  
  
"Can't tell you." Riku replied. "Unless you switch sides. It's like this, Sora: we need the power of many girls in order to get back Kairi's heart; the Heartless stole it from her. That's why I kidnapped both Jasmine, and Meg. I'm looking for some more princesses, and once I've got them all, Kairi will get her heart back. So come with me and ditch these losers."  
  
"What??" Sora said, and stepped back in shock. "Kairi... her heart... She's lost it?"  
  
"How can you say those things about us, you jackass??" I demanded, angrily, and took out my spatula. And I thought that I would be pleased to meet him. After all, Sora did speak quite nicely of him... "Say that again, so I can bust your head open with this!" but before I could go on, Wilheim put his hand on my chest. I looked at him and noticed a slight horror in his eyes...  
  
"Ukyo and Wilheim and Donald and Goofy and the rest of these guys are my friends, Riku..." Sora muttered, after a few instants. There was sadness in his face and his voice came out weakly. "They are good people. They only want to help..."  
  
"Oh, come on! Don't be such a naïve baby, Sora!" Riku said, and Sora gasped.  
  
"Riku, speak no more!" Wilheim suddenly interrupted, and stepped in front of Sora and me.  
  
"Oh, so there you are." Riku snickered. "What now? Another heart – lesson, ex – vampire? What are you going to say this time, bat – boy?"  
  
"You... you already knew him?" Sora asked in a low voice. I only looked at my baby in awe. He hadn't said anything about his meeting with the boy...  
  
"You are not yourself." Wilheim said, without heeding Sora. "Riku, I see in your eyes that you have changed in some way. I believed that all that you wanted to do was to be with your friends again. And yet, you come here and practically menace one of them. That is not what you would have said if you had met Sora when I last saw you in Agrabah. You listened to my words then: I thought that you had understood that you cannot jeopardize the lives of other people to save another. But a shadow in your mind has apparently erased these thoughts..." he stopped talking and waited for an answer, as did Sora and I. But Riku didn't reply. He only looked at Wilheim angrily and tightened his fists. And after a few moments, my honey raised his voice and demanded: "Who are you??"  
  
"What?? What have you done with Riku??" asked Sora, reading his Keyblade.  
  
"...Idiots!!" Riku exclaimed as a shadow appeared on the ground and apparently swallowed him. A second passed and he was gone.  
  
"Riku!!" Sora yelled, and ran to where he had been standing. He tried to dig a hole in the ground, but his friend had vanished. "Damn it!!" he sat down and covered his face with his hand. I looked at Wilheim and went to Sora's side. I put my hand on his shoulder, hoping that he would at least say something. But he only breathed heavily and didn't speak a word. After a minute, Wilheim sat by his side, and asked:  
  
"Are you alright?"  
  
"No." he answered. "I don't think I am."  
  
"Sora... I'm so sorry." I said, and hugged him. He then embraced me and I felt his tears on my shoulder. Yet he didn't sob or anything. I believe that he was ashamed to do so.  
  
"Riku is not like that." Wilheim said, firmly. "Some evil is controlling him... And I do not think that it is Maleficent."  
  
"You mean that witch?" I asked in a low voice.  
  
"Yes. I believe that there is someone else." Wilheim added. "I cannot say what... But I do know that we are far of meeting all of the great Heartless enemies."  
  
"Sora... what's wrong?" Shun asked, as he walked to us with a concerned look on his face. Apparently, all of them had slept through the meeting, or hadn't listened to it at all. Sora let out a final sigh and tried to smile, but his face remained sad and empty, like a tombstone.  
  
***  
  
A few minutes after that dreadful incident, we all got on the ships and headed to Halloween Town. For the first time in all of our travels, Sora didn't go along with me. He told me that he wished to be alone and to think about what was happening at that moment with his friend. I was somewhat concerned: I didn't want to see the sadness that I had experienced in his eyes. When I was about to ask him if he was sure about that, Wilheim simply put his hand on my shoulder and whispered me to say no more. I could not help but to sigh as Sora got on the ship that Cid piloted. This time, Wilheim and I went along with Leon, Sakura, Ryoga, and Ikki.  
  
I sat next to Wilheim, holding his hand, too concerned to do any talking. My honey, however, thought that it would be best for me if I just spoke up.  
  
"What is on your mind, darling?" he asked.  
  
"You know what's on my mind, Wilheim." I sighed. "I can't stop thinking about Sora. Do you think that he'll be alright?"  
  
"Are you worried about him?" he replied. "I am actually a bit more concerned about Riku. Those eyes of his reveal an evil that he did not know. I am worried; I think that maybe Riku is being possessed by some fiend. I do not know what will become of him... I fear that maybe this enemy will take over his will forever. Not only will Sora lose his friend, but we will also gain another foe. And a dangerous one at that."  
  
"And he'll become the more dangerous to Sora all along. Riku is Sora's best friend. I don't think that any of us can know what having your best buddy turned on you mean, but I'm sure that it's an awful feeling. What if Sora gets so depressed that he chooses to abandon the mission? Now that I think of it, you too should be more concerned about Sora: the quest depends on him."  
  
"Well, you are right about that."  
  
At that moment, Ikki came into our room and sat down on the floor (of course, he first made sure that he wasn't... interrupting anything). He let out a yawn and let his back rest on the wall. And after staying silent for a few minutes, he said:  
  
"Don't worry about him. He's a strong kid, I'm sure he'll be fine."  
  
"You sound so certain..." I sighed.  
  
"Strong people always make it through. They may falter once or twice, but they always make it. Take Shiryu, for instance. He blinded himself to save Seyia and my brother from a silver saint. Surely he told you about that, Wilheim."  
  
"I know the story, but by Seyia's mouth." My baby said.  
  
"Well, the doctors said that he would never be able to see again." Ikki added. "Hyoga, Seyia, and Shun felt terrible for him. But I knew that he would make it, and he knew that he would be all right, too. In the end, he regained his sight... See, as long as you know that Sora's going to be fine and as long as you believe it, things will start to look better."  
  
"I hope you're right." I said.  
  
"The matter seems to make you awfully nervous, my Ukyo." Wilheim murmured. "Why do not we talk about something else?" and before I could say anything, he turned to Ikki and asked: "Why did you not go with your friends on the other ships? It is clear to me that your brother looks up to you and wishes to be next to you. Why not humor him?"  
  
"I'm a bit of a lone wolf." Ikki confessed. "I guess I became one after my training on Death Queen Island. I don't really know why, but I don't like to travel in groups. In fact, if it were up to me, I would grab a ship and take off by myself. Don't take it the wrong way, but that's just how I am."  
  
"That is a bit odd. Still, I feel not offended."  
  
"That's good. Hey, I'm a little hungry. Is there anything to eat on this ship?"  
  
"I believe there is, but..." Wilheim answered and slowly turned to face me, with a puppy – smile on his face. He needed not to say anything: I knew that he was also hungry and wanted him to make him something to eat. Oh, well. At least I could take my mind off Sora by cooking, I supposed. And so, I nodded my head and said:  
  
"Sure thing, Wilheim – honey. I'll make you guys some Okonomiyakis. I just need to find my things to cook. It won't take me long." With that said, I went out of the room and began to look for my stuff.  
  
The ship wasn't as big as the ones I was used to ride. It didn't take me long to look for my things in all of the rooms, except one. I found nothing and, supposing that my stuff would surely be waiting for me at the last room, walked to it. But before I entered, I heard both Sakura and Ryoga's laughs. They seemed to be chatting about something, but I didn't exactly knew what. Curiosity overtook me and, even though I've never been a professional eavesdropper (I've snooped a few times, but that's about it), leaned against the wall and listened carefully.  
  
"Well, that was quite a fight." Sakura said. "For a moment there, I didn't think that we would make it. I mean, did you see the size of those things? I never thought that titans would be that huge. I was really scared about that, to tell the truth. I think that that has been our toughest fight yet. Don't you agree?"  
  
"Not really." Ryoga replied. "You should've seen Sephiroth. That guy was a monster. He would've killed us all, if it wouldn't have been for Wilheim."  
  
As I heard this, I couldn't help but to smile triumphantly. * Of course. * I thought. * My baby is the best fighter around. * At this point, you can guess that I was no longer worried about Sora.  
  
"I thought that it had been Merryck who had beaten him." Sakura said.  
  
"That's true, but Wilheim was the one who fought against Sephiroth and gave Will enough time to cure all of us... But, yeah: Merryck was truly our savior at that time." He paused and then asked: "How was the jungle?"  
  
"Cool. I'm not really good at describing things. So I'll just tell you that it was a beautiful spectacle."  
  
Ryoga sighed and fell silent. I slowly moved my head to the door and looked at them. She was sitting on her bed and he was standing up, leaning against the wall. Both of them smiled and had their gazes stuck to the floor. As if they wanted to look ahead of them but did not have enough courage to do so. But after a few moments, Sakura took a deep breath, and asked:  
  
"Ryoga, why didn't you go in the same ship as Akane?"  
  
"I... Well, because there was no more space." Ryoga replied. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "All of the places were... 'booked', so to speak. Why didn't you go on Ryu's ship?"  
  
"Hmm... Same reason." She replied, while I silently banged my head against the wall. "You know, there wasn't anymore space. He's going in the same ship as Ken, and all..." she looked for something else to say, but found nothing.  
  
* Oh, go on, spit it out! * I thought. I could see in her eyes the same look that I had had when I first met Wilheim. But it was clear that her stare had been filled by a hidden thrill for some time...  
  
"Um... Ryoga, why are you still in love with Akane?" Sakura asked, to Ryoga's surprise, as well as my own. "I mean... How can you be in love with a girl that only thinks of you as a friend and that's... clearly involved with someone else?"  
  
"I... I don't know." Ryoga muttered. "I just am. Why are you in love with Ryu? He's a guy who's twice as old as you are and who's only interested in fighting."  
  
"I don't know. I just am." She said. And after a moment of silence, shorter than I would have expected, she asked: "How was it that you fell in love with her?"  
  
"Huh? What? Do you really want to know?"  
  
"Well, yeah. I wouldn't be asking you if I wasn't interested." She giggled.  
  
"Oh... All right, I'll tell you. But only if you tell me how was it that you fell for Ryu. Deal?"  
  
"Deal. I'll go first, then." She took a deep breath and said: "I was never truly interested in martial arts. Actually, my big dream was to go to the U. S. and win a hot – dog eating contest." I had to cover my mouth to keep myself from laughing when she said that, and so did Ryoga. "Hey, don't mock me! I wanted to set a world – record! Well, anyway, that's unimportant. The thing is that once, I saw these crooks that were being chased by the police... I think that they were robbers, or something. One of them grabbed a little kid and took him as a hostage. I was really scared: I thought that they would blow his head off... But then, Ryu showed up, saved the boy and gave the bad guys a real beating. You know, like a superhero of some sort. It was really incredible... And from that moment on, I swore to myself that I would fight against him, because I learned that his passion is for the battle." She let out a final sigh, and asked: "So what do you think? Stupid?"  
  
"No, not at all." Ryoga replied. "That's not stupid."  
  
"Thanks... Well, now it's your turn."  
  
"Okay. Um, you do remember that when I get splashed with cold water I turn into a black pig, right? Well, to make a long story short, Akane found me one day and 'adopted' me. She named me 'P – Chan'. I don't know why, but when I felt her tender touch, I just fell in love with her. It's not as flashy as your encounter with Ryu, but that's just the way it happened."  
  
They said some other things after that, but to be completely honest, my brain simply didn't process the information at that time. I could only think of the word 'pig'. I couldn't believe it!! P – Chan was Ryoga... Ryoga was P – Chan!! No wonder Ryoga cared so much for Akane: he was her stuffed doll! For so long I had thought of P – Chan as Akane's pet that never once did I pay attention to the little pig's bandanna. They were the same! It really took me some time to assimilate that, but in the end, I only shook my head and kept on listening... P – Chan. No way.  
  
"So you're her pet, huh?" Sakura laughed. "Well, no comments."  
  
"Come on, don't make fun of me. It's the first time I've told this to anyone." Ryoga said.  
  
"I won't make fun of you. It's a very curious story, though..."  
  
And then, they both fell silent for a while, yet again. Their gazes wandered through the room's walls and the floor and the ceiling. But never did they once rested on each other. It was as if there was a light in front of them so beautiful that they were scared to look upon it. I only wished that for just one instant their eyes would meet and that they would fear that glitter no more...  
  
Ryoga was one of my best friends. And he had been in love with Akane for a very long time. Even before I fell in love with Ranma (or Wilheim, for that matter). He did his best to keep his feelings from her, but sometimes failed. I was worried about him, because Akane was clearly in love with Ranma. And he loved her too. Neither of them admitted it, though, as I've mentioned some other time. They had loved each other even before our adventure began. The quest had created and strengthened many bonds, of love and of friendship. I loved Wilheim more than before; Akane and Ranma's love for each other had grown; Link and Aeris had also fallen for one another... and now it seemed that my good friend was about to forget about the girl he had cared for so long.  
  
And all of a sudden, they turned to see each other and asked, at the same time, something that confirmed my believes:  
  
"Do you really love Akane?"  
  
"Do you really love Ryu?"  
  
They froze for a few seconds, and then, their faces turned bright red and they smiled shyly. I too smiled again, and let out a dreamy sigh.  
  
"Ukyo, have you found your things yet?" asked Wilheim's voice, echoing on every single wall of the damn ship.  
  
"Yeah, we're kind of hungry..." added Ikki, making even more noise.  
  
Ryoga and Sakura quickly turned away from each other. Cursing the timing of those two, I stepped back and replied in a loud voice:  
  
"Not yet! I've only got one more room to search!" and so, I entered the room as if I had seen or heard nothing. "Hey, guys. I'm just going to look for my stuff and then I'm off. Do any of you want something to eat? I can make you some Okonomiyakis if you want."  
  
"No, thanks, Ukyo." Said Ryoga, while Sakura just shook her head and put on a smile on her face. I felt as if I had entered a forest in which only the fragrance of shy tenderness filled the air... and I had run over the roses with my clumsy feet. I lost no more time, found my things as quickly as I could, and left them alone. Either way, I had ruined the moment.  
  
But as I walked to the other room, I realized that it hadn't been my fault. As soon as I entered, I noticed that Leon was sitting by one of the windows, with his eyes stuck in the blackness of space. I supposed that maybe he had activated an automatic pilot, or something of the sort. Either way, that was not important. I quickly took grabbed the hardest items and took them out of my pack. And then, I hit both Wilheim and Ikki on the back of their heads.  
  
"Ow! What's the matter with you?" asked Ikki, as he protected himself from any other possible attacks.  
  
"Hey! Why did you do that?" asked Wilheim, giving me a confused glance as I sat next to him.  
  
"You jackasses..." I muttered, angrily.  
  
"What did we do?" asked my honey. He had no reason to know anything about Ryoga and Sakura... Still, I couldn't help to be mad at him for having such bad timing. They had been so close... A few more minutes of quietness and perhaps their lips would have met.  
  
"If asking you for an Okonomiyaki is going to mean trouble, then don't mind me." Leon said, trying to contain his laughter. "Now that I think of it, I'm not as hungry as I thought I was."  
  
***  
  
Eventually, I told them that they had ruined the moment, but I did stay mad at them for some time (even though I had no reason to). Ryoga and Sakura didn't talk as intimately as they did that time. But I knew that sooner or later, their love for each other would reveal itself...  
  
Anyway, after quite a while, we finally got to Halloween Town. Vincent was the only one who remembered where it was, and we had to follow his lead. And the ship that he possessed wasn't as fast as our own, so that helped in delaying the trip. As we descended into the new world, a dark veil covered our ship. The night was as black as an abyss and the stars did not twinkle at all. A chill ran down my back. As we all landed and got out of our ships, I began to think that maybe all of the shadows around us were but Heartless waiting for us to drop our guards... The place felt deserted. However, I later found out that the darkness around us and the cold air that blew were nothing out of the ordinary in that bizarre world.  
  
Sora stepped out of Cid's ship and sighed. As soon as I saw him, I went to his side. I was very worried about him: I dreaded to think that he had fallen as another victim to sadness' devastating attacks.  
  
"Sora... are you okay?" I asked in a soft voice.  
  
"Yeah..." he replied, weakly at first. But then, he looked at Wilheim, and me; my baby was now standing beside us. And so, he repeated, firmly: "Yeah. I'm all right. I'll be okay. I've been thinking during the whole trip... I won't lose hope... I mean, you guys found each other, right? That means that there is a solution to every problem. I guess I'll just have to look for the solution to Riku's. But... I need you guys to help me. Because I know that I can do it, but I don't know if I can do it alone."  
  
"Of course, sugar." I said, and smiled in relief. I patted his head and he grinned. "That's what friends are for, right?"  
  
"I am glad of your words, Sora." Wilheim added. "It proves that you have a stout heart. People such as yourself are hardly ever beaten by adversities. I am certain that you shall find the cure to Riku's curse. And I will be there for you if you are ever in need of my sword."  
  
"Sure thing... thanks." Sora chuckled.  
  
"Okay, guys, let's get going." Felicia urged. "I really want to visit Jack and the others to make sure that they're all right..."  
  
"I'm not going to go unprepared in a place like this..." Donald said. "So there!" he waved his staff and a beam of light engulfed him, Goofy, and Sora. When the glitter ended, we all let out a laugh. What was in the duck's mind now? He had disguised himself as a mummy, Goofy was in some sort of Frankenstein suit, and Sora seemed to be a vampire with a pumpkin mask... He didn't seem too happy to have all of us laughing at him. I've got to admit it, though... The costume was great.  
  
"Donald!" he whined.  
  
"Don't you see where we are?" Donald argued. "There are scary people about, so you'd better put something scary on to scare them."  
  
"That's a great idea, Donald." Goofy laughed, and meant it. Well, I guess that none of us were no longer surprised by his 'brightness'. "Why don't you cast the spell on the rest of our friends?"  
  
"I shall pass, if that will be the case." Demean quickly said, and we all agreed to his words.  
  
"Are you sure? You might need something scary on you." Goofy insisted.  
  
"I shall take my chances."  
  
"As will we all..." Vincent said. I thought that he would maybe speak of how him, Wilheim, Felicia, Ryoga, Sakura, and Morrigan had already been there and that there had been no need for any costume. But he said nothing. I suppose that he was anxious to go and see Jack Skellington, the weird character of whom Wilheim had spoken of during our trip. Either that or he just wanted Donald and the other two to keep on making fools out of themselves.  
  
The ships shrank and the pilots put them away. Then, we began to walk through the dark land. In front of us, lay a strange mount, its tip curled up against its body, forming a bizarre spiral, and at its foot, was a pumpkin hatch. They all had scary faces carved on, and seemed to be glowing. I suppose that they had candles inside them. That's what I wanted to think, at least. Far away, there was a spooky manor. Its walls were all twisted and some appeared to be rows of jagged teeth. It wasn't really a pretty picture... But still, I can't deny that I was somehow marveled.  
  
"There is the dark house that welcomed me to this world..." Wilheim whispered in my ear. "There is something odd about it. I do not know why, but somehow, it seems much more obscure... My guess is that there is something strange at work there. And I am certainly not too thrilled about it. I dread to think that the fate of Halloween Town has taken an ill turn while we were away."  
  
"The house does seem darker..." Ryoga suddenly said. He had been chatting with Sakura, and now they were both speaking aloud.  
  
"Oh, Vincent, do you think that maybe we're too late?" she asked.  
  
"I hope not." Vincent replied.  
  
"The scent in the air carries some malice in it." Morrigan added. "Yet it is not as strong. My believe is that the nights have grown longer in this place... But the townsfolk and the houses are all right."  
  
"I hope that you're right." Felicia said. "I never thought that this place would scare me as much as it's scaring me now..."  
  
We kept on walking, and soon found ourselves next to a black gate. Beyond it, lay Halloween Town. As we looked into it, we sighed in relief. It seemed that things were okay... Well, considering that we were in a world filled with monsters. Were – wolves, vampires, witches, and all sorts of other scary creatures walked about the streets with peaceful looks on their faces. My friends reckoned that there was nothing to be worried about. Vincent was the first to cross the gate. Ryoga, Sakura, and Felicia followed, and behind them, Morrigan, Wilheim, and I walked. I was practically attached to my honey's arm; not even the fiercest of winds would be able to part me from him. I've got to admit it: I was somewhat freaked out.  
  
Not very far away from where we stood, was a tall creature. It had a very, very thin body, and its skull and fingers were white. It was a skeleton. And because of his appearance, I guessed that he was none other than Jack Skellington. When my friends saw him, they approached him and greeted him with smiled on their faces.  
  
"Hello, Jack." Wilheim said, and the creature turned around to face us. Its empty, black eyes stared at us happily, it seemed, for he smiled and let out a laugh.  
  
"Well, hello, my friends!" he said. "I didn't think that I'd see you again! And to be honest, I didn't think that you'd be accompanied by such an army..."  
  
"Many things have happened, Jack." Felicia giggled. "For the best, I suppose. We've learned a lot about the enemies that attacked Halloween Town, and..."  
  
"Oh, about that..." Jack interrupted, and his face was filled by concern. "I think that I made a mistake... I... You see, I had some creatures that seemed to be in good state... They looked as if they could prove to be wonderful puppets, but..." and then he fell silent.  
  
"Jack, what exactly happened?" Wilheim asked, firmly.  
  
"The gargoyles have multiplied." He answered. "It isn't as safe to go out at night as before... And it seems that the darkness lasts longer than usual."  
  
"If that's so, then how come the townsfolk seem so cool about it?" Sakura asked.  
  
"Because they don't really care much about it... I'm the one who fights against them, remember? They know that I'll always be there for them, protecting them. That's why they're at ease. But they don't know that I'm the one who caused all of this." He paused for a moment, and sighed. "When I brought the little puppets to life, things began to go bad. The puppets turned on me and attacked me... I didn't think it would be like that. And what's worse, by bringing them to life I seem to have activated some sort of beacon: now the enemies come in here in greater forces. It's very hard for me to drive them back."  
  
"Yet the town still stands." Morrigan said. "That means that things aren't as bad as we thought they might be. Don't worry, Jack; we have come with a solution to the problem."  
  
"You have?" Jack asked. "Well, that's splendid!"  
  
"How have you survived for such a long time, Jack?" Vincent asked.  
  
"Well, I must admit that I haven't been battling the enemies on my own. You see, there's a boy that has been helping me for some time now. He arrived a few weeks later after you left. Ever since, he's stayed here, aiding me against the foes. Perhaps I should introduce you to him. He's a fine lad and a strong one, too..." he stopped short for a moment, and then said, with a shy laugh: "But I'm afraid that you'll have to introduce me to your friends first. I'm sorry I've been doing nothing but talking about my problems... But please, tell me your names."  
  
We all introduced ourselves to Jack, and Sora revealed to him that the enemies who he had been fighting were called the Heartless and that he was the only one who could make them go. Jack thanked Sora when he offered his help to him. Then, he turned to Wilheim and said:  
  
"It seems that some things have changed... You're not longer a vampire, are you?"  
  
"I see that you have noticed." My honey chuckled.  
  
"Great!" Jack laughed. "You seemed sad to be one... And what's more, you're now with your girlfriend. You see, Wilheim? Luck isn't always so bad."  
  
"We now understand that." I giggled.  
  
"By the looks of it, I'd say that it's close to morning." Jack said, as he gazed at the sky. "Come to my house. I'll let you rest there for a while... And then we'll be off. I have a feeling that I know who might be behind all this. And I would also like to introduce the lad to you."  
  
"Let's go, then." Ryoga urged.  
  
We reached Jack's house in a few moments. It was a dark tower that loomed over the town with a ghastly air. We entered it and went up some stairs. And when we reached the upper floor, we were received by a jolly ghost – dog who jumped on Jack and barked happily. And a few steps away from us, was a boy, who was looking out the window that was actually the wall of the room. When he heard us arrive, he turned around, took off the hood that covered his face in shadows, and stared at us without saying a word.  
  
He was somewhat short and skinny, but I could feel a tremendous power emanating from him. He wore a thick, black shirt, with white stripes running down his arms. On one of the sides, a phrase was written: "Find the light", it said. A nice thing to repeat to oneself in a dark place such as this, I thought. He also wore black sweatpants and three colored runners: black, white, and grey they were. His hair was brown and spiky from one side, falling down to his face, and almost covering one of his eyes, making his gaze look all the more mysterious. His skin was very pale, almost like the one of Morrigan, or Camille, like cold snow from a distant land in the north. He had oriental features, however, and looked to be Chinese. But his eyes told a different story: one of them was green and the other one blue, both magical and beautiful, revealing a bizarre strength and an inner magic... He was truly mysterious for a little kid.  
  
After staying silent for a few instants, he sighed, and said to Jack:  
  
"This is amazing... Where'd ya get a platoon of the sort, Jack?"  
  
"Well, these are the six fellows that I told you about." The skeleton replied, as he pointed at Wilheim, Ryoga, Vincent, Felicia, Morrigan, and Sakura. "The rest of them are their friends, friends who they have met during their travels."  
  
"Uh – huh." The boy said, dryly. "And what are you guys doing here?" he asked.  
  
"We've come to straighten things up." Sora replied. "The Heartless have been wreaking havoc on this world, right? So we're here to kick their butts and seal the keyhole with this." He showed the Keyblade and kept on talking. "Anyway, my name's Sora. It's nice to meet you."  
  
"Hmm... I'm Dante." The kid answered. "Nice to meet you too, I guess. So you're here to save the world, huh?"  
  
"You might say that." Sora chuckled.  
  
"For a little boy he seems awfully cold." Camille muttered in a low voice. "I wonder if he is older than he appears?"  
  
"Maybe he doesn't trust us." Morrigan guessed.  
  
"Okay... Now that we're all together, let me tell you what I think." Jack said. "Since I committed that mistake, the foes – the Heartless they are called, Dante tells me – have been reproducing like worms on a dead body. And what's more, we've discovered that they all come from Oogie Boogie's manor; that's the house that lies beyond the pumpkin hatch. Dante and I tried to get there some nights ago, but the place seems to have changed – for ill, that is. Oogie Boogie's house has always been somewhat scary (which doesn't bother me), but now it seems all the more darker and perilous..."  
  
"And you think that he has something to do with the Heartless." I concluded. "Chances are that he is. We've met lots of other foes who are in league with the Heartless... That's something to be worried about, because they are usually very powerful, mean creatures that command the Heartless's armies... My guess is that Oogie Boogie is a being of that sort, right?"  
  
"Yes, that's right." Jack said, nodding his head. "We've been meaning to pay him a little visit, but simply can't do so, because if we leave, the town will be left helpless. But now that you are here... I've got a favor to ask you."  
  
"No need for that." Wilheim intervened. "Before we left, I had a small chat with Sally, and I promised her that I would not leave you astray: I promised that if I found the way to put an end to this evil, I would return. And so, here I am, along with many allies that will prove to be very useful in this mission. We will help you fight this malice, Jack."  
  
"Thank you! That's all I wanted to know!" the skeleton laughed.  
  
"Awfully formal, huh?" Dante suddenly said, dryly. "What's with you, pal? I've never heard anyone speak like that."  
  
"I suppose it has become customary for me to speak like this. I do not see why this could be a problem." My honey replied, somewhat vexed at the kid's statement.  
  
"Hey, I was just saying. You don't have to get mad." The boy replied, and after a small pause said: "Fine, if you're going to help us, I guess that you should know a few things. The way I see it, that manor is probably infested with guards. So what I think is that taking an army such as the one in this room (by the way, I don't know how all of you guys can fit in here), is like crying: 'Shoot us.' If you ask me, I'd say that only a few of us went, and the rest of you staid in town, in case the Heartless attacked. That's the way I see it. But hey, I'm just a kid, right? Or at least, that's what most of you are thinking, for sure."  
  
"Perhaps, but you are a bright lad with good ideas." Link said.  
  
"How old are you, boy?" Octavius asked.  
  
"Fourteen. How old are you?" Dante replied.  
  
"You look younger, yet your wisdom is greater than that of a fourteen year – old boy." The were – bear answered, and said no more.  
  
"So, who's going?" Sora asked. "I have to go, 'cause I'm the only one who can seal the keyhole... I'd be glad if Ukyo and Wilheim came with me."  
  
"Certainly." Jack said. "Who else will be accompanying us? Five of us are ready... Perhaps another five will do the trick, wouldn't you say so, Dante?"  
  
"Barely. I still think that only five of us should go." Dante said.  
  
"Hey, do you know what kind of menace are we dealing with here?" Donald asked, beginning to get angry. "Besides, why is a little brat like you giving orders around here? I say that all of us should go!"  
  
"Donald, try to calm down..." Goofy whispered to his friend.  
  
"Gee, good advice, bird – brain." Mocked Dante. "Since when did a giant duck become a born leader? Well, Napoleon, let's hear some good advice and not just crazy ideas."  
  
"Why, you...!!" Donald grumbled, but Demean quickly put his hand on his head and stopped him from facing Dante.  
  
"Have you got any wits, duck?" he asked, angrily, and Donald merely growled and turned away.  
  
"Both are right." Shiryu suddenly said, and took a step forth. "A handful of us won't suffice to take out a Heartless army that easily, but secrecy is the key to victory. That's why I agree with Jack Skellington: ten of us should go, while the rest of us will stay here, and guard the city. What do you think about that, Dante? Is that okay with you, or do you have a better thought?" he asked, with sincerity in his voice.  
  
Shiryu's wisdom and coolness seemed to put the kid at ease. Donald was really great at getting people angry...  
  
"All right. In that case, I want you to come with us." He said.  
  
"Sure." Shiryu answered.  
  
"We're going too." Ryu and Ken said. "It's been a while since we last had any action." The later added. "I want to kick some Heartless butt; and this time, I want to go one – on – one with a handful of them: not just a bunch of us against a giant monster, like we did so with the titans."  
  
"You'll need someone to heal your wounds." Aeris said. "So, I'll..."  
  
"No way!!" Donald intervened. "I'm going! And Goofy's going with me!"  
  
"I am?" Goofy muttered.  
  
"I don't care, as long as you're useful and you stop getting on my nerves..." Dante sighed, unhappily.  
  
"You're the one that's...!!" Donald cried, but this time, it was I who could not contain myself any longer.  
  
"That's enough, damn it!!" I exclaimed, and both the duck and my honey jumped back in alarm (after all, my Wilheim – honey was right next to me). I knew that Donald saw me as a terrible storm that, when bother, could wreak havoc on the most arrogant of cities (in this case, his neck). And so, he shut his beak up and listened. "You're coming with us, if you want to, but if you're going to come, then you'd better keep quiet, or else I'm going to kick your sorry butt so hard that you're not going to be able to sit in three months! Is that clear??"  
  
Donald nodded rapidly and said nothing. I let out a sigh and held on to my honey's arm, and whispered in his ear:  
  
"Don't be scared, Wilheim – honey. You're not the one I'm mad with."  
  
"And I thank the Heavens for that..." he murmured, and I let out a giggle.  
  
At that moment, we heard how the front door closed, and someone ran up the stairs. A few moments later, a woman that seemed to be a rag doll popped her head from the stairs and looked at all of us with a bit of fright. After all, we were quite a platoon, like Dante had said. But suddenly, her eyes turned to Wilheim and she smiled.  
  
"You came back!!" she exclaimed.  
  
"I promised that I would come back if I ever found the way to end with the curse of the enemies." My honey replied. "And so I have: I am a man of my word."  
  
"They came in the nick of time..." Jack said. "We've already planned a strategy to attack Oogie Boogie's manor. I hope that things will turn out alright..." he paused, and then added: "Most of them will stay here and guard the town. Hopefully, the enemy won't suspect of our plans..." he stopped speaking yet again, and the said, regretfully: "I'm sorry that I didn't listen to you, Sally. Again, you were right and I was wrong. I hope that next time I have a crazy idea like this one, I'll remember your words first."  
  
"I hope so, Jack..." Sally said, and smiled tenderly. "Yet you always fix what you do wrong. So go fix it!"  
  
"You heard the lady." Dante urged. "Let's move."  
  
***  
  
While the rest of our friends staid behind (some of them seemed happy to stay in town, while some others were hoping to go to battle with us), we began to walk to Oogie Boogie's manor, to the dark place that had received us when we first landed on the world. Jack and Dante, the ones who knew their way best on the world lead the way. Sora, Wilheim, Shiryu, and me marched behind them, and on the far back, walked Ryu, Ken, Goofy, and Donald. This later I had warned once again that if he began to anger us, he would suffer... 'pain' is all that I said to him, and he was as quiet as a rock.  
  
"Where do you come from, Dante?" asked Sora.  
  
The boy turned to him and kept quiet for a few moments. It seemed as if he didn't trust us enough to speak about himself. But I guess that after seeing how both Jack and Sally held Vincent, Felicia, Ryoga, Morrigan, Sakura, and Wilheim in such high esteem, he decided to share a bit.  
  
"From a cold land... Over there, there are very advanced machines... You know? Heavy machinery, high – technology things... But what's special about it is that they work with magic. They're one over there – technology and magic. Because of that, they trained us not only to use this..." he paused as he took out an ornate strait sword that glittered with the moonlight... It was beautiful, but not as fascinating as Wilheim's Renamark. "But to use magic powers as well." He concluded.  
  
"Trained you?" Ken asked. "Who trained you?"  
  
"I was with the militia." Dante said. "I don't mean to brag, but I was an outstanding private."  
  
"A private? If you truly were an outstanding private, why didn't they make you a corporal, or a sergeant?"  
  
"Don't really know. Perhaps it has something to do with age, or maybe something else. Maybe it's because I can't use magic as well as they expected me to... Don't get me wrong; I do know a couple of magic spells. It's just that I have a hard time on concentrating to conjure them."  
  
"Naturally." Donald muttered, with a chuckle.  
  
"God, this duck really knows how to get people angry." Shiryu said, and turned to him with an angry glance. "Be quiet, please. I wouldn't like to knock you out."  
  
"Amen to that!" Ken laughed. "Better shut up, Donald. I know this guy, at least from the Galactic Tournament... He could break your skull into tiny bits... And we would have 'foie gras'** for dinner."  
  
"Actually, 'foie means goose." Wilheim corrected. "But I hope that you understood his point, duck."  
  
"Yeah, shut up and let Dante speak." I demanded. "Go on, Dante..."  
  
"Go on? There isn't much else to say... I've been using a Gummi ship I stole from a rogue thief in some other world to travel around the worlds and fight against the Heartless..." he paused, and after a sigh, kept on speaking. "But their numbers were too great. They overwhelmed me and I had to flee. Fortunately, I found a world that still has a chance: this one. If I can just save one world, then I'll feel better." He stopped and looked at Sora. "So you really can save all the worlds with that, can you?"  
  
"That's what it's for, or so I've been told." Sora replied, with a smile.  
  
"Great... Do you mind if I tag along with you guys? After we're done with this, I mean..." he asked.  
  
"Sure. We need all the help we can get." I said. "Besides, were somewhat tight with only five ships... A sixth one would really help a lot."  
  
"Thanks. I'd really be happy to help in sealing this evil away. If I don't do it, it kind of gets to me, and I'll never be able to find my..." again, he stopped short, and then smiled weakly, and whispered: "Never mind."  
  
"I am glad that you're going with them." Jack said. "You've been much help around here, but I see in your eyes the desire to do something more... But right now, let's focus on defeating Oogie Boogie and the Heartless."  
  
Suddenly, a great roaring wind stopped us from going any further. The night seemed to emit a wolf's howl and we all froze. We were right about to cross the bizarre mount, but now we had become just ten dark figures standing by the pumpkins. Jack took a few steps forward and squinted his eyes to see if he could get a better look on the horizon. Then, he turned to us in alarm and said in a low voice:  
  
"Hide among the pumpkins!"  
  
We lost no time in asking what was the matter and obeyed. A few moments passed and the terrible quietness that had followed the howling wind was broken by steps... They sounded like horse hooves running through the ground at incredible speed, and they came our way. I turned to the mount's top and an army of Heartless soared over our heads. Most of them were gargoyles that carried many other foul creatures, and some others were ghost – like monsters that traveled as if they were mist. But a few of them were wyverns that flew as fast as eagles, and some of them were Invisibles: the terrible foes that we had battled on the Coliseum. None of them seemed to spot us and they flew to Halloween Town as fast as they could. In the distance, we heard the alarm, and many flashes began to illuminate the sky, but the shadows quickly covered them.  
  
"Gwarsh, I hope that our friends will be alright..." Goofy murmured to himself, as he let out a worried sigh.  
  
"I had never seen so many Heartless before." Dante said. "This is bad... I suggest that we stop losing our time and hurry up to Oogie Boogie's manor. The sooner we seal that keyhole, the sooner Halloween Town will be saved."  
  
"We are taking a shortcut to get to the lower part of the house, which is usually unwatched." Jack added. "Follow me!" and so he began to run as fast as he could to the top of the mount. As he reached the highest point, the tip magically uncurled, as if it were waking from a long sleep, creating a new path for us to cross. We followed Jack, and had a bit of a hard time keeping up with him: not only did he run very fast, but also his long legs carried him far away from us. Yet we stayed close to him, and before long, we reached Oogie Boogie's manor.  
  
It seemed much bigger than before. I had the feeling that it had grown since we had last seen it... As if it was alive. The rows of jagged teeth seemed sharper and the candles that illuminated its halls flickered restlessly, as if they were being attacked by an inner, evil wind. It really did scare the hell out of me. But my friends were protecting me, and I had to protect them. At least we had Ryu and Ken and Shiryu with us... I hadn't gotten a chance to see Shiryu properly in action, but from what Ikki, Hyoga, and Shun had said, I knew that we had a powerhouse in our team. And that was not all, for Dante had a little surprise for us as well...  
  
"It's quiet." Jack murmured. "Perhaps a bit too quiet. I don't know what to expect... It seems that all the Heartless are battling your friends in Halloween Town. Yet somehow, I feel that we are walking into a trap."  
  
"And somehow, I don't think that you're wrong." Dante added. "Hold on a bit. I'm going to check things out..."  
  
And so, he leapt onto the air. And when I say he leapt, I mean that. He jumped about forty – five feet up and landed in the door that was nearest to the house. We all looked at each other in awe and kept quiet as he studied the inside of the house. He then jumped inside and a moment later, the door opened. We all climbed the rocks that were before us as best as we could and entered the manor without making a sound.  
  
"How the hell did you jump so high?" Ryu asked.  
  
"A little detail I left out..." Dante declared. "In my world, the gravity force is greater. That's why I don't find it so hard to jump as high."  
  
"I can tell..."  
  
"Well, I suppose that you can tell us all about it later." Wilheim said, unsheathing his sword. "Right now, we must be quiet and move with stealth. Since you are a soldier, Dante, tell us: if there are Heartless around here, where can we expect them to come out of?"  
  
"Everywhere." Dante replied. "Out of the walls, the floor, the ceiling... I thought that you had battled the Heartless before."  
  
"What I meant is where can they be found in greater numbers. You have studied this manor before, am I correct?"  
  
"Oh, you should have said that before." Dante replied. "They tend to get together at the second tower on the left."  
  
"Ergo: Oogie Boogie must be in there." I inquired. "Let's get there as quickly as we can. We move in, strike, and get out."  
  
"What's 'ergo'?" Goofy asked.  
  
"Not now, Goofy." Donald grumbled.  
  
And so, as fast as we could, we ran up to the second tower on the left. The air grew cold as we passed through the dark, empty halls, most of them made out of grey stone. None of them had as much as a painting in them, not even a... scary one. The chandeliers' lights went out as we left them behind us and swung furiously from one side to another and for a moment, I got somewhat scared: it looked like they were trying to warn the master of the house of our presence. The statues of terrifying creatures looked at us with quiet eyes, their mouths wide open. I know that they were screaming to alert Oogie Boogie, yet I couldn't hear their yells... Or maybe I was just getting a little paranoid. But as we finally left all those stairs, and empty halls behind us, it turned out that I was right... For as we approached the big, gloomy door with a screaming face on it, a squadron of Heartless appeared. Gargoyles, Invisibles, and Wyverns... Luckily, they weren't as much as I thought they would: I knew that we could take them down.  
  
I was the first to attack. I grabbed three of my little spatulas and threw them at three gargoyles. They all fell in an instant. After that, the enemies threw themselves at us. Jack managed to get a hold on one of the Invisibles' swords and tore it apart. The fiend died instantly. Meanwhile, Dante battled against another Invisible, while Shiryu was dodging the attacks of three wyverns, and Ryu and Ken were busy fighting against six gargoyles. Wilheim and I covered each other's backs: he battled against an Invisible and I fended off a wyvern's attacks. Donald, Goofy, and Sora each fought a gargoyle with all their might.  
  
Sora quickly defeated his foe and began to battle another gargoyle. He had grown much. As he fought against his next opponent, I could see that he was already using some of Link, Octavius, and even Wilheim's swordplay. He was even dishing out Cloud's powerful blows. He was a really quick learner, and had become quite a dangerous fighter. Donald and Goofy fought as usual. They too had grown: the duck's spells were more devastating than when we had first met him, and Goofy's speed had become much greater. As for Dante, he was truly a skilled swordsman. He was as quick as a cheetah and as deadly as a tiger. His attacks were the ones of a fast snake that takes a lethal bite at its prey and then lets it die from its poison... He jumped from one side to another, evading every blow that came from the Invisible. Soon, another enemy joined the battle and both Invisibles fought against Dante without even wounding him. Though the boy wasn't able to kill any of them (he didn't seem to know their weak point), he did slay two wyverns while staying away from his opponents.  
  
As soon as I took care of the wyvern that was on my back, I leapt to his aid. I hit one of the Invisibles' swords with my spatula as hard as I could and shattered it. The Heartless died, and only its faint moan lingered before it vanished into thin air. Dante now understood what had to be done and slashed the remaining weapon. The second foe died, and Dante kept still, while his eyes looked for another victim.  
  
Ryu and Ken used their Hadoken to finish the gargoyles that flew away from the battle and threw fireballs at us from a distance. They stood no chance against the energy waves of our strong companions. Jack began to use some magic spells as well. All of a sudden, a pair of dark balls appeared over his head, and seemed to absorb two gargoyles. Then, he kept on battling with fire and ice spells, and his fists and feet. Shiryu kept killing one Invisible after another: it only took one hit of his strong fist to shatter their blades and send them into oblivion. No sword could hit him, because his shield was as hard as the finest diamond. There was no force capable of breaking it in that world, except his own. Finally, Wilheim mainly relied on his brute strength, as usual. And as usual, he dispatched one Heartless with one single blow; sometimes even two or three fell before his might. Renamark burnt brightly in his hands and roared fearsomely every time he swung it.  
  
Before long, the battle was over and the door lay unguarded.  
  
"Wow..." Dante muttered. "You're pretty strong... For a girl, I mean."  
  
"Thanks. You are quite tough, too." I replied, with a smile.  
  
"I never thought that you guys would be so strong." He added. "I'm really impressed..."  
  
"So are we, that's for sure." Shiryu replied. "But there's no time for that right now. Let's get to the bottom of things." And so, he kicked the door open.  
  
We entered into a dark room, which looked like a bizarre, twisted casino. The center of it was a giant roulette, with red and black numbers carved on it. There were two giant, six – sided dices to our left, and many card – like walls on the sides. Behind these, I could see the silhouettes of metallic robots, each of them with a gun in hand. Many cages hung from the ceiling, some of them contained uneasy bats, and some others big bugs. It wasn't a pretty scene. And across the room, stood the manor's master, Oogie Boogie: a big, white phantom – like creature. Actually, his body seemed to be a bag of potatoes sewn into a strange, ghostly shape. His empty eyes looked at us as he put on his face a scary grin...  
  
"Well, well, well!!" he exclaimed, and laughed in a grave voice. "I wasn't expecting company! Hmm... Actually, I was, but I wasn't sure that you and your boys would get through some of the security, Jack. But welcome! It's nice to have someone to talk to! I've been so lonely for such a long time!"  
  
"Save it, fatty." Dante interrupted. "We're not interested in hearing about your stupid games."  
  
"Oogie Boogie, we've come here to tell you to stop your attacks on Halloween Town! This ends now!" Jack intervened, and his face became even madder.  
  
"Oh, please, don't hurt me!" Oogie Boogie, said, still grinning, and put his hands on the back of his 'head'. "All right, all right! I give up! If you let me go! I'll tell you where the keyhole is! And I'll tell you everything I know about the Heartless!"  
  
"So this is it? Is this all this pitiful ghoul will say?" My Wilheim asked. "Somehow, I do not believe that he will give up so easily, for cowardly lions can still use their teeth when threatened, and the more coward they are, the sharper their fangs."  
  
"Besides, he's still smiling." I added. "Get ready for another bout, guys. This is far from over."  
  
"Come on! That fatso can barely move around! What's he going to do to us? Fall on top of us and squash us to death?" Ken said, and we all laughed mockingly.  
  
"Oh, no, nothing of the sort." Oogie Boogie replied. "I've got some other plans for you... This, for instance!" he then jumped away from us into a higher ground and yelled: "You only faced a part of my army! Let the rest of the guards come!" And as he spoke, ten ghouls appeared from the nothing. We all kept quiet, unable to stop smiling, and turned to the fiend. He had frozen, but after a few minutes, his head slowly turned from left to right. It was obvious that he was expecting more monsters to show up... "So that's it?" he asked in a low voice. "That's it? That's... It's not much, is it? I mean, it's not like there's five of you, but it's not like there's... a hundred of you. Where the rest of those freaks went? Um, where are the rest of them? Oh... they must be on Halloween Town... Err..."  
  
"It's one a piece... This is so depressing!" I laughed. "I was expecting a bit more of a challenge, sack of potatoes!"  
  
"Oogie Boogie, you should give up if you don't want us to bring this place down." Jack suggested. "You make the choice."  
  
"I choose..." Boogie started and after a pause, he pulled a lever that was next to him and screamed: "The Joker!"  
  
The floor beneath us turned into a ramp and we fell on the roulette. It began to spin and all the room suddenly began to attack us. The card walls came down and the metallic robots began to shoot at us. Jack evaded the bullets easily by walking from one side to another as if he was some sort of spider. His legs were bent against his body and his torso nearly touched the ground. Shiryu and Goofy blocked the bullets with their shields, whereas the rest of us did have some of a hard time in dodging them. Meanwhile, Oogie Boogie was about to escape. He made his way through the door as the room and the ten puny Heartless attacked us. But there was something that he wasn't counting on: Dante's powerful legs. He leapt out of the roulette and into Oogie Boogie's path. The enemy froze on his tracks as the boy pointed his sword at him. An instant passed and Dante swung his sword at the door, sticking it on the wood and locking it.  
  
"You're not going anywhere." He said, defiantly.  
  
"Um... but you are!" Oogie Boogie said and pulled yet another lever. A giant hammer fell from one side of the walls and hit Dante on the stomach. He let out a grunt as he flew across the room. I was able to jump up and catch him before he fell on the metallic soldiers, who had become more accurate in their shots. I barely managed to cover our bodies with my giant spatula from the bullets. Before long, both Shiryu and Wilheim came to our help. My honey was having a hard time in defending us from the bullets, for he had nothing but his sword to repel them. However, it wasn't long before the Dragon's saint put and end to things.  
  
"It's time to get this over with!" he yelled. "Rising Dragon!!" he shot a powerful ray from his fist and all the robots were destroyed.  
  
"Whoa... Thanks, Ukyo." Dante muttered, as he recovered his breath and got ready to give more battle. He looked up and said: "At least my plan worked."  
  
Indeed, Oogie Boogie was desperately trying to remove the boy's blade from the wall, but didn't have the strength to do so. His desperation grew as he saw Donald use strange gravity spells to stop the roulette's movement, and as Ryu, Ken, and Goofy destroyed all of the Heartless. When all was done, Jack and Sora leapt after him, and the first said:  
  
"It's over, Oogie Boogie. Tell us where the keyhole is, if you don't want us to wreck this place."  
  
"Come on, fatso, get on with it! I'm tired of smashing Heartless. I don't want to smash anything more, but if you don't work with us, I'm going to have to kick your big butt!" Sora added.  
  
"Um... I guess I... See you!!" he suddenly exclaimed and hoped on a platform that began to carry him up, away from us and onto safety. But Jack held onto one of his strings and pulled as hard as he could. The ghoul's skin was tore apart, revealing Oogie Boogie's true self: a massive swarm of little bugs. A foul stench came out of his body as he screamed: "Oh, no! Look what you've done!" He began to fall apart, and all the little bugs scattered around, and disappeared in the dark corners of the room...  
  
"Wow... that was intense." Sora muttered. "I didn't think it would end this way."  
  
"It still hasn't ended." Jack said. He pulled Dante's sword out of the wood and tossed it to him. "I believe that we have still to find the keyhole in order to get rid of the Heartless menace."  
  
"Then we should best begin our search, for the Heartless army was large in number, and I fear for the safety of our friends." Wilheim said.  
  
"I guess that we can start by looking here." Ryu said. "This manor is big: maybe the keyhole is somewhere around here... Or somewhere nearby, I suppose. Either way, we could go back to the town and help out our friends."  
  
"Perhaps we should do that..." I said, thoughtfully. "I don't know if we'll be able to find the keyhole."  
  
"If our friends can't fight back the Heartless, then we won't do much good." Shiryu intervened. "We should do best in worrying about finding the keyhole fast than in thinking what to do next."  
  
"Then let's get to it now!" Ken urged and left the room. And right after he did, the whole house began to shake. A dark moan filled the air, and when I heard it, I felt as if the devil himself had spoken foul things in words that I could not understand. And the worst part was that I wasn't far from the truth. As the moan grew louder, the tremor became stronger. Wilheim grabbed me by the arm and we quickly followed Ken, who had already jumped to a lower floor and quickly ran towards the exit. Jack and Sora followed close behind, while the rest of us made our way through the falling manor.  
  
"What the hell is happening?" Donald screamed.  
  
We got away from the crumbling house just in time. Or so we thought. For the manor had not fallen. As we looked at it, we were filled by dread and we stood speechless and without knowing whether to hold on to our weapons and get ready for battle or to run far away from the horrible monster that had materialized itself in front of us.  
  
"Gwarsh... That's one large – sized Oogie Boogie!" Goofy exclaimed, as he hid his face behind his shield. "How are we going to beat a thing like that??"  
  
"It is as if the enemy's essence had become a part of the house." Wilheim muttered. Indeed, the manor and Oogie Boogie had melded into one giant monster. Its head peered at us with malice as its arms swung the fire lamps from side to side. For a moment, I thought that that was the wind's doing, but as many fireballs began to come out of them, I knew that it was Oogie Boogie's power that was playing all those terrible tricks...  
  
"We can't just leave." Jack realized. "We have come to beat him, and we won't leave until that is done!"  
  
"He's a house, for crying out loud." Dante suddenly muttered. "How dangerous can a house be?"  
  
"Look at the house, man... I guess that it's pretty dangerous." Sora replied.  
  
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I made it through Ganondorf, and I made it through the titans." Ken declared. "We made it through those guys, Sora. And you and Ukyo also lived through the fifty combats of Hades. Let's have some confidence on ourselves, shall we? Just for once, stop hesitating and let's get to fighting!"  
  
"We beat Sephiroth, right, Wilheim?" Shiryu asked, as he turned to my Wilheim – honey. "And you defeated that giant demon witch, Ursula. That was bigger than this thing, according to what you said."  
  
"Indeed, she was." Wilheim answered. "Indeed... You are right, Shiryu. Come on, darling. Let us defeat this new foe together!"  
  
"Finally!" Dante exclaimed, who obviously didn't like to say much (or wasn't in the mood to do so). With a battle cry, we all raced to the dark house and began to attack it. But all of our hits bounced back against us, and the wood of the manor seemed to have become as solid as metal. Oogie Boogie laughed at us as the fires from the lamps turned into blue worms and began to crawl down the walls. Luckily, they were slow and we were able to get away from them, for none of our many attacks seemed to be enough to stop them.  
  
"It is no use!" Jack yelled. "We won't be able to beat him if we keep on doing this!"  
  
"We've got to look for a weak point!" Dante said. "Let's split up!"  
  
"Sora, I'm coming with you!" I exclaimed.  
  
"Let's split into groups of two." Shiryu suggested.  
  
"Groups of two?" Wilheim muttered. "But..."  
  
"Don't worry, baby. I made it without you for a very long time: I can manage to do it for a little longer!" I said.  
  
"Ukyo, this way!" Sora yelled, and I followed him by a small trail that led to one of Oogie Boogie's arms. Meanwhile, Wilheim reluctantly went along with Ryu; Donald and Goofy staid together and raced to the stomach; Ken and Shiryu ran to the other arm and Jack and Dante began to climb up to the head.  
  
The night grew darker as Sora and I advanced through the living house's floors, with the fire worms chasing us. We jumped down onto lower ground and hid in one dark corner, as the flame creatures passed by and lost track of us.  
  
"That's that." Sora said. "But we have to find Oogie Boogie's weak point... Do you think that maybe Oogie Boogie's head is the key to this mess? Better yet: do you think that maybe the keyhole is carved somewhere about?"  
  
"If it is and you manage to seal it, then it will all be over." I answered. "Yet let's think that maybe we don't have such good luck. We have to find a way to destroy this house, and not look for something too small as a keyhole. So far, the ones that we have sealed are just as big as a head..."  
  
"Yeah, but remember what Aeris said: the keyholes could be as big as a mountain. Now that I think of it, the keyhole in Hyrule was as big as a mountain. You were out then, but... Either way, let's look for it, or for something that can help us beat Oogie Boogie."  
  
"Yeah, maybe... hey!" I suddenly yelled, as something poked my back. I pointed at it with my spatula and waited for a monster to come out of the shadows. Yet there was nothing there, but some sort of black orb with shone with a spectral light. A great darkness flowed from it. I could feel a cold wind stroking my skin, and I knew that there was nothing but evil on that strange orb... "Strange." I muttered. "I didn't see something of the sort here when we first went up..."  
  
"Let's break it." Sora said.  
  
"Okay." I said, and hit it with my spatula as hard as I could. The orb broke into a thousand pieces and a black hole suddenly seemed to swallow them. And as they disappeared entirely, the house shook and Oogie Boogie yelled in pain. "Whoa..." I muttered, and let out a gasp. "That's it!"  
  
"Yeah! You wounded him!" Sora exclaimed, with a laugh. "There must be more orbs around! New operation: seek and destroy!"  
  
"Guys!! Guys!! Where are you??" I cried as we left our hiding place. "Where are you, guys?"  
  
"Ukyo??" I heard Wilheim's voice reply. "Darling?! Are you hurt??" he poked his head from the floor right above us and looked at me with a concerned glance.  
  
"No, I'm fine, Wilheim – honey!" I answered.  
  
"We found Oogie Boogie's weak point!" Sora said. "There must be some black orbs! Find them and break them!"  
  
"Do you suppose this is one of them?" Ryu's voice asked. A moment later, we heard him cry and the house shook as Oogie Boogie yelled in pain. "I guess so!"  
  
"Well done, Ryu!" Wilheim exclaimed. "Let us look for more of these orbs!"  
  
"What did you guys say?" suddenly asked Shiryu's voice. "Black orbs?" he was right beneath us. I looked down and saw that he and Ken were standing right next to one of them. I signaled it and there was nothing else to say. With a quick hit, he destroyed it and the manor shook a third time. "Got it!"  
  
"Let's go, Sora!" I said.  
  
It was not long before we found another orb, as well as Jack and Dante, and Donald and Goofy. When they found out what we had to do, they joined the search and began to break as many as they could. The house shook harder and harder, and from time to time, we had to hold on to something such as a post or the ground itself, for we had the feeling that we were on top of a tall, thin tree that is rocked back and forth by the wind of a fierce storm.  
  
We thought that we had the fight won. We thought that things could not be easier. But to our misfortune, fate took an ill turn.  
  
Both Ken and Shiryu could not hold on to something solid on one of the tremors, and they begun to roll down the house. In their path, they meet a pair of flaming worms, which quickly engulfed them with their fire... They began to consume them and soon, they disappeared under the blue flames.  
  
"No! Ken! Shiryu! Guys!" Sora yelled, as we both looked in fear how they first vanished. But after a few moments, they reappeared, on the ground, without apparent damage. "Are you guys okay?!" Sora yelled. "Hey! Wake up!!"  
  
We let out a relieved gasp as we saw them get up and shake their heads. Yet as they looked up, I noticed them different. Their eyes had turned blue and their expressions revealed nothing but hate... Shiryu fisted his right hand and an aura of green flames surrounded his body. It was not until then that I realized what was the matter and took a few steps back in both fear and disbelief.  
  
"All right! They're good!" Sora exclaimed.  
  
"Sora?" I muttered.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I think I know what the fire worms do..."  
  
"Really? What?"  
  
"MOVE!!"  
  
"RISING DRAGON!!"  
  
As Shiryu's yell echoed on the night's emptiness, I was barely able to push Sora out of the saint's attack's way. A thunderous sound was heard as the wood behind us shattered. But it wasn't over. I raised my head and saw that Ken was getting ready to fire a Hadoken. I lost no time and managed to drag Sora into a little opening in the house just before the energy wave hit us both... Their attacks had missed, but they hadn't given up. They leapt onto the house and went after us. They wanted to kill us!  
  
"Guys!!" I yelled. "Don't let the fire worms get you!! Ken and Shiryu are possessed!!"  
  
"We have to shatter the orbs quickly, Ukyo!!" Sora said. "Maybe if we destroy them, they'll revert back to their old – selves!"  
  
I nodded my head and ran alongside Sora through the house's many floors, looking for more orbs to destroy. It was not long before we ran into Jack and Dante, who had heard our cry, and had raced to our help. Ryu appeared from behind a corner, as did Goofy and Donald, and they met us as we quickly hid in a little, dark opening.  
  
"This is bad..." Donald muttered. "I didn't think that those bugs would mess things up this much!"  
  
"Wait a minute..." I interrupted, as a sudden fright filled me. "Ryu, where's Wilheim?!"  
  
"I don't know!" he exclaimed. "He fell alongside the house during one of the tremors, and I haven't seen him since!"  
  
"Oh, no!" I cried and quickly went out of the house, with Sora screaming my name behind me. "WILHEIM!!"  
  
I found him standing right behind another dark corner. He had his back on me and seemed not to hear my cries. I began to get very worried and so, I slowly approached him and touched his shoulder. Then he turned to face me, with a dry expression on his face and blue, flaming eyes. As I saw his scary gaze, I let out a terrified moan and I began to weep in silence, my whole body petrified by disbelief and sadness.  
  
"No... Wilheim... baby?" I stuttered. "No, please... not you."  
  
And as a response to my words, he unsheathed his sword and raised it above his head. I knew that he was going to drop it, but could not find in my legs the strength to dodge the blow. I only stared back at him with tears in my eyes, and spoke, with a shattered voice.  
  
"Wilheim – honey..."  
  
But to my own amazement, Wilheim didn't strike me. He seemed to be locked in a struggle against himself, and from time to time, the sword would come down only a few inches, only to be picked up again. I could see that he was in pain, for he didn't mean to kill me, not even in that state. I only wished that he would recognize my eyes and my voice, and that the fire worm would soon leave his body.  
  
A sudden cry made me turn back, and I ducked just in time as Dante threw himself against Wilheim's body. They both tumbled down the manor's side, and into a wall of fire worms. But before Dante was caught by any of them, he recovered and jumped up. Wilheim was unaffected by them, for he was already under their spell. At least his body melded with them and destroyed them. I feared, however, that the conjure they had cast upon him grew stronger. As Dante faced him, Wilheim held Renamark tightly, and got ready to fight; this time, his hands did not shake, and his eyes were filled by rage.  
  
"NO! WILHEIM, STOP IT!!" I yelled, but he saw nothing but Dante's body and heard nothing but his enemy's breathing.  
  
"UKYO, LOOK OUT!!" yelled Goofy as he pushed me out of a fire worm's way. "Gwarsh... that was close!" he exclaimed, as the fire worm rolled down the hill. "You need to be more careful, Ukyo."  
  
"But Wilheim!" I began to say. "He...! Dante needs help!"  
  
"We'll try to stop him!" Donald said. "We'll do our best not to hurt him. We just need to knock him down. Let's go, Goofy!"  
  
"Okay, Donald!" Goofy agreed and they both ran to Dante's aid, who had locked a fierce battle against Wilheim. The boy was far more agile than Wilheim and jumped higher as well. His sword movements were nimble, and Wilheim had a hard time in parrying them. He fell on his back many times. Yet Wilheim was much stronger than Dante, and every time the boy could not evade one of his blows, he had to parry them with his sword, and stumbled from one side to another. I could see that he was having a hard time in fighting against my possessed lover, for they both knew their way with the sword: Dante fought quickly and skillfully, but Wilheim battled with the strength of a rhinoceros and with the rage of a hungry lion. I could only hope that Donald and Goofy would prove enough help for Dante...  
  
All that I could do at that time to help them was to do as Sora said and look for more orbs. We had to shatter them quickly. And it would not be an easy task, for Shiryu and Ken were already searching for us with only one thought in their minds: to cast our bodies into hell's roaring fire.  
  
"What can we do?" asked Sora. "Dante, Goofy, and Donald can keep Wilheim busy, but what about the other two? If three guys are required to stop one, then what about Shiryu and Ken, who are far more dangerous than him?"  
  
"I don't... Jack, look out!!" Ryu suddenly warned, but it was too late.  
  
A flaming worm hit Jack, and his whole body caught fire. He took his hands to his head and yelled in pain as he was burnt by the cursed flames. The fire wore away, and Sora and I took out our weapons while Ryu put himself on guard. But to our surprise, and relief, Jack opened his eyes, gazed around, and exclaimed, with a sigh:  
  
"Well! I didn't think I would get away with it when that hit me!"  
  
"You're not possessed!" I yelled. "How...?"  
  
"I guess that I am not susceptible to those things attacks." He guessed.  
  
"That's great news!" Ryu said. "Guys, I've got a plan. Jack: you and Sora go and look for more orbs. Jack, make sure that Sora doesn't get hit by any of these fire worms. Ukyo: come with me: we'll distract Ken and Shiryu while they destroy all the orbs."  
  
"Are you kidding me?" I asked. "I won't last two seconds with any of them!"  
  
"Don't underestimate yourself." He replied.  
  
"I've got a better idea." Jack intervened. "Ukyo, why don't you go help Dante? Let both Goofy and Donald help Ryu. After you and Dante knock Wilheim out, you can go and lend Ryu a hand; after all, it seems that Wilheim is reluctant to hit you. Use that to your advantage."  
  
"I like that plan better..." I sighed unhappily, because I wasn't too crazy about fighting against my honey.  
  
"Go, then!" Sora urged. "We don't have much time! Good luck, you guys! Take care of yourself, Ukyo!" and so he bolted off with Jack in hopes of destroying the cursed manor, which suddenly let out a sinister laugh.  
  
"Okay, let's go!" I exclaimed and ran to where Dante, Goofy, and Donald, were fighting Wilheim, while Ryu ran to Ken and Shiryu's encounter. I reached the edge of the house and watched, in horror, how our entire plan had been for nothing...  
  
As I peered to the empty, dead – like valley, I noticed that both Goofy and Donald were burning with blue fire. Dante was looking at this with horror in his eyes, while Wilheim pointed his sword at him, his body protecting the allies that were soon going to help him kill the boy. The flames vanished, and both of our friend's eyes changed into a terrible blue color. A moment later, Donald cast a terrible lightning spell. Dante barely dodged it, and then, Goofy charged against him with his shield. The boy could no longer attack, and did his best only to run away from the three fierce attackers...  
  
I stood there, in awe, for such a long time, that I didn't see the fire worm coming behind me right until I felt its heat. I glanced back and yelled, and immediately jumped away from the fell thing. I rolled down the hill and crashed down in the valley. As I recovered from the hit, I got struck by a hard blow. It had been Goofy, who had banged my head with his shield. Everything started to spin as he hit me again, and again. I tried to raise my spatula to defend myself, but I was still too dizzy to do anything. Goofy unleashed a final attack that sent me against a tree. I let out a groan as my back hit the wood and then fell to the ground. I waited for a few seconds before getting up: the attacks had been devastating. I heard him running at me and held on to my spatula, hoping that the dizziness would soon fade. And right before he reached me and dished out the final blow, I rose to my feet and spun my spatula in a wide arc. I succeeded in hitting him and knocked him out. His eyes spun in all directions before he fell to the ground. And then, something else happened. The fire worm emerged from his body, its flames no longer blue, but an orange color now adorned them. Instinctively, I smashed it with my spatula. The creature's body was no longer ethereal and I destroyed it. A faint, chilling cry was all that remained from it.  
  
"That's it..." I muttered to myself. "We've got to knock them out!"  
  
And so I raced to Dante's side, who was about to fall to both Wilheim and Donald's unending attacks. I leapt against my possessed lover and held him from behind with my spatula, being careful not to give him any opportunity to move. Not knowing who I was, he began to struggle with all of his might, and as he trashed, I felt as if my arms were being torn apart. He was incredibly strong; it was like holding an angry tiger with nothing but a butterfly – catching net.  
  
"Ow!" I yelled. "Come on, Dante! Knock Donald out!!"  
  
"Right!" said the boy as he concentrated only on Donald.  
  
They battled for a little while, and after getting hit by a few of his spells, Dante finally got to a retreating Donald and hit him with his fist on his beak. Donald let out a faint quack as he closed his eyes and fell. The fire worm came out of his body and Dante quickly destroyed it.  
  
I, however, didn't find the strength to hold Wilheim any longer. He stretched his arms with a battle cry and sent me flying away from him. I fell on my back and was about to get up, but the glitter of Renamark suddenly stopped me. Wilheim was pointing it at my neck, but again, did not strike the fatal blow...  
  
"Please, Wilheim – honey... wake up..." I muttered.  
  
Dante, however, wasn't willing to take any changes, and resumed his attack on Wilheim. As they battled once again, I got to my feet. With a sigh, I spun my spatula and got ready to help Dante. But suddenly, a fierce cry prevented me from joining their battle.  
  
"RISING DRAGON!!"  
  
I was able to block Shiryu's hit just before it hit me and killed me. That blow could have destroyed a mountain... I really don't know how it was that my spatula withstood it. Yet I wasn't safe. Because I was now facing a terrible monster far more scarier than even my baby.  
  
I looked behind him and noticed that Ryu was very injured, and was still fighting against Ken. It seemed that both him and the Dragon's saint had given him a pretty good beating. Still, Ryu stood and didn't fall to any of Ken's attacks. Because they were rivals and they had fought many duels before, Ryu knew his way around some of Ken's attacks. But his opponent also had learnt a few new techniques as well as ways to evade his blows. It was a very even fight, as was Dante and Wilheim's battle. But as for me going up against Shiryu...  
  
I knew that I stood no chance against him. I could only hope to be able to block or dodge all of his attacks. I took a deep breath as I held my spatula firmly, reading myself mentally for a hellish fight.  
  
Shiryu stepped forth and released a quick punch at my stomach. I barely dodged it. Then he tried to kick my face. Pure luck helped me block it. Then, he tried to hit my chest with his right fist, and as he lunged at me, his hand caught green flames of energy. I could feel the dragon's anger flowing through him, and I could hear its unearthly roar echoing in my fearful mind... I sidestepped and evaded the blow. Seeing that Shiryu had left himself open to me, I decided to attack his stomach. Attacking his chest would be useless: his armor protected him very well, and was as hard as a diamond, and going for his head would only leave myself open, for his left arm was close to his face, and this is where his shield was attached. I scored the hit and left him out of air. I then tried to hit his head, but he blocked my attack and pushed me away with just the palm of his hand. With just a sigh of his energy, he had thrown me into the air and I fell hard. I rolled on my back and got to my feet just before Shiryu's slide hit my head and destroyed my skull. I looked at him with fear in my eyes as he returned the gaze with a devilish smile on his face.  
  
"Shiryu, it's me, Ukyo!" I exclaimed. "Wake up! I'm on your side!"  
  
The saint responded with a terrible punch that scratched my left temple. If I hadn't ducked... well, you already know what would've happened. And so, our duel continued, and I did nothing but to block and evade his attacks, only countering whenever it was safe to do so. I must say that I was doing pretty well: I didn't think that I would last even a minute against him.  
  
Meanwhile, Ryu and Ken still battled against each other. Ryu seemed reluctant to attack his friend, but Ken didn't hesitate to use his most terrible attacks on his enemy. Ryu was losing the battle, slowly, but surely, and not because he couldn't win (even with the wounds he had received), but because he didn't mean to harm Ken...  
  
As for Dante and Wilheim, the battle was still even. I could see that Wilheim had many sword scratches all over his skin, and some bruises on his arms. Dante didn't have so many injuries as Wilheim. As a matter of fact, he had only two wounds; but they were grave wounds. His arm seemed to be broken in two: probably one of Wilheim's tremendous punches, I guessed; and he had a large cut across his chest, and he couldn't breathe normally...  
  
* We're going to lose. * I thought. Ken would surely win the fight against Ryu if he didn't stood up to him, and Shiryu would certainly kill me in a matter of minutes. Then, they would both join Wilheim and annihilate Dante.  
  
And this thought, which distracted me for just a second, was all that Shiryu needed to hit me. I reacted too late, and his fist punched my shoulder. That wasn't the hit of a cannonball; that was the blow of a gigantic battering ram. I couldn't even scream. I just dropped my weapon and fell to the ground in pain. Shiryu walked up to me and raised his foot over my face; he was going to crush my head. As he brought his leg down, I rolled over my back and hurt my shoulder even more...  
  
"Ukyo! Here!" yelled Dante. I turned to him and noticed that he was working some sort of a magic spell: an instant later, the pain in my arm had diminished. I was now able to move it, but it still hurt a lot. It was no longer broken.  
  
Unfortunately, Dante lost some strength when he did this and Wilheim took advantage of this. Instead of trying to score fierce blows, he began to use his sword as a quick rapier. The change of speed, the sudden weakness, and the two wounds Dante had was all Wilheim needed to disarm him. A weaponless Dante now found himself against a terrible foe; Wilheim didn't show any mercy, and grabbed him by the neck, and then hit him twice with his fist. Dante fell to the ground, unconscious.  
  
"NO!" I yelled, but I then felt a hard blow on my legs. Shiryu had knocked me down, and before I could get up, I felt his strong foot on top of my back. He pressed, and I found myself out of air. "Argh...! Help...!" I cried in a weak voice, as everything about me turned dark.  
  
But suddenly, when I thought that all was lost, I felt the pressure no more. I looked up, and noticed that Wilheim had Shiryu in a headlock, and was trying to choke him. I crawled away from them, staring at them with confusion and awe. I didn't know what to say or what to do. And after a few seconds, Shiryu asked, as he struggled to break free of Wilheim's grasp:  
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing??"  
  
"You... will not... touch her!! EVER!!" my darling replied, the glow in his eyes shinning more fiercely than ever.  
  
I knew that Wilheim was still possessed. It was my greatest chance, and perhaps my only one. As quickly as I could, I got up and, with a loud cry, swung my spatula at both of their heads. It was a lucky thing, that Dante had cured my shoulder: otherwise, it would've been impossible for me to unleash the final blow. And I was luckier still that Shiryu's head wasn't as well protected as the rest of his body, for not even his circlet stopped my hit, and he and Wilheim fell to the ground, out of combat. The fire worms came out of their bodies and, with a hell – pain throbbing by my shoulder, I managed to squash both of them at once.  
  
I was now able to help Ryu. But he didn't even need my help. Because, all of a sudden, the house let out a pain – filled cry, and Oogie Boogie's head exploded. Ken fell to his knees and held his head as the house came tumbling down. I quickly grabbed Donald, who was the one closest to the manor, and carried him to safety. Goofy and Dante were still in danger, however, but my arm hurt too much. Luckily, Jack and Sora had come down the house, and, seeing that neither of them could move, carried them out of danger's way. Oogie Boogie perished and the house vanished.  
  
There it was, on the ground. The manor had been covering it all that time. It was the keyhole, and it was as big as a football field. Sora smiled and quickly sealed it with his Keyblade. Then he sighed in relief: the mission had ended in success.  
  
"Ow..." Ken suddenly muttered. "What the hell happened?"  
  
"You're yourself again, it seems." Ryu chuckled weakly.  
  
"Ryu? What happened to you? Why are you so hurt?"  
  
"It's your fault, hot – shot."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You guys were possessed by some fire worms." Dante explained, as he regained consciousness. "That was quite a battle... I thought that I was a goner."  
  
"You're not the only one who felt that way." I said.  
  
Goofy and Donald woke up, as did Shiryu and Wilheim. I walked up to him and gently caressed his forehead.  
  
"Hey." I said.  
  
"Ukyo?" he murmured. "What...? I feel strange... As if I have been sleeping for centuries. Such sensation only invaded me when I was a vampire..."  
  
"You're not a vampire: don't worry about that." I replied. "You were possessed. You attacked us, and you nearly killed Dante."  
  
"I did?" he stuttered. "Is he alright?"  
  
"I said 'nearly', didn't I?"  
  
"Ukyo... What happened?" suddenly asked Shiryu, as he put his hand on my shoulder. I let out a gasp and stepped away. "What's wrong?" he asked, and all of them looked at me with concern.  
  
"You hit her shoulder." Ryu explained. "It's quite a fortune that Wilheim's love for Ukyo is so big: even while possessed he still prevented her death."  
  
"That's true love, I guess." Goofy said. "Gwarsh... my head hurts a lot."  
  
"Mine too." Donald added. "Don't worry: as soon as my headache fades, I'll cure all of you."  
  
"I hit you?" Shiryu asked. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Ukyo! I'd never even dream about hurting a woman!"  
  
"It's alright: you weren't yourself." I said. Then, I turned to Dante, who was just waking up, and said: "Dante... thanks for all your help."  
  
"Oh, no problem." Dante said. "Anything for a friend."  
  
"Let's go back to the town. We deserve a good rest." Jack said, and then added, with a sigh: "I hope that the rest of our friends are fine. After all, it was quite a large army."  
  
"I think that we had it worse than they did: they'll be fine." Ryu assured, with a laugh.  
  
And when we came back to the town, indeed, our friends were all right. Jack provided us rooms so that we could rest a bit before we left, and I fell into a deep sleep, while Wilheim caressed my hair and toyed with it, just the way I liked it...  
  
* This means: "I have come, I have seen, and I have defeated", or something close to it. :) ........ Wilheim is quoting Julius Caesar.  
  
** I'm not sure if I spelled this one correctly. It means 'goose pâté'. 


	24. Chapter TwentyThree: Sanctuary: The Twel...

Hey, again. Two little things before this chapter begins...  
  
First of all, I just wanted to announce that I've decided to make some other changes to the storyline regarding the princesses of Heart... You've noticed this in the last chapter, no doubt. :)  
  
Secondly, these two following chapters (this one and the next) are dedicated to both my little brother and to the reviewer Frodo_Aioria, who asked me to include something regarding Saint Seyia in the story. Hope you guys like it! :)  
  
And thirdly, once again, one of the characters (Lin) that I mention in this chapter is mine. That's about it.  
  
Okay, on to the story. :)  
  
Narrator: Tish  
  
Chapter Twenty-Three: Sanctuary: The Twelve Houses  
  
Our friends did not cease to ask us if we were all right. They kept on talking about the gigantic army that they had seen coming toward Halloween Town, and about how worried they had gotten when that black shadow had dimmed the moonlight. We kept telling them that we were fine. I was actually more worried about them when the Heartless came than I was about ourselves, for we were plenty, and the battle, though long, ended in our victory. And I must say that we had no difficulty in reaching it.  
  
Let me tell you how it happened. It all began when one of the townsfolk yelled: "The Heartless are coming!!". By that time, you can guess that we were already expecting a large army of foes, for those cowardly, fowl creatures always tended to gather in very large numbers: a little force alone could do nothing against our might. Along with both Camille and Morrigan, I flew high into the air, and saw that, indeed, a great shadow was moving forth at great speed over the mounts that lay outside the town.  
  
Some of our friends became alarmed when they saw the army of dark beings. Ariel was the one who became the most frightened. She fought her fear, but still I could see her body shivering from the terrible wind that came from those creatures' mouths. Yet all of us told her to be brave, for together, we were invincible. I must admit that I was somewhat preoccupied myself, but not for us; like I mentioned before, I was worried about our friends, who were out there by themselves, and did could not count with our help, for our eyes had lost them as they had gone into the mist of the town's outskirts. Not even Felicia's keen eyes could see them; not even Link could hear their steps.  
  
We had no trouble in handling the Heartless by ourselves. Demean, my eternal companion, had a brilliant idea. When on the battlefield, he can be quite the leader and can come up with amazing strategies in a matter of seconds. He can spot the enemy's weak points after only an instant and take great advantage of them. He may not be as strong as Wilheim, or Ryu, or Octavius, but he is a great thinker, and if I may add so, the most agile of all of us (matched only by Felicia's quick reflexes and lightning speed). Oh, but I am sorry! I am talking too much about too many unimportant things...  
  
Well, like I was saying, Demean had a great idea. He told us, the creatures who were capable of using magical powers, to create an ice barrier around the town. It did sound somewhat mad, for no mage can build a wall of ice around such a large area in such little time, but there were many of us, and we had great powers. Aeris, Hyoga, and I worked our magic, creating thick walls of ice around the town; an unbreakable barrier that bathed the place with a cool air, and Ariel helped us with her magical potions. I must admit that I did miss Donald at that time: that duck is a great magician, even though he can get the worst out of people...  
  
Luckily, we finished just before the Heartless arrived. From outside the wall, they first growled menacingly and showed us their teeth, claws, and evil eyes to later try to crush the icy wall. However, it had been Aeris, a great sorceress, Hyoga, the knight of ice, myself, a fairy of Feanorth, and Ariel, a mermaid turned into a human, who had created that barrier: it would not crumble so easily. Either way, we were prepared to greet the foes who made their way through the ice. A small force opened a little hole on the wall and managed to pour through like smoke into a bedroom, but both Camille, and Morrigan's combined forces, along with the help of Shun's chains made quick work of the Heartless. And those who managed to escape the deadly ballad of cutting whips, met a quick death by either one of Demean or Link's arrows, one of Octavius's punches, or something even worse. Then, Aeris, Hyoga, Ariel, and I would seal the ice again. We were not worried that the Heartless would begin to open many holes in many places, for they were weak: not even Octavius alone would be able to go through this layer of ice with a mere punch.  
  
Oh, and there was something else. The local scientist, Dr. Finkelstein, had turned his house – a gigantic, metallic sphere – into an enormous magnet. All of the Heartless with iron clothes that managed to go through the ice would immediately be pulled away from the battle and onto Dr. Finkelstein's sphere, not to move again...  
  
Either way, the battle did not last as long as we thought it would. For all of a sudden, the Heartless shrieked in horror, as if they were staring at a hungry, ferocious beast beyond their league, and vanished into thin air. All was silent for a few moments, and then we all cheered, for the sudden death of the Heartless could mean but one thing, only: our friends had triumphed in their mission.  
  
When they came back, I gasped and flew next to them. Ryu, Dante, and Ukyo were terribly hurt. Our newest ally was the one who seemed to be in worst shape; he had a terrible bruise across his chest, and bled horribly, and one of his arms was black and bent, as if an elephant had stepped on it. Ryu had many cuts and wounds, but he seemed to be in better condition, and Ukyo had only one wound, but it was a nasty wound: her shoulder was as black and as sore as Dante's arm; broken, no doubt. They later told us what had happened: they had had a terrible battle. It was a miracle that they had returned to us alive, actually.  
  
Aeris and I made haste and cured their bruises. They seemed renewed, but still, they were tired. Dr. Finkelstein led them to his house, and they quickly fell asleep in the dark rooms within the giant, metallic sphere. As for the rest of us, we felt not sleepy, but we decided to also rest for a while. Sora had sealed the keyhole, and it was time for us to leave the world and search for another place with evil in it...  
  
***  
  
"I thank you once again, Wilheim, for keeping your promise and coming back to us when things looked the darkest." Sally said to our friend. "I knew that I could count on you. Still, it took you some while to get back..."  
  
"Yes, I reckon that it did. After all, I did have to find the Keyblade bearer before coming back." Wilheim replied. "What good would I have done if I would have returned with no way of helping you?"  
  
"Yes, you're right." Jack chuckled. "Will we ever see you again?" he asked.  
  
"Let's hope we'll meet each other again." Felicia said. "You're a very nice skeleton, Jack; the nicest one I've ever met... Well, you're the only talking skeleton that I've ever met. But you're very nice... I'd like to see you some other time, but that's up to fate."  
  
"See you, Jack." Dante added. "It was nice to hang here with you, and to kick some Heartless butt. If I do see you again, I'll tell you all about our fights, and all. But we've got to face reality: we can't keep our hopes up."  
  
"Unfortunately." Jack sighed. "Well, then, good – bye. Take care of yourselves."  
  
"You too." Morrigan said. "Good – bye, and keep Halloween Town safe."  
  
"Let us go, friends." Camille said. "We cannot linger in this place, regretfully, for it is peaceful, and I wager that we all need some rest. But rest is not a luxury that we have, and we must keep on battling against every foe that attempts to smother light throughout the worlds."  
  
"It was nice meeting you, Jack." Sora said. "See you later."  
  
"Good – bye." Jack replied, and then he stood silent alongside Sally, as they both watched us get inside our ships and then depart into the deep space, as its white, twinkling stars welcomed us to it once again.  
  
As usual, I went along with Demean. This time, Ukyo and Wilheim joined us as well. Since we were going on Dante's ship, he was the one piloting it. It was a large ship, but not larger than Donald and Goofy's ship. Still, we had plenty of space to walk around. Felicia also came with us, as did Ariel. I daresay that the trips in space without her would be quite boring. But when the Bastet was with us, we could always expect to laugh at some of her silly jokes. She was like a little, imaginative girl who always has some curious thing to say.  
  
***  
  
We were all sitting in a circle on the ship's floor, while eating a bit of Ukyo's Okonomiyakis. That is a rare dish, I must say, but it is quite exquisite. However, I am not much of an eater, and only needed a few bites of one to feel renewed. Well, you must remember that I am, after all, a little fairy.  
  
Dante also sat along with us, but rarely spoke. Instead, he listened and merely laughed along with us when Felicia or somebody else joked. We had just met him a few days ago, and did not know much about him. Little by little, he spoke about himself, but not too much. He still did not trust all of us enough to share his life with us. I could see, however, that Wilheim and Ukyo had already gained his confidence, for he did not have as much trouble in speaking to them as he did with us.  
  
"I'm so happy about Link and Aeris." Ukyo declared. "They seem to be happy too, don't you think? I mean, Aeris was really sad because of Cloud... Now she seems to be just fine. There's one thing that I don't quite understand, though. Link seems to love Zelda as well. What's up with that? He isn't thinking about keeping the two of them, is he?"  
  
"So there's another girl in his life?" Ariel asked. "I didn't know that Link was a two – timer..."  
  
"No, you see, it is not that complicated." Demean explained. "Indeed, he loves both Aeris and Zelda very much. However, his love for each of them is different. Perhaps it is equally intense, but it is different, nonetheless. He loves Aeris as anyone would love a partner, as a man loves a woman. And he loves Zelda as a warrior loves his queen. The love that he has for Zelda is also the love he has for Hyrule, his homeland. It is not too difficult to love many women, fellows."  
  
"I did not quite like the sound of that, Demean, even though you are right." I giggled, and so did they.  
  
"Oh, and speaking about romances..." Wilheim intervened. "It appears that my little Ukyo found out a little secret while eavesdropping..."  
  
"I don't know why, but I prefer the term 'snooping'." Ukyo chuckled.  
  
"It seems that Ryoga and Sakura are beginning to fall for each other." Wilheim concluded, with a big smirk on his face.  
  
"You mean they're beginning to express their feelings for each other." Felicia corrected, while I nodded my head.  
  
"'Beginning'?" Wilheim muttered with a confused voice.  
  
"Well, yeah, you know, they... No!" Felicia exclaimed. "Come on, Wilheim! Haven't you got eyes on your head? Those two fell for one another a long time ago. I was there. You were there. And you've known Ryoga for a longer time than I have. I can't believe that you didn't notice it!"  
  
"Eh?"  
  
"It was so obvious." I added. "One does not need to speak about his or her feelings when it comes to love. One can easily notice caring and desire in the eyes, in the warm touch, or in many other ways. You only have to pay attention, and you will see that there is no need for one to speak in order to let another one know about your feelings."  
  
"This has been going on for some time and you didn't notice it?" Ukyo asked Wilheim. He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, still as confused as before. "You dummy. I can't believe how small attention you pay to details."  
  
"I..." Wilheim uttered, thinking about something to say. "I am sorry. I suppose that I had become used to reading other beings' minds to learn what they thought."  
  
"You didn't need to read my mind to know what I felt about you, Wilheim – honey." Ukyo argued, with a smile.  
  
"Well, it is not like everyday to receive help from a girl in order to get rid of the lethal evil that had been tormenting me for so many years. I suppose that was a little bit too obvious."  
  
"You men pay so little attention to tiny details." Ariel said. "Even I noticed that there was something going on between Ryoga and Sakura. You guys can't even take a hint."  
  
"Pray do not generalize." Demean chuckled. "I was not there."  
  
"Me neither." Dante added. "It is not like all of us men are as clueless as Wilheim. No offense."  
  
"You too??" Wilheim exclaimed. "You are men too! You are supposed to be supporting me rather than attacking me!"  
  
"Well, you have always been somewhat absent – minded, my friend." Demean chuckled.  
  
"See? I'm not the only one who notices it, baby." Ukyo said, and we all burst out in laughter. Yet Wilheim merely smiled and sighed. "Oh, come on, Wilheim – honey! We're just messing around!" exclaimed Ukyo as she hugged him tenderly. "You don't have to get mad!"  
  
"Who said I was mad?" he asked.  
  
"Oh, no way!!" Felicia laughed. "Little details, Wilheim! Jeez, it's a if you like to get pummeled!"  
  
"Well, like I said, I used to read peoples' minds when I was a vampire. I am used to do that. That is why I cannot pick up on 'little details'." Wilheim said. "And now that I come to think of it, my own shyness possibly strengthened the problem."  
  
"Shy?" Dante asked. "Oh, you mean with women."  
  
"Yes." Wilheim said. "It took me a lot of courage to step into Ukyo's restaurant for the very first time... Now that I come to think of it, Elizabeth was the one who approached me; I barely said a word."  
  
"Ah, yes." Demean added. "I remember. You said that you were only sitting on a bench, in a square near a fountain, and she was the one who sat next to you and started to talk..." he was interrupted by a strange noise. It had been Ukyo, who had begun to growl. We all burst out in laughter again, and so Demean said: "I am sorry about that. But remember that he is with you."  
  
"Elizabeth? Was that your ex – girlfriend, Wilheim?" Ariel asked. "Oh, yeah... You told me I look like her, right?"  
  
At that instant, Ukyo's head began to turn first to Ariel, and then to Wilheim, and she kept doing this for a few seconds before the rest of us laughed yet again.  
  
"You look like a worried owl!" Felicia said.  
  
"That was a most unwise comment, Ariel." I added.  
  
"No, I know what he meant." Ukyo said. "There's nothing to worry about. But do be careful about those remarks, please..."  
  
"Yes... sorry." Both Ariel and Wilheim said, and then he added. "But let us be serious for a moment. We men fear women. I have feared a lot of women over the years. Do not tell me that neither of you have feared any women at all." He concluded, while eyeing both Dante and Demean.  
  
"Well, I have feared my mother." Dante sighed, and after a few moments, forced a smile on his face, as if, without really wanting to, he had spoken about something that hurt him when he remembered it. "Does that one count?"  
  
"I believe so." Wilheim said. "For my part, I rarely feared my own mother, miss Anne... One of the few times that I feared her was when Siegfried and I broke a glass. Well, he did, actually. We were throwing rocks into the grassy seas that adorned the outside of the farm in which we lived in, and my dumb companion accidentally threw a stone over the back of his head, and shattered a window. We ran like two scared dogs after we heard her angry call." He remembered, and laughed.  
  
"What about you, Demean?" asked Dante, interested in hearing my friend's words. "Have you ever feared a woman?"  
  
"Not really." He said.  
  
"I see that you are underestimating my authority yet again." I joked, and they all chuckled.  
  
"That was a low blow, Demean." Felicia said.  
  
"Well, I have feared Tish sometimes, but just a few." He admitted. "But... now that I come to think of it, I have feared another woman."  
  
"Really? Who?" the cat – woman asked.  
  
Demean stayed silent for a few moments, and then sat in a comfortable position. I knew what that meant, and I reckoned that Wilheim and Ukyo knew it also. It meant that he was about to tell us a story. His eyes were fixed on the ceiling, as he thought about the right words and while his body was transported from the ship into the place where he was about to talk about.  
  
I knew the story, and I knew of whom he spoke. I could have told the story myself, for I was with him at that time, but I decided not to say a word, at least not yet. Demean had no trouble at all in telling a tale, but I was a bit shy. I needed him to begin to tell the story so I would also be transported to the past and remember things a bit better.  
  
And so, after a few moments, he started talking.  
  
"It was a long time ago. I am not sure if four or five hundred years have passed since that moment. The elders had already bestowed upon me the Quendi knives and the bow of Feanorth, as you may remember." He glanced at Wilheim and Ukyo, and they nodded their heads silently. "Yes, I had had them for a long time. I was already a lethal warrior. Many dark enemies had fallen to my arrows and to my blades. Yet I was not ready to face what fate had destined for me...  
  
"One day, when the sun was dying and the sky was red, Tish and I were walking about the plains that lay outside the forest of Feanorth. You know them not, Wilheim. Perhaps when this adventure is over, I will take all of you there. But now that is not important... I suddenly heard a noise, and we gazed onto the horizon. A shade was walking toward the forest, with the sun on her back, blinding me, and letting me see nothing but a shadow. The forest of Feanorth, like the forest of Fingoth, is forbidden to those that know not the elves. As she walked past us, I saw that she was a young woman, about twenty years old. I could feel the power of a Hunter running through her arms and burning brightly like a fiery aura."  
  
"I quickly hid behind Demean's neck." I said, at last. "He quickly walked up to her and said: 'Stand fast. You cannot go in there.' The woman stopped and looked at him with a defiant glance. I peeked over his shoulder and saw her. She was as tall as Demean himself, and had a very beautiful body, with strong, fair legs and firm arms. Her skin was white as snow and her hair was long, tied to a ponytail behind her back, and as red as a flame. She was wearing a white kimono, and was armed with a sharp katana, still kept in its sheath. She had a very pretty face, but it was twisted in anger, and fear, and pain. And she had only one eye, and it was as red as her flaming hair. Her left eyelid was forever closed, a scar running through it, furiously made, no doubt. And so, she stepped forth and asked in a grave, yet feminine voice: 'Who the hell are you?'"  
  
"'I am the keeper of this place.' I answered." Demean said. "'And you cannot go forth, lest you wish to leave your blood of your body cooling upon the grass.'  
  
"'Is that a threat?' she asked. 'What would you say if I said that you're the one who's going to be dead in the next few minutes?'  
  
"'I do not wish to harm a woman. But I will not let you go inside that place.' I repeated.  
  
"'Then so be it, man.' She snapped and grasped the hilt of her katana. I had no choice but to unsheathe my daggers and get ready to defend myself."  
  
"The powerful woman launched at us with full speed." I said. "I let out a scream and flew away from them, as they engaged a deadly combat. The woman was very strong, even stronger than Demean, but she was not as agile. Either way, she knew her way around the katana well, and managed to parry all of Demean's blows without much trouble."  
  
"But you've done that plenty of times, Demean." Ukyo intervened. "You've fought against many opponents who parry your blows... And I've never seen you get scared."  
  
"It was different with her." Demean replied. "For with her, I felt the chill of her hurt soul. She was not just an angry woman: I could feel the coolness of a murderer. But what truly frightened me was the fact that the pain in her heart was channeled through her hands into her sword, and I felt her hurt. It was a burden she was not meant to have; she was an assassin that did not enjoy killing, yet her hands told her otherwise." He paused, and after a sigh, he then said: "It was not her unmatched skill that scared me, but the pain in her eye; fear, anger, and sadness together were attacking her. And those same feelings somehow attacked me."  
  
"Though nothing more than the currents of wind that came from her attacks hit me, I also felt her pain." I said. "And so, I decided to cast a spell and stop her. I froze her feet and her hands with an ice conjure. She stayed still, while Demean took a few steps back and did nothing more. A few moments passed, as she waited for him to attack. But he never did. And so, she let out a sigh and effortlessly shattered the ice that imprisoned her. I let out a little yell and flew to Demean's side, and hid behind his back. The woman did not attack. She merely stood in front of us, looking at us with coldness. The night came, and when the sun no longer touched her skin, she said: 'What are you two?'"  
  
"'I am a fairy...' I stammered. 'And he is an elf.'  
  
"'Why didn't you try to kill me?' she asked Demean. 'You knew that I was going to break free of the ice, didn't you?'"  
  
"'Yes.' I said." Demean said, as our story drew to an end. 'But that is not why I did not attack you. I fear you. I do not know why, but I fear you. I have faced dragons and many other monsters... but none of them have scared me as much as you. It is hard to tell why... But I cannot attack something that is so frightening.' She sighed as I spoke and shook her head.  
  
"'All right.' She said. 'Somehow, I don't feel that you deserve to die. And the same goes to your fairy friend. You were a worthy opponent. Normally, I would've taken your head with pride. But you are not the sort of creature I enjoy killing.'  
  
"'I believe that you do not enjoy to kill any sort of creature at all.' I answered.  
  
"She staid still and quiet for a few instants before letting out a final sigh and turning her back towards the forest of Feanorth.  
  
"'I don't know what's in there, but if it means so much to you, I won't enter.' She said. 'What's your name?'  
  
"'It is Demean. And my fairy companion is called Tish. What about you?'  
  
"'Lin. Good – bye, Tish and Demean.' She said, and walked away from us and disappeared on the horizon."  
  
All of our friends kept silence for a little while, as if they were expecting us to say something else. But the story was over, and there was nothing more to tell.  
  
"Wow..." Felicia muttered. "I guess that Wilheim was right: you do tell great stories, Demean."  
  
"Thank you." Demean said, with a smile.  
  
All of a sudden, the ship shook violently and we fell on our backs, without knowing what had happened.  
  
"What the heck was that?!" Ariel exclaimed, with a worried voice.  
  
"I don't know!" Dante exclaimed, as he ran to the ship's controls and began to look for any Heartless ships. But there were none. Only our friends' ships, which were also shaking violently. Yet there was nothing more out there. It was as if we had turned into a feather that is sucked by the wind into a storm. "What's going on?" Dante muttered. "There aren't any Heartless ships near here, and we're shaking like we're being hit!"  
  
"Maybe the shots are coming from that world!" Ukyo exclaimed, and pointed to the small planet that was beneath us. But before she could add anything, we shook again, this time even more violently. The ship's controls did not respond to Dante's hands, and we began to fall to the world. From the windshield, I could see that the rest of our friends were going to crash as well... We heard a loud noise as the ship abruptly stopped, and then all turned black.  
  
***  
  
"Come on, little fairy... Wake up."  
  
I slowly began to open my eyes to the sound of the soft voice that had spoken to me. I felt the warmth of a hand and the coolness of a healing wind. I shook my head and slowly sat up on the hand. And then, I looked up and saw a man. He was tall, and had strong arms. He had a slim body and over it, he wore a beautiful golden armor, which shone as if it were made of sunlight, and a white cape that danced with the wind. He had short, brown hair and a caring face, and deep, blue eyes. He smiled tenderly and happily. I suppose that he was glad to see that I was all right. Well, I was glad too, of course.  
  
"What...? What happened?" I stuttered.  
  
Without answering, the man slowly turned around and showed me where I was.  
  
The ship lay in front of us, its front part practically smashed to bits. We had crashed. Smoke still rose from the broken engines and sparks flew now and then over the shattered circuits. And to our feet, lay my friends, their arms crossed over their chest, and their eyes closed as they slept heavily. For a moment, I thought that perhaps they were dead, but I then saw their chests expand and knew that they still lived. I wondered if the rest of our companions had had the same luck, and slowly began to look around, without getting up from the man's hand.  
  
We had crashed into a pillar. It had been shattered to pieces by the impact. We were inside what seemed to be an ancient, rocky temple, most likely built by the ancient Greeks: their architecture is easily recognizable. We were on the middle of a mountain. Below, I could see some other temples that were very similar to the one we were in. It was night and the stars seemed to shine in a rather sad way. I then studied the temple and noticed that there were bloodstains on some of the other pillars and on the walls.  
  
"What happened here?" I asked in a low voice.  
  
"That's your friends' blood." The man replied. I turned to look at him with a worried expression, but he merely smiled and said: "Don't worry. They're all right. They're just a bit weak. You see, you had a very violent crash. You and your friends flew out of the ship's windshield and crashed into the walls at great speed. You were lucky that you didn't crash directly into one yourself: you have a delicate body... you could've been killed. I actually found you inside the elf's hands. He was protecting you, no doubt. Still, you were injured. And I have just cured you and all of your friends. They'll be all right. But, like I said, they're weak. It was a really hard crash."  
  
"You saved us..." I muttered. "I thank you dearly, stranger, whoever you are... Please, take me to the elf's side, I beg of you."  
  
He nodded his head and gently put me on Demean's chest. Too weak to flap my wings, I slowly crawled up to his forehead and kissed it tenderly.  
  
"Thank you, my eternal companion." I whispered, doing my best to contain the tears in my eyes.  
  
"This is amazing..." the man suddenly said. "It's not like everyday to see an elf or a fairy... Or a cat – woman, for that matter."  
  
"And still, you seem not to be very surprised." I said. "Why is that, I wonder?"  
  
The man sighed and his smile faded.  
  
"I am surprised. But I just can't show any true happiness right now. Something terrible has happened in this place. I... I don't feel like talking about it right now. I hope that you can understand that and feel not offended by my sudden sadness, miss..."  
  
"Oh, I am terribly sorry. My name is Tish. And you have nothing to worry about..." I paused for a moment and then asked: "Pardon me, but are you by any chance a saint?"  
  
"A saint?" he stuttered. He sat down on the ground and his melancholy grew as he answered me. "Yeah, I am one. Or used to be, at least. I'm not worthy of wearing these holy clothes. I feel useless... My big brother would be so ashamed of me if he would see me right now, God rest his soul... Yes, I suppose that you could call me a saint. But how could you tell?"  
  
"Because of your armor. Such beautiful clothes are only worn by saints, as I understand. And you are clad in gold, which leads me to believe that you are one of the higher ranking saints."  
  
"Yeah, I suppose you could say that, too."  
  
"Then who are you, saint?"  
  
"Like I said, I no longer consider myself as a saint. But if you must know, then I was Aioria, the saint of the Zodiac sign of Leo, and the defender of the Fifth house of Athena." He said.  
  
"And... Who are you, if not Aioria of Leo?" I asked in a low voice, hoping that he would have the heart to answer me and to tell why he thought so lowly of himself at that time.  
  
I had heard of this man by Seyia's mouth. He and Shiryu had spoken of twelve golden saints, those strongest amongst the guardians of Athena, each one endowed with a beautiful golden armor that represented one of the twelve Zodiac signs. Seyia had told me that Aioria was the noblest of all the golden saints; a protector of the weak and a merry gentleman. Yet I saw no happiness in the man that sat before me.  
  
"I am a failure." He replied. "But I don't want to talk about it now..."  
  
"Oh. I am sorry if I pressed on the matter." I apologized.  
  
"It's okay. Don't worry about it... Hey, look." He said, and got up as he looked at Ukyo, who was beginning to open her eyes with a moan of pain. "It looks as if she's waking up. Come on, I'll take you to her." And so he gently grabbed me and then slowly left me on top of Ukyo's chest. She finally came to herself and let out yet another moan as she put her right hand on her hip.  
  
"Ow..." she said. "Oh... Tish? Is that you?"  
  
"Ukyo, are you all right?" I replied.  
  
"Not really... My whole body hurts like hell... What happened?"  
  
"We crashed, Ukyo."  
  
"Did we? Is everyone okay? Where's my Wilheim – honey?"  
  
"He is right over here." I pointed to my left and she slowly turned her head to the unconscious body of our good friend. "He is alive and well, do not you worry. But he is weak, as are you. I reckon that we need to get a bit of more rest before we do anything. Still, I am most concerned about the rest of our friends... Especially about poor Merryck. I pray that he is alive and well, too..."  
  
"Hey, if you survived, I'm sure that he also did. And I'm sure that Sora pulled through, too. Hey, is Demean okay?" she slowly sat down and finally noticed Aioria, kneeling behind us. She let out a startled gasp, and kept quiet for a few moments, as the saint looked at us with a warm smile. "Hello..." Ukyo finally muttered.  
  
"Hello." Aioria said.  
  
"Ukyo, this man saved our lives." I said. "I cannot explain it. Though he does not use magic, he seems to possess curative powers. He healed all of us, and that is why we are still alive."  
  
"You did?" she asked him.  
  
"You were also lucky." The saint replied. "The guy beside you also protected you from hitting any walls. But he was badly injured. It's a miracle that he survived, actually. He was the one who really saved you."  
  
"Oh, Wilheim..." Ukyo whispered, as she caressed his brow and gently kissed him. Then, she turned to Aioria again, and said: "Thanks for helping us... Did you see any other ships?"  
  
"I believe so, but I think that they crashed near the other houses." He said. "But do not worry. My friends will certainly take care of your companions. They too possess healing powers."  
  
"Oh... Are you a saint?" she asked.  
  
"Yes, I am." Aioria replied, not wanting to go into details. I could see in his eyes that he was in much too pain to talk about him right then. He let out a sigh and said, trying to change the subject: "Now you two have made me curious. How is it that you know that I'm a saint?"  
  
"Well, for starters, you're wearing the golden clothes that were supposed to be given to the winner of the Galactic tournament. Only saints can wear such things." Ukyo said.  
  
"The Galactic tournament?" he asked. "Oh, you mean the fights. Actually, this isn't the armor that was set as a prize. The one I wear is the armor of the sign of Leo. The one that was supposed to be given to the winner of the tournament was the armor of the sign of Sagittarius... My brother's armor."  
  
"Oh, so you're Aioria!"  
  
"Yes... But how do you know my name?"  
  
"Well, we happen to know some bronze saints who know you. They came with us, actually. They must be on another house, because they were on another ship. I'm sure you remember them: they're Seyia, Shiryu, Hyoga, Shun, and Ikki."  
  
As she mentioned our friends' names, Aioria stopped smiling and slowly stood up and turned his back to us. We looked at each other with confused gazes and then back to him. We did not know what to ask him. Rather than getting happy about hearing that his friends were there, a feeling of anguish had seemed to invade him. I wondered why that could be and thought that something terrible had happened there, or was about to happen. Ukyo sighed, and asked in a low voice:  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
But before Aioria could fully turn around and answer, Wilheim stirred in his sleep and slowly opened his eyes. He looked at Ukyo and held his head with both hands.  
  
"My skull hurts as if it had been shot into a wall." He muttered.  
  
"You are not very far from the truth, actually." I said, and forced a smile.  
  
"We're so lucky that you have a hard head, Wilheim – honey." Ukyo said and she carefully helped Wilheim sit up. "You saved my life, baby. Thanks again. It's as if you're developing a hobby for that... I promise you that I'll be more careful in the future."  
  
"What are you saying? This was not your fault, by all means. And neither was Dante's. This just happened..." Wilheim turned to Aioria and was quiet for an instant, and then, he guessed: "I wager that you are one of the golden saints of whom our friends spoke, am I correct?"  
  
"Yes. It seems that they gave good descriptions." The saint replied.  
  
"Then I will tell you my name. I am Wilheim; it is nice to finally meet a legendary knight of the zodiac."  
  
"I'm Aioria. It's nice to meet you too. Come on, get on your feet." He said and took Wilheim's hand.  
  
At that moment, the rest of our friends began to wake up as well. Dante and Demean opened their eyes and moaned with pain, while Felicia trembled as if a cold wind had suddenly caressed her skin. I flew next to my companion's side and asked:  
  
"Are you feeling all right, Demean?"  
  
"A feel pain." He replied. "But I suppose that I am fine. And I wonder why that is, for the blow I received was terrible. I am surprised that I am not dead. Is this your doing?"  
  
"No. Aioria, the saint of Leo, saved us." I said.  
  
"Ow..." Felicia whined. "My tail hurts... Oh, hi." She greeted. "So you saved us? Thanks."  
  
"Yeah, thanks." Dante added. He then looked at the ship and said, with a sigh: "Great. That's as far as that thing will ever get, I guess. It worked for a while, but I don't know if I'll be able to put it back together. I do a bit about mechanics, but I don't think that I know enough."  
  
"Maybe Cid could help. But we need to find him first." Ukyo declared.  
  
"That'd be nice." Dante said. "But... where the hell are we?"  
  
"In Athena's sanctuary, I deem." Wilheim guessed. "For that is where the golden saints dwell."  
  
"Again, you're right." Aioria said. He kept silent for a few moments and then suggested: "Why don't we go look for your friends? That way, you'll be able to get out of here soon."  
  
"Don't you want us to stay here?" Felicia blurted. "Why the rush?"  
  
"There is nothing left in here but shadows and misery." Aioria said, grimly. But before any of us could speak, he walked out of the temple and called: "Follow me. We'll look for them in the houses below."  
  
"Clearly, he does not wish to speak of what has happened here." Demean said in a low voice.  
  
"Maybe the Heartless are taking over?" Dante guessed.  
  
"If that's the case, then why is he still here?" Felicia asked.  
  
"He is one of the golden saints. As I've been told, they're much more powerful than bronze saints. And if the ones we know are really strong, imagine how insanely tough these knights are." Ukyo said.  
  
"Either way, let us not ask him about the darkness." I said. "He does not wish to speak of it, and when he begins to talk, his heart is filled by great sorrow."  
  
"Then let us speak no more of it and let us follow him." Wilheim concluded, and so we all went after Aioria, who was already going down the long stairs that lead to the fourth house: Cancer.  
  
The night was calm, and there was hardly any sound, save for the blowing of the wind, which could well have gone unheard by our ears if we would have been talking in louder voices. The land was both beautiful and macabre. Many Greek pillars rose from above the mountains of rock that surrounded us, but most of them were shattered. I flew high into the air and looked at the other houses that lay past the fifth. Just beyond the twelve temple of Pisces, there was a great house, bigger than any other, its architecture was kingly and yet, an air of emptiness flowed from it. And beyond this house and on the highest point of the mountains, was Athena's statue. Her left hand fell by her side and held a great shield, while her right hand held a smaller statue of another Greek goddess. She was indeed majestic.  
  
I then flew back to my friends and when I did, I felt the chill of an evil wind. All of my friends seemed to have felt it too, for they were alert and their heads turned quietly in all directions. Yet Aioria walked at a steady step, and did not slow down or turn around to see us. I stayed close to Demean and when he saw me, he grabbed me and carefully placed me near his heart. I felt safe when I felt the warm of his touch and sighed, feeling a little less afraid.  
  
"What is this foul air, Aioria?" he asked. "Can you feel it?"  
  
"Yes." He replied. "That's the wind that blows from the house of Cancer."  
  
"And that's where we are going..." Ukyo muttered, with a deep, scared breath, and held Wilheim's arm.  
  
"Yes." The saint said. "But don't worry. It's deserted. You might feel an unknown fear and a sleepless malice coming from it, but that's just the ghost of a saint who is long dead. His name was Deathmask: a knight unworthy of his armor. I'm surprised that you guys don't know about him. After all, it seems that you have been speaking to our friends a lot, and they've told you all about us, golden saints."  
  
"Deathmask..." Wilheim muttered. "Yes, now that you mentioned him, I remember that Shiryu told me about him. He was the one who defeated him in an unearthly duel. I now remember all about that cursed house: Deathmask had adorned it with the faces of those he had killed, as if they were valuable pearls. Faces of many people they were; men, women, and children... Shiryu said that he and Seyia could swear that, from time to time, they could hear a helpless moan of one of their death mouths. I suppose that that is why we feel such a chill."  
  
"Right, and now I feel even colder. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful tale." Felicia grumbled.  
  
"What are you complaining about? Shiryu told the tale to you too, did he not?"  
  
"Yeah, but I didn't have to remember it right now, when I'm just a few steps away from the damn place."  
  
"So what? He's dead, isn't he?" Dante said. "How harmful can a dead guy be? Oh, right... I'd best shut up. Last time I said that, I got us into a bunch of trouble."  
  
"Let us just hope that the evil man's phantasm is sleeping at this moment." Demean sighed, just as we found ourselves standing a few steps away from the entrance.  
  
Wilheim's small tale began to come true, as a rare wind howled from the house's inside and reached our frightened ears. It had sounded like a moan, yet it was not a terrified, pleading moan, like the one a face hanging upon a wall in Deathmask's lair would emit, but it was more like an angry groan, and it was followed by a dreadful silence that was not even broken by the night wind, for it had suddenly stopped to blow. We all felt a chill run down our backs and shivered. But our course was set, and if that meant that we had to go through the cursed place, then so it would be.  
  
"Let's move on." Aioria said as he entered the house, with the rest of us following close behind. Ukyo's right hand grasped her spatula tightly, while her left one clinched on to Wilheim's arm. He was holding Renamark firmly and he was alert, his eyes turning to all directions, studying the walls, the ceiling and the floor with much care. Demean was also on his guard, with an arrow ready on his bow, while I flew (at that time I did not felt like merely sitting down on his shoulder) about him with my ears wide open. Felicia, who had the sharpest eyes, did not see anything unnatural, while Dante seemed to be the least scared of us, next to Aioria. The saint was the only one who walked about the house normally, his arms hanging by his sides and his gaze fixed on the exit.  
  
The house of Cancer was very similar to the one of Leo, except that its walls formed a Greek cross and the fact that it was shrouded in shadows and fog. A stench also lay heavily in the air; the stench of the dead, I suppose. We left dark pillars behind us and as we approached the center of the room, the air grew colder and colder. Still, we did not falter and kept on going, hoping that we would reach the end soon.  
  
"Why is it getting so cold?" asked Felicia.  
  
"We must be approaching the place where Deathmask fell." Demean guessed. "Otherwise, the air would not be so frightfully chilly."  
  
"That's not right." Aioria intervened. "Because Deathmask didn't die in here: Shiryu threw him into the pit of hell himself."  
  
"I guess that it was either him or Deathmask." Ukyo muttered. "How did he do that, though?"  
  
"It is a long tale." Wilheim answered. "I shall tell you all about it later, or I will ask Shiryu to do that if you wish. Be that as it may, let us be quiet for the moment; there is only one that belongs to the realm of the dead whom I trust."  
  
"Yeah, Siegfried... I know, I know." Ukyo mumbled and kept on walking.  
  
"We're out." Aioria announced. "We'll go through the house of Gemini next. Then, we'll reach Taurus, the house whose guardian is Aldebaran. He'll help us out."  
  
And with that said, we quickly left the house of Cancer behind us, and entered the house of Gemini. We walked at a fast pace and hardly paid any attention to the temple's interior. We were beginning to grow very worried about our friends and wanted to find out if they were safe. We had to hurry up.  
  
It was not long before we left the house of Gemini behind us and peered at the house of Taurus. From it, smoke came, and a burnt smell lay in the air. There was no doubt: one of our friends' ships had crashed in that temple. Aioria began to run at the house, as did we, when he realized this. Our hearts sank in our chests as we ran to the fallen ship. But when we left the veil of shadows behind us, we saw Donald and Goofy's ship, lying broken on the ground, with all of its passengers out of it. Cid studied it closely, while both Donald and Goofy waited impatiently at his back. Sora staid close to Merryck, Ryu, and Ken, while Yuffie and Camille looked at the sky with a worried glance, with Pluto at her side. And finally, Ikki was standing next to a gigantic man: the golden saint of Taurus. He was easily as big as Octavius, and his skin was as dark, but he had a tougher expression on his face than the were – bear. A golden helmet protected his head that possessed two big horns, one of them cut in half. He lay steady, as a volcano waiting for the right time to erupt, with his arms crossed about his chest.  
  
We arrived at our friends' side, and when they looked at us, they sighed in relief. Camille giggled as she quickly embraced Wilheim, and I chuckled happily as I held Merryck's cheek. Ukyo hugged Sora caringly, and then the boy shook Dante's hand with a smile. Ikki noticed Aioria and walked up to him, and asked:  
  
"What's going on, Aioria? Why isn't Aldebaran telling me about what's happened here? I feel sadness, and even I'm concerned. What's all this?"  
  
But Aioria closed his eyes, turned his head and did not answer.  
  
"Jeez, I'm glad that you guys are alright." Cid announced. "I guess that you're ship's as screwed as ours, eh?"  
  
"Actually, not that much." Dante replied. "Can you fix this one?"  
  
"I think so. It'll take me a while, but I guess that I can fix it, even when it's this size."  
  
"Then I guess you can repair ours as well. That's good to know."  
  
"That's the miracle of mechanics, boy."  
  
"I guess that they do work for something." Yuffie laughed. Then, she turned to us and said: "Guys, this is Aldebaran, the saint of Taurus. He saved us from bleeding to death. We took a very hard fall."  
  
"So did we." I said. "It was Aioria, the saint of Leo, who kept us from passing away. May the golden saints be praised."  
  
"It's nice to meet all of you." Aldebaran said, in a grave, booming voice. He forced a smile on his face and shook Demean's hand; it seemed that that which had happened in the Sanctuary had cost not only Aoiria's, but all of the golden saint's happiness. I was certain that all of their companions were as depressed as they. But why?  
  
The saint of Taurus turned to Ikki, who kept questioning Aioria with his mere glance, and after a few instants, his smile vanished, and he declared, dryly:  
  
"It's no use. We won't be able to keep the secret from them much longer, Aioria."  
  
"That I know, Aldebaran." He said, as Ikki glanced at both saints with a confused glance. "But I don't want to repeat the news. I'll say it when all of the bronze saints are together. Right now, we must worry about finding the rest of the warriors."  
  
"It's that bad, huh?" Ikki muttered. "Has it something to do... with Athena?" he asked, in a low voice.  
  
Aldebaran and Aioria nodded both their heads, their eyes not daring to look up, and the Phoenix saint gasped and did his best not to appear disturbed, but I felt pain in his heart, for he had already guessed what had happened. I let out a sigh and sat on Demean's shoulder. He slowly turned to me and whispered:  
  
"Something has gone terribly ill in this place."  
  
"You did not have the need to say that." I replied.  
  
"Hey... did you guys hear that?" Ryu intervened, and we all turned to where he looked.  
  
We all heard footsteps coming from outside the house of Taurus. Many fellows were approaching us. I guessed that they must be our friends, led by a third gold saint. Thankfully, I was not wrong. A few moments passed, and Octavius, Link, Aeris, Cloud, Tifa, and Morrigan appeared behind a mystic man. He had long, violet hair that fell on his shoulders and danced gently with the night wind. He had two birthmarks on his forehead, which gave him a mystical air... His eyes were blue and were also filled with sorrow.  
  
"Guys, this is Mu, the saint of Aries." Aioria announced. "He has the power of teleporting himself to distant places; that's why he and your friends got here without previous warning."  
  
"I am glad to see that you are alright." Link said to us. "Yet, many of us are still missing."  
  
"They must be on the other houses, I deem." Octavius added. "For the power of the Heartless has already devoured that which lies beyond the sanctuary. I only see darkness, but nothing more."  
  
"The Heartless are here?" Sora asked. "But it's night... How come none of them are here?"  
  
"I think that the same thing that happened in Atlantis is happening here." Ariel said. "The Heartless must be like... 'eating' smaller chunks of the outside world, and they've only left this place untouched."  
  
"Why do you suppose that is?" Merryck asked.  
  
"The Heartless are not stupid." I declared. "They must have been regaining their powers in order to attack here. After all, the sanctuary is protected by five golden saints; that force is more than enough to erase a dark army of theirs."  
  
"I believed so too." Mu said, and we all fell silent as we turned to face him. "But I will talk about this in a moment. Right now, we must go to the rest of your friends; Shaka of Virgo has contacted me through telepathy; all of your companions are there, already, and they are waiting for us. Milo of Scorpio is there, also."  
  
"In the sixth house?" Ikki asked.  
  
"Yes." Mu said. "Now, come close to me, and I will take you there using my powers. There are sad matters that we need to discuss."  
  
"Alright." We all said and formed a circle about the golden saint. He closed his eyes and raised his arms, as he focused his strength. And then, all of a sudden, a bright flash blinded us for an instant. We covered our eyes and opened them a few moments later, when all had gone dark again. We were no longer in the house of Taurus. We were now in a darker place, but I felt some sort of sad peace. Some of the house's parts had crumbled into rubble, while the rest of it remained under the veil of a dark, blue color. Not far from us, stood two other golden saints and the rest of our friends. A ship lay nearby, also broken, but there were no more. I reckoned that the rest should be some houses up, and that Milo of Scorpio had saved the companions who had crashed in them.  
  
Shaka, the saint of Virgo, was not much taller than Mu. He had delicate features, but was very beautiful. His hair was long and golden, and his eyes were well – hidden under his lids. Milo was a bit manlier than his companion; his hair had a deep, blue color, as his eyes, and the two of them were deeply depressed. And when the four remaining saints saw the sadness in the faces of Aioria, Aldebaran, and Mu, they became even more scared than they already were. Seyia, compelled by fear, quickly asked:  
  
"What has happened in here, golden saints? No more riddles, please!"  
  
They all looked at each other and sighed unhappily. Even though I was relieved to see the rest of our friends safe and sound, I did not express any sort of joy whatsoever, for sadness lay heavily in the air. I knew that the saints would need some moments alone. And so, I flew about the rest of our friends, and said:  
  
"Perhaps we should leave the house of Virgo for a few moments."  
  
"I'd appreciate if you did that." Milo suddenly said. "Thank you for understanding, little fairy."  
  
I nodded my head as all of us, save for Seyia, Shiryu, Hyoga, Shun, and Ikki, walked out of the temple in silence, and sat on the stairs. We heard no sound coming from the house and felt a chill running down our backs. I dreaded to imagine the news that the golden saints were giving to our dear friends. I sat on Demean's shoulder, my stomach filled with butterflies of nervousness.  
  
I am sure that you have all experienced a situation like this... Where you know that you are not meant to hear what is being said, but still you struggle to listen to the sounds that come from that which is forbidden. We were all in a situation such as this. For what concerned the saints did not concern us, or so most of us tried to think. But Sora and Dante were smart boys, and after staying silent a few moments, the first said:  
  
"Hey, Link... You've got the best hearing of us. Why don't you tell us what they're saying?"  
  
"I would, but it is not our problem." The Hylian replied.  
  
"They're our friends, right?" Dante asked. "Our friends problems are our problems too." He declared.  
  
All of us looked at each other with questioning glances. They were right. Their sorrows, their happiness, their fears... should be ours, as well. For we were one force: one group that would share their problems, and together, we would work to find the light to bring us the solution. And so, after thinking about it for a minute, Link sighed unhappily and turned his head a bit in order to hear better. I could see that the saint's words reached is ears without much trouble, for he quickly began to tell us what they were saying. All of us merely sat around him with our hearts pounding fiercely within our chests...  
  
"It seems that they have just begun talking." He said. "Seyia and the others are anxious to find out what is going on... But the golden saints do not seem to find the words... But wait..  
  
"'Something terrible has happened.' Says Shaka.  
  
"'We know that! Tell us what's wrong!'" Seyia insists.  
  
"'What's happened to Athena?' Ikki demands... Hold on a bit... The rest of our friends did not know about this. All I hear is meaningless blabber... Oh, they speak again, and I understand once more.  
  
"'What's this about Athena? What's happened to Saori??' Shiryu asks.  
  
"'Where is she??' Shun adds.  
  
"'Where is Athena??' Hyoga demands." But then, Link hushed for a moment. We all heard how Seyia suddenly screamed in a terrified voice:  
  
"Saori – sama!!"  
  
Silence came back and only Link could understand the words of the saints again.  
  
"Aioria has told Seyia to calm down, but the Pegasus's saint is all but steady... 'We shall tell you what happened.' Says Aioria."  
  
He kept silent for a few moments, as he listened to the saint's words, and then said:  
  
"Aioria says that the Heartless have already come, but that they have already left, for they now have what they came to get... They do not know where they came from... I suppose that they still have not found the keyhole from which the evil pours into the Sanctuary, for they say that the Heartless appeared in many of the twelve houses; and they always expect an enemy to try to cross the twelve temples, starting by the house of Aries... Most of the evil foes gathered about the last of the temples, that which does not belong to the Zodiac constellations; the temple where Athena resides. Milo of Scorpio was there, keeping the goddess company when the invasion took place. Though their obligation is to guard the house of their sign, the other four knights quickly ran to the last temple, for their main concern is Athena. And so, they fought a deadly battle against thousands of Heartless. They were weak, but they were many, and were accompanied by a boy with evil, blue eyes..."  
  
"Oh, no! Riku!" Sora muttered under his breath.  
  
"At long last, the battle came to an end." Link said, not minding Sora's intervention. "The saints were exhausted, but there were still many Heartless to fight. But they would not abandon Athena: they were ready to fight until the end, and..." again he paused. During his silence, I noticed how his eyes were filled by fright, and then he spoke in a lower voice. "Athena wanted to protect them from all harm. She demanded the leaders of the dark army to stop their doings... She told the boy with the evil eyes and the dark witch..."  
  
"Maleficent!" Felicia exclaimed in a whisper.  
  
"To stand fast. They said that they would bring the whole Sanctuary down unless they got what they looked for... And Athena knew that they were after her..."  
  
"WHAT??" Seyia suddenly shouted, and we heard his yell. The rest of the saints began to mutter some things aloud, but none of us could understand their words. After a few moments, they all hushed again, and we merely heard Hyoga ask:  
  
"Why were they after her?"  
  
And then, all was quiet once again, and Link again had to speak for the saints.  
  
"Shaka tells him that Maleficent had said that she was a princess of heart... She needed her in order to gain strength, in order to weaken the final keyhole... Athena feared for the safety of the saints, who she loves. And so..." his face froze as he uttered these last words. He said nothing for a long while. A very long while. In the end, I despaired, and asked:  
  
"What happened, Link?"  
  
"She offered her life in order to save theirs." Said the Hylian, closing his eyes and letting out a pain – filled sigh, and we all gasped in awe and shock as we heard him. "The saints painfully accepted Athena's decision, not without first expressing their opinion... But the will of Athena is their command. And so, Maleficent magically introduced her hand in her chest as she walked to her, and removed the essence of her heart... A few drops of blood fell on the ground, and they remain there, still humid, as if they were still flowing through her body... The Heartless left after that, with Athena's lifeless body. They got what they wanted. And so they have left."  
  
"Seyia's fallen to his knees..." Felicia suddenly muttered. We looked at her and noticed that her eyes were peering into the shadows of the house. Her cat – sight pierced through them easily. But soon, I noticed how her vision became blurry; for bitter tears were clouding her eyes. "And the other four can't take their eyes off the ground."  
  
"What terrible news..." Demean murmured. "And somehow, I believe that they all knew."  
  
"Now I understand why Aioria thinks no longer of himself as a saint of Athena." I said. "They failed to protect her."  
  
"And I imagine that the bronze saints must feel the same way." Octavius added. "For, even though it is not of their doing, they were not here to aid their comrades."  
  
"Oh, boy..." Sora sighed. "Oh, boy, this is messed up. Oh, man..."  
  
"Rather than getting weaker, it appears that with each keyhole that we seal, the rage of the Heartless grows." Wilheim said. "And quite frankly, I doubt that they will keep their promise of leaving this place and the saints be. I am almost certain that they will attack once more, and in greater numbers. The word of a crook cannot be trusted."  
  
"I'm very worried about all this." Akane said. "At first, you had told us that they only needed seven princesses of Heart to break the seal... Now that we've sealed so many keyholes, it seems that they need more strength."  
  
"So?" asked Ranma.  
  
"So, what if one of us is a princess of Heart?"  
  
We women all looked at each other with a worried glance, not knowing how to answer those words. But suddenly, our thoughts were interrupted by a long, painful moan. We turned our heads toward the shadows of the house again, knowing that it had been Seyia, the saint who loved Athena the most, who had cried.  
  
"Saori..." we heard him weep. "No... SAORI – SAMA!!" he yelled, with a shattered voice, and broke our hearts.  
  
None of us dared to move. I could do nothing but to bite my upper lip and struggle to hold my tears. I wanted to fly to him and comfort him, and I could see in my friend's faces and tightened fists that they wished to do the same thing. Some of them cried quietly. Some of them merely shook their heads, and some others sighed and raised their heads to the sky, as if they were asking it how to solve this problem. But the answer never came. And with each passing moment, Seyia's lament grew more and more.  
  
"Why?!" he yelled. "Why did this happen?! Why weren't we here to protect here?! We aren't saints!! We are a disgrace!! Saori – sama...!! Please, forgive us!!"  
  
At that moment, Ariel stood up and began to walk into the house.  
  
"What are you doing?" Cid asked. "They'll know we've been hearing."  
  
"I don't care." She replied. "I really think that Seyia needs a shoulder to cry on..." And with that said, she hurried to the saint's side.  
  
"She's right." Sakura declared, got to her feet, and followed her. "Everyone of those guys needs to be comforted."  
  
It was not long before all of us women went inside of the house. When I got there, I saw how Ariel held Seyia's head and curled her fingers about his hair caringly. Aeris embraced Shun tenderly, who was crying as a small boy who has lost his mother to a monster. Hyoga had also fallen to his knees, and he covered his face with his hands, while sobbing quietly. Ukyo knelt by his side, and hugged him as he wiped his tears on her clothes. Shiryu did his best not to weep, but he could not hold back the bitter tears in his eyes. Soon, he found himself comforted by Sakura's tender touch. Finally, Ikki, the coolest of the saints, had also been broken by the news. He cried almost as intensely as his younger brother. Though he refused at first, he eventually gave into Akane's arms. The golden saints also wept, but they remained as still as stone, and their sobs could hardly be heard. I flew to Aioria, and stood on his shoulder. He gave me a quick glance and all of a sudden, his hand slowly drew me against his face. I understood and held him with a warm touch while feeling his tears running by my hands. The rest of my friends, the men, did not wait for long outside, and soon I found all of them standing solemnly in a single file, their heads bowed in respect and pain.  
  
Once the weeping of the saints became just another sigh of the night wind, Sora cleared his throat and spoke in a low voice that he soon after forced to grow clear:  
  
"Seyia... I know how you feel. I lost my best friends to the Heartless too. I feel as if I've failed them. But... there's still hope."  
  
"Hope...?" Seyia muttered. "What do you mean? How can there be hope? They stole Saori's heart... How can anyone get that back?"  
  
"Perhaps... there could be a way." Shaka suddenly said, and they all turned to face him. "Yet not even I know how to recover something as precious as a heart. Isn't it ironic?" he chuckled weakly and smiled. "How simple it is to end with a life... And how hard it can be to recover it..."  
  
"But... is there a way to get her back?" Aldebaran asked.  
  
"Maybe there could be a way to get all of the princesses of hearts' lives' back." Shaka continued. "But I don't know how... I must speak to Buda alone."  
  
"What for?" Seyia asked, with a bitter laugh. "There's no way... No way of getting her back."  
  
"That's not the Seyia I know, sir." Merryck suddenly declared, his voice came out from his throat clearly. We all looked at him with amazement: the little hobbit who was always so shy, so reluctant to say anything, had actually scolded the saint. "The Pegasus's saint would never say that." He went on. "He would, undoubtedly, accept hope in his heart, and would weep no more; he would surely raise himself to his feet, and think about a way to help that which he treasures. For Seyia is not a loser. And neither are any of the bronze or golden saints."  
  
"He's right." Dante added. "Guys, I suggest you get off your butt and think of a way to help her. There are surely many girls trapped in the Heartless's void, and they need us. We have to think of a way to help them."  
  
"There is hope." A voice suddenly announced. None of us knew where it came from. We all turned into all directions, and saw nothing. And then, a woman came from the shadows. It was not until then that we noticed a great statue of Buda engraved on the wall: it was as if she had come out of one of his hands... I saw her golden hair and her brown gaze and white skin, and in an instant, recognized her. I smiled happily: I was glad to see her in such a dark hour. And as I turned to see Demean, I noticed that he sighed in relief and the sadness in his face vanished a little. Vincent let out a surprised gasp as he quietly approached Wilheim and whispered in his ear:  
  
"Wilheim, that's Gabrielle!"  
  
The lad's expression was filled by surprise, and after little thought, he slowly walked to her, and fell on his knees, his head bowed in respect. The oracle smiled and giggled tenderly, as Wilheim said:  
  
"You saved me from loneliness and shadows. Thank you, lady Gabrielle, thank you!"  
  
"On your feet, dear Wilheim." She said, softly. He got up, and she wiped his tears. He seemed so happy, for he had finally gotten the chance to thank the oracle who had sealed the spell of Cain that lay so heavily in his veins... "I thank you for your gratefulness... But hush now, for I have important matters to tell you. To all of you."  
  
"Then speak, lady Gabrielle, and I will say no more for now." He said, and slowly stepped aside.  
  
"What light do you bring us in this dark hour, oracle Gabrielle?" Demean asked respectfully.  
  
"What do you mean that there's hope?" added Hyoga in a low voice.  
  
"The princesses hearts can be recovered." Gabrielle announced. "Yet you must find the way to do this on your own, for not even I now for certain how to get them back."  
  
"Then how can you be so sure that they can be recovered?" Aioria asked.  
  
"Hush, golden saint, and listen well." I interrupted. "Gabrielle is a mighty oracle who knows many things."  
  
"I feel great wisdom emanating from her." Shaka whispered. "Be quiet, Aioria, and pay attention to her words. Please continue, Gabrielle." He said to the oracle.  
  
"The darkness is unable to retain such a thing as powerful as a heart, for there is still a light in the shadows that undoes even the foulest of creatures." Gabrielle said. "Until that light fades, the Heartless will never be able to retain the princesses hearts. And thanks to your doings, thanks to your unwavering wills and your just blades, that light has grown a little more intense, even though it may not seem that way. The Heartless' armies are growing in numbers, for their rage is also growing; they cannot stop you." She paused for a moment, and then concluded in a soft whisper: "Athena's heart is still a dream that you can hold onto, saints."  
  
Seyia wiped his tears and got up. He looked at Gabrielle in the eyes without moving or saying anything for a minute. And then, the confident smile which we had all seen on his face appeared, and he announced, with a clear voice:  
  
"There is hope. We'll get Saori – sama's heart back. This, I promise, in the name of my constellation, Pegasus!"  
  
"We're Athena's saints. We won't let her down!" Hyoga added as his lips too formed a smile.  
  
All of the sadness in the house suddenly vanished, and the saints regained their confidence in themselves. Again, they were Athena's guardians, and as such, they would risk their lives to save hers. Gabrielle smiled too, seeing their hope reborn, but then added:  
  
"Yet the Sanctuary is still not safe."  
  
A grave silence filled the room, which was soon broken by Ken, who exclaimed:  
  
"Why am I not surprised?"  
  
"What do you mean by those words, oracle?" Mu asked.  
  
"The Heartless' attack will soon come, and it will come swiftly." Gabrielle said. "They mean to destroy every bit of pure energy that remains in here; they seek to dim the lights that emanate from the golden clothes. Their goal is to take over the twelve houses, and to shatter them and their guardians."  
  
"What about those houses that are unguarded?" Goofy asked. "At least they're safe, aren't they?"  
  
"I don't think so... The golden armors are still there." Donald guessed.  
  
"That's right." Aldebaran said, with a groan.  
  
"They may have taken Saori..." Shiryu murmured, in a low, angry tone, that seemed to be the breath of an enraged dragon. "But they will not destroy my master's armor! I will guard the house of Libra and the clothes of Dohko with my life!"  
  
"And I won't let a single enemy touch the clothes of Aquarius!" Hyoga said, firmly. "By Camus, my master, I swear it!"  
  
"How do you know about the oncoming attack?" Ryoga asked Gabrielle.  
  
"The darkness in this world is growing." She replied. "And who could trust the word of a crook?"  
  
"Indeed." Wilheim said, with a smile, as he unsheathed his sword and added: "The Heartless are our common foe. I understand that you, golden saints, are jealous of your temples. But forget about this feeling tonight, and let us aid you in your battle against these foes. And after the army has fallen, Sora will seal the keyhole with his just blade."  
  
"Amen!" Sora laughed, and spun the Keyblade in the air. "Bring those idiots on!"  
  
"Alright." Mu agreed. "Just this once, we'll let you fight by our side; I'm not sure if Athena would want it this way, but we don't have a choice. We thank you, however, for your offer."  
  
"I will take my leave, then." Gabrielle announced. She saw Wilheim's sad eyes and said, with a giggle: "Do not worry, dear Wilheim. We will surely meet each other once again. But right now, I must leave. I too must defend my own world."  
  
"Then I wish you luck on your battle." Wilheim said, bowing his head and kissing the oracle's hand. "I am sorry that I cannot help you..."  
  
"Your help is more needed here, brave Wilheim. Farewell." And with that, she vanished. I felt a little sad, for she had not said a word to any of us... But there was no time to think about that. I could feel the chill of fight drawing near, and we had to get ready. I quickly flew next to Demean, and asked:  
  
"What will we do?"  
  
"Defend the houses, of course. But I believe that this time, it will be better if we took separate paths." He said.  
  
"I was thinking the same thing, but I am not sure if that is the right path to take."  
  
"We survived without each other for a long while, did we not? We will do just fine. Go with Wilheim and Ukyo, for I know that I can trust them with your life, and that I can trust you with theirs."  
  
"I will, but only if Merryck goes with you."  
  
"Then the little hobbit will accompany me."  
  
"Let's split up!" Aioria shouted. "Thank you, Gabrielle, wherever you are, for this warning! I'll go back to the house of Leo and guard it with my fists!"  
  
"I will go with you." Wilheim said.  
  
"So will I." Ukyo, of course, added.  
  
"Then I will follow you, for that is what has been decided." I said.  
  
The rest of the saints did not take long to organize themselves into eleven more groups. And so, Aioria, Wilheim, Ukyo, and I ran down the stairs as quickly as we could to the temple of Leo, with our guards already raised, and our fists, magic, and blades eager for the banishment of the Heartless... 


	25. Chapter TwentyFour: The Test of Time Beg...

Hey, guys.  
  
First of all, I'd like to apologize for taking so long to post this new chapter. I finally made it through the second semester and got some free time in my hands. I'm really sorry that so much time passed, but college really kept me busy these last months. Anyway, I'll do my best to go as far in the story as I can these vacations.  
  
Okay, now I'll explain how these and the following chapters will work. There are going to be multiple narrators per chapter, each one will narrate the battle in the house that he or she is in. I'll put the name of the narrator at the beginning of the scene so you won't get lost.  
  
I was planning on just doing about three chapters for the Sanctuary of the Saints, but if I put them all together, you'll never finish reading even one of them 'cause they would turn out so long... So I'll have to modify my plans a bit. Either way, you don't have to worry too much. :)  
  
Well, that's about it this time. Hope you guys enjoy the following chapters. And once again, I'm really sorry for taking such a sweet time.  
  
Chapter Twenty-Four: The Test of Time Begins  
  
Shaka's voice echoes in the golden saints' minds...  
  
"I have spoken to Buda. There is, indeed, a grave danger lurking near; it attempts to dim the lights of Athena's Sanctuary forever. We may not have managed to save Athena from the dark creatures, but we won't let them take over the Sanctuary!  
  
"Raise your heads for a moment, golden and bronze saints, and all of you, brave warriors. Behold the clock tower! Its fire lives once more, and it burns as fiercely as it did last time. This will be yet another test of time for us all, but rather than speed, we will need endurance to be on our side. This time, we will all have to defend our ground against terrible enemies for twelve hours. Then, and only then will the forces of those without a heart will vanish...  
  
"An army marches to the houses. They are great in number, but not in force. Eradicate the shadows quickly, for a fouler evil is being marshaled... There are twelve shades that will prove to be terrible enemies. Their number matches that of the houses, and this is because each foe is a dark clone of us. Buda told me that each of these creatures will appear in a house once its fire has died, so be wary. The battles between golden saints are bound to last one – hundred – thousand years, but our allies and their army will change this... for the best, I hope.  
  
"Stand your ground knights, and let's hope Athena's blessing falls on us..."  
  
Aries: Cid  
  
"Could you run that by me again?" I asked Mu, because I hadn't (or didn't want) completely understood what he just had said. "Shaka spoke to you through telepathy... and he said, what?"  
  
"We're going to fight against golden saints." Leon, my only companion at that time, said, none too happy about the situation, I guessed. "Which is, so to speak, not a very good incentive for us to stay here. But, whatever. Bring them on, already."  
  
"I know you aren't too happy about this situation." Mu said. "Believe me, this doesn't make me glad, either. But in order to gain control of the Sanctuary, in order to get rid of the Heartless, we must defeat the dark golden saints. It's either their skin, or ours."  
  
"Actually, the part that bothers me the most is that we'll be fighting during twelve hours straight." I declared. Put yourselves in my place. Twelve hours?! That is just a bit too much exercise for anyone. Only marathon – running athletes have that sort of endurance... But now that I come to think of it, those guys only run. We were about to face a huge army, plus its damn general. "I don't think I've got the condition to stand it."  
  
"Then why don't you just..." Leon started, but I already knew where he was going, so I quickly (and angrily) interrupted him.  
  
"I'm not putting my cigarette out, damn it!"  
  
"Whatever. They're your lungs... Wait, they're my lungs, too. Put that filth out, Cid!"  
  
"Make me."  
  
"Save your energies for the Heartless, rather than wasting them on yourselves." Mu snapped. "A dissention in an army is the worst thing that can happen to it. If he wants to smoke, let him smoke."  
  
"Yeah! A bit of tobacco isn't going to kill you, man." I said, with a smile.  
  
"Year, right. Have it your way." Leon muttered, and got away from me.  
  
It's always the same with those guys. 'Cid put your cigarette out, we can't breathe! We're all too sissies and can't stand a bit of manly essence!' Bunch of girlies. I can take those sorts of things from the gals (although Ukyo sometimes drives me mad, 'cause she's the one that bothers me the most regarding the tobacco area), but I really hate it when the men start to bug me. Sora has every right to speak up, but people like Leon... They just make me angry.  
  
But then, the night grew darker and my anger suddenly went away. I became nervous and began to take out another cigarette even before I was done with the one in my mouth. Leon unsheathed his gun – blade and held it firmly with both hands, while Mu just stood still, and quiet, with his eyes fixed on the house's entrance. I then gazed at the clock tower and let out a long sigh. The fire on Aries still burned brightly. This was going to be a very, very long night.  
  
"Heads up." Leon murmured. "Here they come."  
  
The house's steps – which had turned to silver because of the moonlight – became pitch black, as hundreds of evil cackles filled the air. The vultures had come. But I was ready to send them to meet their maker, whoever the idiot was...  
  
"This ought to be fun." I said, as a platoon of little bug – like Heartless marched through the temple's entrance. I took out a good, ol' TNT stick and lit it with my cigarette (See? Those babies have more uses than just getting their asses smoked), and then threw it at the bunch of Heartless.  
  
"Eat that!"  
  
"A big explosion brought the unit down, as well as some of the house's columns, but enough remained to keep it on foot, thankfully. Either way, the scouts didn't last more than two seconds.  
  
"Sorry about that, Mu..." I said.  
  
"Well, the rest of the houses have at least one of their walls shattered, save, perhaps, for Cancer and Libra." He replied. "I was beginning to feel cast out of the group. But you have managed to undo that, thank you, Cid."  
  
"Hey, no need to be that sarcastic..."  
  
"Save it for later." Leon interrupted. "Here comes another pack of suicidal bugs."  
  
The next wave of enemies came without warning. A pack of shadows entered the house and this time, they were more than just bugs. Some knights tagged along, as well as those fat, huge Heartless warriors, and some little mages, too... Nothing that we couldn't handle.  
  
Leon quickly shot a pair of fireballs at the blue mages, and killed them instantly. They were much too weak to withstand a blow of the sort. But the other ones managed to get through his projectiles and began to attack us. I kept them at a distance with my spear and finished them in a few seconds by driving it through their bodies. Leon disposed of his foes with his sword by swinging it effortlessly from one side to another. I took care of the fat Heartless; their armor was not that tough and my spear got through it as if it was dough, while Leon began to run after the mages, and sliced them all without mercy. None of the Heartless had gone after Mu, so he didn't show off for us at that time...  
  
When we were done with the second group, a third one barged into the house of Aries. This time, there were a lot of Heartless. But, again, nothing that we couldn't get rid of. They were just a bunch of mosquitoes, and we were the pesticide... Leon began to put more strength into his blows, and when he did, not even the armors of the fat Heartless were a match for him, and he took out a lot of opponents with one swing, as if he were cutting rows of bamboo sticks. I couldn't do that sort of neat tricks... I only had a spear. I did thrust it through I bunch of Heartless, though. It's a different type of cool trick, though... But enough of stupid remarks.  
  
We were pummeling them. Though I still couldn't get the 'twelve-hour' thought out of my mind, I could see that we were quickly kicking their butts. We fought for a long time and didn't get tired at all, and Mu just stood there, standing still like a statue. We were doing real fine, I'd give him that, but three guys fighting against a single army is better than two... I didn't want to get tired in about an hour. We still had a long way to go. Luckily, Leon is not as quiet as I am, and after we were done with the fourth battalion, he turned to Mu and asked:  
  
"Comfortable? Can I get you anything? A cup of coffee, perhaps?"  
  
"I thought you two were doing quite fine on your own." He replied, calmly.  
  
"We're doing great, but we could just a little help, if you want us to have enough energies to fight against the dark golden saint." I said.  
  
"Very well." Mu said. "If you want me to fight, I'll do it."  
  
"Show us what you've got, then." Leon said, as he sat down against one of the house's pillars and let out a long yawn.  
  
"Don't be that cynical, Leon. At least have the decency to stand up." I muttered.  
  
"It'll only be while he gets rid of this unit. Then I'll fight."  
  
"Hmm... Okay. Sounds fair to me. Mind if I join him?"  
  
"Not at all. Don't get comfortable, though. You'll be back in your feet in a few seconds." The golden saint warned. He sounded pretty cocky, but I was sure that he was right about that.  
  
I sat next to Leon and let out a sigh. I already finished my cigarette, and only had a few more with me. I had left the pack in the ship, and I couldn't just go get them for the heck of it. I was really tempted to do so, but I had to resist. Those would surely be the longest twelve hours of my life... Sure, I know I'm a bit sick, but what gives? Everyone has his own little dirty habit, right? Either way, Leon was right: fighting for such a long time while smoking isn't really the smartest thing to do.  
  
Mu waited patiently for the fifth wave of Heartless to appear. He faced the entrance like the proud guardian he was, with his eyes fixed on the night. The enemies appeared all of a sudden and raced at him with furious roars. But Mu simply smiled and raised his right hand. The room then glowed with a very intense light; so intense, in fact, that Leon and I had to cover our eyes. When it was dark again, we looked at Mu, and found out that he was standing alone yet again, and that not even the ashes of his foes had remained after that terrible attack.  
  
"He is pretty strong." Leon murmured. "That's quite impressive... Although I don't know if it's either a good thing or a bad thing."  
  
"I get your point." I said. "After all, we're going to fight his dark clone in a while."  
  
"Yeah. Anyway, I'm sure that we'll be able to make a difference." He added.  
  
"I told you that you wouldn't get any rest." Mu said. "Well, on your feet, men. There's still plenty of work to be done."  
  
"I wonder where are all these rats coming from..." I asked myself. "The keyhole must be somewhere near. Otherwise, we wouldn't get so many waves of Heartless over so little time."  
  
"Let's take a peek and see if we can find out." Leon suggested as he approached the house's entrance. And when he reached it and saw what was out there, in the cold night, he remained still while the wind passed through his hair, and managed to say, after a while of staying silent: "Oh, my God."  
  
Mu and I quickly went by his side and became petrified when we saw what lay in front of us...  
  
Not too far away, there was a building that resembled the ancient Roman coliseum, and from it, a strange light came. It was really intense, but it didn't illuminate that which lay about it. And from the source of that light, lines, endless lines of Heartless enemies marched forth. We could only see their malicious eyes in the night, and occasionally, one or two flying fiends that passed right above the house and headed for higher ground. Most of them carried at least one Heartless, but there were several that took many of them. It was clear that they were heading towards the remaining eleven houses. I let out a gasp, as did my two companions, and held on tightly to my spear.  
  
"Jesus..." I murmured. "Now I know how Denethor felt when he saw Sauron's army marching outside his city."  
  
"But that was just a tale in a book." Mu intervened. "This is very real, I'm afraid."  
  
"We won't be able to hold off all of them." Leon said.  
  
"It may not be necessary." The golden saint declared.  
  
"I'm aware of that; what worries me is if the rest of the guys will be able to handle all of these monsters..."  
  
"They have no choice; we have no choice." Mu said, firmly. "All that we can do is to try to stop as many Heartless as possible. We have to be swift in our actions, but not careless. Remember that that is why the rest of our friends are staying in the other houses: to help us counter this evil. We can't finish all of them by ourselves, and it is the same for them."  
  
"Well, you're right about that, Mu." I said. "All that we can do for our friends is to lighten their load."  
  
"And it's time we started doing that: here comes another squadron." Leon announced. "I think it's safe to use your TNT sticks now, Cid. Blast them to hell."  
  
"Don't mind if I do." I said, and lit a few TNT sticks, and threw them at the advancing army. Two great explosions echoed through the night as hundreds of screams joined them and then died away as the rumbling faded. The eyes of the Heartless became more menacing as they raced at us with great rage. But that didn't stop me from taking out yet a third TNT stick and letting them eat it. The few ones that did arrive to the house were quickly killed by Leon's swift techniques, whereas Mu remained still yet again. I pulled out a fourth bomb and let the enemies have it.  
  
"Where do you keep so many projectiles?" Mu asked.  
  
"When the clock's fire disappears, I'll tell you all my little secrets." I answered. "Right now, why don't you lend us a hand?"  
  
"Fine. Save your bombs for later, then, and behold the secret technique of the saint of Aries..." with that said, he took off his helmet and threw his cape to the Heartless. He then raised his hands into the air and began to glow with a mystical, golden energy. I could feel the immense heat of his body and stepped away from him, as did Leon. His power was, indeed, something overwhelming, something to fear... And after a few moments, he let out a mighty yell, which resonated through the twelve houses.  
  
"CRYSTAL WALL!!"  
  
The Heartless let out a terrible roar and launched themselves at the golden saint, but they never reached him, because an invisible barrier stopped them from going any further. Many of them died, because they had leapt out our friend with such speed that they had been killed by the impact. The army stopped and beheld the power of Mu... The air about us suddenly glowed with a magical, golden light, and then it vanished. But the wall of energy was still there, preventing all of our foes to cross the threshold leading to the house. Many flying Heartless still managed to get through by the far sides of the temple, but most of the army had stopped in its tracks.  
  
"Well thought, Mu." Leon said. "That should hold them for a bit."  
  
"Yes, but only for a bit." Mu muttered, as he stepped back and faced us. "I don't want to leave the Crystal Wall for a long time. When the dark golden saint comes, he will break it with his power, for only I am capable of shattering it, and if this foe possesses my strength, then he will break through my technique effortlessly."  
  
"That's not good." I said, as I looked at the clock tower. "It's probably another forty – five minutes before that happens... If the Heartless keep coming from wherever the heck they're coming, imagine the huge quantity of little critters that will be roaming outside the house in that time. And if your clone breaks the wall, we'll be in for the worst time of our lives."  
  
"Precisely." Mu agreed. "That's why I'll only keep the Crystal Wall on foot for thirty minutes. We will then fight with all of our strength to kill as much Heartless as we can. But we will have to suffer some of them to pass, for we don't want to waste all of our strength fighting against them: we need to save some for the final foe."  
  
"It's a good plan, but I wish you could've come up with a better one." Leon sighed. "Thirty minutes of peace followed by five of pure panic..."  
  
We waited for time to pass, none to patiently at that, I must say. Actually, with every minute that went by, my breathing quickened and I grew more and more unsteady. After fifteen minutes, the Crystal Wall of Mu had practically become a fish tank that held about a thousand of those damn shrimps. It wasn't a pretty sight: we could see nothing of the outside, because the black bodies of the Heartless covered it all. It was a wall of evil eyes, which stared at us impatiently, waiting for Mu to open the gate and let them through...  
  
"I didn't think that so much would come so quickly." Mu said.  
  
"How much time has passed?" Leon asked.  
  
"About twenty minutes." I replied, and lit one of my final two cigarettes. I really couldn't stand the nervousness any longer; I needed the help of a friend.  
  
"To hold them any longer will prove to be dangerous." Mu declared. "Step back. I'll undo the Crystal Wall now. Cid, throw them a TNT stick. Make sure that they feel welcome."  
  
"Right on."  
  
I quickly lit one of my last TNT sticks and waited for Mu to undo the Crystal Wall. The golden saint took a deep breath, and then turned to me and nodded his head.  
  
"NOW!!" he yelled, and so I threw the bomb at the Heartless, which came pouring into the house of Aries like ants. I brought down a couple of more pillars, but a lot of Heartless died... Yet not as much as any of us would've liked...  
  
Leon let out a battle cry and began to shoot fireballs from his hands to and fro, and swung his gun – blade with great strength and speed, splitting Heartless head's up with every move. When he found himself overwhelmed (which was quite often the case), he leapt back and blocked with his weapon the many projectiles that the stupid, little magicians shot at him. Those sons of bitches could really be annoying... Leon had no trouble in getting rid of the blue and yellow mages, but the red ones provided more of a challenge for him. Still, he managed to handle them, as he ran at them with full speed and slashed them in the blink of an eye.  
  
I used all of my strength to stop the Heartless as best as I could. Since I'm a really good jumper and I'm really powerful when it comes to aerial attacks, I never once staid on the ground. I leapt from one side to another and swung my spear in wide arcs, keeping all Heartless at bay. When there were no obstacles, I leapt at them and thrust my weapon through their bodies like a hawk sinks its claws on it helpless prey. Man, did most of them suck. The only ones that proved to be a nuisance were, as you have probably already guessed, the damn, little mages. What was worse is that occasionally, they were accompanied by little, green mages, which seemed to heal them with their magic. Naturally, I went after these pieces of crap first...  
  
Mu fought seriously this time... And I was pretty amazed. I'm almost sure that Leon was too, but none of us showed any awe, of course: we were too busy getting rid of the garbage to pay much attention to what Mu was doing. But what I got to see... Wow. His kicks were as powerful as shots from cannons, and his fists were battering rams. If he touched one Heartless with one of his attacks, then he was dead. Besides, he moved at an incredible speed: sometimes, we had trouble seeing him. He could also teleport: occasionally, he would disappear from his opponents' sight and reappear right behind them... You can guess what happened to the poor asses that fell for this trick. All in all, Mu was a terrible warrior, a fighter that couldn't be stopped by the force that marched into the house, for he was defending his ground, and when golden saints defend their ground, they're like freaking lionesses that fight against hyenas to protect their cubs.  
  
But all wasn't as easy as it may sound, 'cause we didn't even have a second of peace: the Heartless kept on coming like locusts, one wave after the other. Once we were done with a squadron, another one came barging in through the entrance. I was beginning to get a little tired, and I could see in Leon's face that it was no picnic for him either. Yet Mu stood his ground with great ferocity and courage. And what was worse was that it was surely only a few minutes before the damn dark clone would materialize itself in the house...  
  
And all of a sudden, the enemies held back on the fields. We raced at the entrance and saw that they were all gathering outside the house, as if waiting for something. Instinctively, we raised our heads to the clock tower, and noticed that the flame of Aries had died. We then looked back, and saw a shadow in the center of the house, a black hole from which a dark figure was emerging. We put ourselves on guard and cautiously closed in about the new enemy. When the shadow finally came out of the ground, it opened its red eyes and fixed them upon us. He was identical to Mu, as was his armor, which seemed to be about as tough as the golden saint. He took a step toward us and then stopped, as if expecting us to jump back in alarm. But we had the original Mu with us; he wasn't going to scare us that easily. Then, we heard the roar of the Heartless outside the house, and knew they were coming straight at us...  
  
I only had a few TNT sticks left. I decided to use one then and save the other one for later. I threw it at the pack of foes that were running up the stairs and blew them to hell. And when the echo of the explosion faded, the dark saint began to attack us. He moved so fast that I was unable to block his attack. Lucky me, though: Mu leapt right in front of him and held him as much as he could.  
  
"Take care of the Heartless!" he exclaimed. "I'll keep him busy!"  
  
I glanced at Leon as he raced at the entrance and began to cut through Heartless butts like a land mower. I joined him in battle and stuck as many enemies as I could with my trusty spear. Meanwhile, Mu and his dark double fought a fierce, invisible battle, for they were so fast that we could not see them; we could only feel the gales that came from their strong punches and kicks.  
  
It was not long before we finished with the platoon of Heartless and faced another one. We were having a very hard time. The enemies were forcing us to step back; we could not help but to yield ground. Soon, small groups of foes ran past us and exited the house from the opposite side. Leon tried to stop them by throwing fireballs at them, but the cowards were pretty fast on their feet, and my companion only managed to kill one or two out of fifteen.  
  
And then, something terrible happened. The Heartless pushed us back against the wall, and we found ourselves side by side with Mu and his dark clone. When the evil Heartless saw that we were close to them, he seemed to smile wickedly and quickly jumped back.  
  
"CRYSTAL WALL!!" he shouted in a loud, malevolent voice that sounded more like the roar of a mythical monster than a human scream.  
  
A black haze of light shone briefly for an instant and then vanished, and we knew we were trapped against the wall and the magical barrier. Mu quickly gathered all of his strength and threw a punch at the Crystal Wall, but to our surprise and dismay, the attack bounced off the wall like a bullet in a metallic surface, and hurt all of us...  
  
"What?? This can't be!" Mu exclaimed. "My power is equal to the one of this monster! Why can't I break his Crystal Wall??"  
  
"Damn it..." Leon muttered as he rose himself to his feet. "There's your answer. Look behind the son of a bitch."  
  
Indeed, hovering just a few feet away from the terrible enemy, were six magicians, which seemed to be casting a spell. These ones were not the little, annoying mages that I described a bit ago: these ones were larger Heartless that wore purple tunics and pointy hats, and held a wand in their hands. It didn't take me long to realize that these pieces of crap were not amateur spell casters...  
  
"They're using their magic to strengthen the wall..." I murmured.  
  
"Damn it!!" Mu cursed, and banged the barrier with his fist in anger and despair.  
  
"Teleport yourself out, kill the wizards and then get us out of here." Leon suggested.  
  
"I can't." Mu replied. "His power keeps me from doing such a thing..."  
  
Fear began to take over us as the light that poured into the house was dimmed by the shadows of the endless lines of Heartless that passed through the temple and headed to the rest of the houses. Some of them stayed near the black saint, waiting for him to undo his barrier and to overcome us with their huge number. I felt as if I was tied in the middle of the ocean with a piece of bloody meat stuck on my back, and was watching how innumerable sharks gathered about my body and circled me, waiting for the right moment to rip me to shreds...  
  
I knew that destroying the wall behind us would make no difference: the house was, after all, between two rocky walls, and I deem that it would take Mu some time to break the stones... We felt lost. If the Heartless attacked alongside the black saint with all their might, we would not stand a chance. We could only see the shadows about the mighty foe growing and growing at an incredible rate... I felt as if I was already dead. But there would be no light awaiting me at the end of the black tunnel... Only more darkness.  
  
"What can we do, Mu?" Leon asked. "Any suggestions?"  
  
"I..." Mu started, but couldn't continue: he was still too shocked to think of anything.  
  
With a trembling hand, I reached for my last cigarette and began to smoke it. I then looked up, as if asking for the Heavens to tell me what to do... And so I had a crazy idea.  
  
"Mu, will the Crystal Wall stretch up if I bring the ceiling down?" I asked in a whisper, doing my best not to look to the ceiling.  
  
The golden saint staid still and quiet for a few moments. His eyes quickly gazed at the ceiling and then back at the dark saint.  
  
"It will." He murmured. "But the explosion is bound to bring a large part of the ceiling down, including the structure that stands outside the Crystal Wall. If we are lucky, it will distract them enough for me to gather all my power and break the Crystal Wall... Or it may also fall on the magicians, crushing them under a rain of dust and rocks."  
  
"Then it's a plan?"  
  
"It is." Mu said. "Leon, I'll need your aid for this endeavor. Give me your energy, and I will do my best to channel it through my fists... Hopefully, we'll be back on the battle after this..."  
  
"Hopefully, we will." Leon murmured, and approached Mu. Then, they both began to gather their power, and I felt a warm wind coming from their bodies.  
  
This was it. I let out an impatient breath and took out my last TNT stick. The dark golden saint and the magicians seemed to smile and chuckle confidently... I take it that they didn't have the least idea of what I was about to do. I lit it and waited a bit for the spark of fire to devour the line... When the dynamite was about to blow, I let out a yell and threw it at the ceiling. The now confused Heartless looked at it as it exploded and brought the rocks down. The magicians stopped working their magic and took cover, while the dark golden saint covered his eyes from the dust. It was then that Mu let out a fierce shout and shattered the magical barrier, and we quickly got out of the place that nearly became our tomb. One more second and we would've been crushed under a ton of rock.  
  
Mu lost no time and quickly slew all of the magicians. Leon and I worked our way through the dust by killing every Heartless that stood in our path. They had no idea where we were, because the cloud of dust kept them from seeing, but since they were all over the place, scattered like mo on a bathroom, Leon and only had to swing our weapons to strike them. It was not long before we got rid of all the lesser foes and came face to face with Mu's dark clone. Our hearts leapt in surprise and fear for a second, but then we threw ourselves against him. He began to block our blows and to attack us with fury, but the dust still dimmed the lights of the place, and his red eyes were like candles for us to follow.  
  
Seeing that we were keeping the dark clone busy, Mu stood in front of the entrance of the house and began to summon all of his energies once again. An immensely large shadow of Heartless marched to the house, but Mu wasn't going to let those geeks through this time...  
  
His body flashed with light for a few seconds, and then he performed a terrible attack, which turned the night as bright as the day. The stars seemed to gather about his fist as he shot a ray that, for a moment, seemed to absorb time and space, and only the glitter of an unknown sun was all that could be seen.  
  
"STARDUST EXTINCTION!!"  
  
And when all became clear again, the massive army of Heartless that had gathered about the fields had vanished. Sure, more Heartless still came from the dark light, but Mu's attack had wiped out about a thousand of those critters... Leon and I had to be very careful. If the dark clone used that technique on us and hit us with it, we would have to kiss our sorry asses good – bye...  
  
Mu found himself a bit weak after that devastating attack. But a moment was all that the dark clone needed to teleport next to him and kick him with a mad force. Mu let out a grunt of pain as he flew across the house and crashed against the foe, which had teleported yet again and was now kicking the snout out of our ally. We tried to go after him and keep him from pummeling Mu, but every time we got close to him, he teleported away from us, dragging Mu along with him... What a piece of crap.  
  
Finally, Mu crashed against a pillar, which came down on top of him, and found no strength in his legs to get up. A bunch of Heartless raced at him, ready to kill him, but he quickly managed to summon what little strength he have and built a Crystal Wall about him. He was very weak, but the Heartless didn't have enough strength to overcome the saint's technique. As long as he and his armor lived, the house wouldn't fall to the Heartless. All that Leon and I had to do was to try and defeat the dark golden saint before he could destroy Mu's wall and eradicate him. Simple task, eh?  
  
Simple or not, Leon and I had no choice and we quickly engaged battle with the dark golden saint. We stroke him at the same time with all of our might in hopes of bringing him down. Even though the saints are super – strong, they're still humans, and can still be run through with a spear or a sword. But this son of a bitch had pretty tough hands, because he parried both of our attacks effortlessly. I began to see that we were pretty much hopeless, yet didn't give up and kept on attacking. All that I could think of was to keep on bugging the foe so that Mu would somehow recover his strength and rise to his feet for another round.  
  
Things could get worse, however, and they did, for after a few moments, a new army of Heartless began to cross through the house of Aries. I must say that Leon and I did a pretty good job in getting rid of them, considering that we were fighting against a mighty enemy. When we saw a unit (thank God they were small units: most of the Heartless simply passed us by without even looking at us) coming at us, one of us would briefly back away from the dark golden saint and would slay all of the foes. Luckily, the goddamn general was very confident of himself: when one of us fought against the Heartless, he began to parry the other's attacks more slowly, and didn't attack us at all. I was both mad and scared: this jackass was actually making fools out of us.  
  
But all that suddenly came to an end. The black golden saint got tired of his stupid, little game, and decided to end the battle. Leon and I saw him jerk his fist back and summon all of his strength. We instantly knew what he was up to and leapt aside as fast as we could before he could unleash his devastating technique.  
  
"STARDUST REVOLUTION!!" he yelled in a dark voice.  
  
This attack was even more spectacular and strong that the one Mu had dished out on the Heartless. Thank the Heavens, we weren't hit by it. He kind of helped us, to be honest... because he hit the oncoming army with his blow as we got out of its way. The air about the enemies was filled with stars, which began to twirl about them as if they were being sucked into a hurricane, and then, they exploded as if they had formed a gigantic star and blew up, like a supernova. We looked at the result of the fiend's attack with horrified eyes, and then turned to him. He still smiled and chuckled silently.  
  
"Lucky." He sneered and then attempted to crush Leon's skull under his foot, but my friend quickly rolled on his back and slashed his leg with his sword. But the dark golden saint's armor was too resistant for Leon's steel to go though it. I then tried to bury my spear in his back, but the tip of my weapon slipped through his clothes (it could've been worse: it could've broken). The foe turned to me and chuckled some more, and then held me by the neck...  
  
"Argh...!" I coughed, kicking the saint as hard as I could, but the bastard wouldn't let go. Jeez, was the jackass strong. In just a matter of seconds, the world became just a blurry image and the pain got so intense that I thought that I would faint at any given moment.  
  
Nevertheless, Leon saved me from that idiot. He jumped at him and hung himself from his neck. Surprisingly, the saint couldn't stand much of my companion's torture and soon let go off me. Then, he grasped Leon by the arm and threw him as he were a hammer at me. I never realized that Leon was so heavy. We flew all across the house and crashed against a wall. I tried to get to my feet, but I was much to dizzy to stand up, plus Leon was still on top of me...  
  
"Ow... Are you alright, Cid?" he said in a low voice.  
  
"Not particularly." I replied. "And you?"  
  
"Likewise."  
  
We looked at the dark golden saint and found out in horror that he wasn't coming after us. Instead, he walked confidently and triumphantly, with many magicians at his side, to Mu. We knew that if Mu was killed, our mission would fail, and we would probably die to. We had to think of a plan, fast...  
  
"That son of a bitch is much stronger than I thought." I said. "There's no defeating him..."  
  
"It may seem that way, but I think that we can manage to beat him." Leon whispered. "He is very well protected, but I've noticed that the back of his thighs and his neck lack a piece of armor. I think that we can get him there. The trick is that we can't get hit by one of his blows, or we're history."  
  
"Can't you think of an easier way? The neck and the back of his thighs are way too small a target..."  
  
"No one said it would be easy. Now, the things that worry me are those damn magicians... My fireballs won't hurt them: all we can hope to do to take them out are physical attacks..."  
  
"Leave those guys to me. Just keep the son of a bitch busy for a while, deal?"  
  
"Okay. Let's go!"  
  
And with that being said, we jumped to our feet and rushed at the Heartless. The dark golden saint turned to face us and raised the palm of his hand, letting loose a wave of energy meant to push us back against the wall. Yet we quickly leapt out of its way and began our attack. While Leon landed beside the dark golden saint and began to attack him with all of his might, I charged against the magicians and ran a few of them through with my spear.  
  
"Two down..." I murmured and began to count my remaining enemies. "Three to go..."  
  
"I would appreciate it very much if you could please hurry the hell up!!" Leon yelled. The black enemy had him against one of the house's walls, and held his sword with his left hand. After a few moments, Leon skillfully escaped his grasp and was back on the battle. I didn't even bother to answer him. I wasn't exactly resting my feet on a comfy couch... Those magicians were actually a big pain on the butt.  
  
The three bitches cast each a spell of lighting about me, and prevented me from moving. At that moment, I felt pretty sorry of not saving any more TNT sticks. It would've helped me a bit against the jackasses. But there was no use in thinking about that now. I really had no other choice than to get rid of those three by the tip of my spear...  
  
I suddenly had an idea. Maybe I wasn't able to make it through the lightning wall, but my spear certainly could fly by the storm. So I took it as if where a javelin and threw it at one of the magicians. The blow was devastating and killed it right away, making one part of the lightning wall vanish. I quickly ran through the opening, got my spear back and charged at the two remaining Heartless. The cowards disappeared right before I got to them, but I knew that they hadn't gone. I waited patiently for them to materialize, and hoped that Leon would be all right without my aid for just a few more minutes.  
  
I gazed to them and found that the dark golden saint had trapped Leon's right fist with his hand and was slowly squeezing it. My companion did his best not to fall to his knees, for I could see that the foe was about to break his hand. The fiend smiled triumphantly and chuckled in a low, malevolent voice. But Leon managed to open his fist just a bit and concentrated all of his strength in letting loose a terrible fireball. After an instant, he wailed angrily and a yellow flash came out of his hand. The dark golden saint screamed in pain and flew against a wall. Leon didn't go after him, though: instead he held his pain filled hand and tried to pull himself together for his next attack.  
  
After what seemed to be an eternity, one of the magicians appeared. The jackass materialized itself right behind me, in hopes of frying me with its magic wand. I was quicker than he, though, and stabbed him before he could do anything. After that, the last magician appeared a few feet away from me. I waited for him to screw up: I wanted to kill it by countering its attack, 'cause I knew that if I just went after it, it would probably harm me with magic. These type of Heartless didn't seem as stupid as the others, and they apparently learned from their mistakes...  
  
The magician began to cast a spell, but I didn't see anything about me. Fortunately, I thought about watching down, and saw a black hole at my feet. With a gasp, I quickly leapt away from it just in time to dodge a dark blade that had emerged from it. Then another black sword tried to impale me, but again it missed. I knew that I had to get rid of the Heartless, and fast. So I again threw my spear at it, and lucky me: I stuck him like a wild boar.  
  
Finally I was rid of my adversaries; it was time to help Leon against the major bitch. I grasped my spear and ran at the dark golden saint, which was about to push my companion into a corner once again. I didn't make a sound, and quickly tried to stab the back of his left thigh, just like Leon had said that we should do. But the bastard realized that I was on the attack and received me with a ferocious kick. I found myself out of air and with my back aching terribly. The foe had pushed me against a pillar, and I had hit it hard. This gave Leon time to escape the trap the enemy had set for him and tried to slash the foe's neck. Yet the dark golden saint knew that we had discovered his weakness and ducked just in time to evade Leon's blade. Then, they both engaged battle again.  
  
It took me a few seconds to pull myself to my feet again and go back to my friend's aid. When I did, I thought that maybe it would be a good idea to pretend another strike at his thigh... Because the black enemy had yet another major weakness: he was too overconfident of his brutal strength. He thought that we were a little more than ants... And maybe, he would think that we didn't learn from our mistakes. I quickly charged at him, my spear aimed at his legs, until he turned to face me. I was sure that he would try to kick me again, so I leapt high into the air. The fiend's foot passed right under my body, hitting nothing but air. I landed right behind the saint and this time, there was no fake in my moves: I went right for the legs a second time. But can you believe it? The son of a bitch actually turned in time, and my spear only hit the armor protecting his kneecaps. I saw him smile and thought that it had all been for nothing...  
  
However, Leon was still in the fight and saw a window of opportunity for us. With a swift move, he slashed the saint's thighs. The foe let out a pain filled cry and fell to his knees. It was now my turn to attack; my turn to put an end to it. I held my spear firmly and, with an enraged cry, drove it through his neck. The being didn't scream this time, and his eyes turned from a terrible, red color to a dead, black one. He fell to his side and was engulfed by blue flames. There was nothing left of him, not even a sound. Tired as we were, Leon and I smiled for ourselves and shook hands.  
  
"Good thinking, Cid." He said.  
  
"You too, Leon." I replied.  
  
But then, we turned to the entrance of the house and found out that the army of Heartless was still abroad... With a heavy breath, we grasped our weapons firmly and waited for them to arrive. But suddenly, Mu's voice deafened the screams of the foes.  
  
"CRYSTAL WALL!!"  
  
Again, the entrance to the house had been covered by an invisible barrier that would only glitter whenever it received a strike. We turned to Mu, who was now standing behind us. Not firmly, because he still seemed weak, but seemingly better than a while ago...  
  
"Glad to see you back..." Leon muttered.  
  
"I must say that I didn't think I would be able to make it... Nor you, for that matter." Mu replied.  
  
"Well, luckily you were mistaken." I said.  
  
"Yes, luckily. I'm amazed by your strength... You are much tougher than I thought. And very smart." The saint said. "It was because of your quick thinking that you are still alive."  
  
"Yeah... Anyway, I regret to say that I can't exactly say the same about you, Mu." I kidded. "Sure, you wiped out an entire army with a single blow, but you lost to yourself... You disappointed me."  
  
Mu and Leon turned to me and found out that I was only joking. They both smiled and chuckled while shaking their heads.  
  
The army of Heartless began to press against Mu's crystal wall and many of the creatures began to growl and to roar angrily. We fell silent and our smiles vanished from our faces. Slowly, we walked a bit closer to the invisible barrier and looked at the Heartless with tired eyes.  
  
"We were the ones that had it tougher, didn't we?" asked Leon.  
  
"Regarding the attacks of the lesser Heartless, yes." Mu answered. "But my dark clone didn't use all of his powers... Only in that attack against his own companions was his true strength set loose. But it seemed that he counted on the other Heartless to aid him in the attack; hence, he didn't use all of his power... The Heartless are great in number, but they won't invade the rest of the houses like they invaded this one. That is why I'm worried: the dark golden saints will fight more fiercely in the later temples."  
  
"Which of you is the strongest?" I asked.  
  
"Many say that all of us golden saints are equally strong and should be equally feared." Mu said. "But I think differently... I consider myself one of the strongest guardians of Athena, yet there are others that are more fierce warriors than me."  
  
"Who is in graver danger, then?" asked Leon.  
  
"The ones in Taurus are Aldebaran, Octavius, and Felicia, correct? Then they should be all right, for Aldebaran is the strongest of us physically speaking. He will manage to get rid of the Heartless and to battle against himself with no less strength, and the were – bear will be of great help to him, for he is as strong as a rock giant, and the were – cat will prove to be great for getting rid of speedy opponents... But the ones that I am most worried about, are those who guard the houses of Leo, Virgo, and Sagittarius."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"The dead saint Aioros, who was once the guardian of the house of Sagittarius, was, beyond any doubt, the most powerful of all saints... Aioria is his younger brother, and his strength is almost as terrible as the one of his lost sibling. And Shaka, Virgo's saint, is said to be the one closest to God. The ones in the house of Virgo won't win a battle by strength: they will need more than that to prevail against the dark clone of Shaka..."  
  
"Who are the ones in those houses?" I asked Leon.  
  
"Wilheim, Ukyo, and Tish are with Aioria; Demean and Merryck are with Seyia in Sagittarius, and both Dante and Sora are in Virgo, along with Shaka." He said in a murmur. "Damn..."  
  
"Let's hope that the two boys are witty." Mu said, with a sigh. "For if they're not, I don't think that you'll even see them in death..."  
  
We spoke no more and looked at the clock tower. The fires on Taurus and Gemini had already gone out. The battle had lasted longer than we had thought. We turned to the army of Heartless again and readied ourselves for another round. We had to keep the ground Heartless away from the rest of the houses; an army of flying foes had already covered the nocturne sky... I reached for a cigarette, but found the pack empty, and let out an unhappy sigh.  
  
Taurus: Octavius  
  
I did not fear the darkness. For the longest of times, I had not felt fear, or happiness. I was void of feelings; only anger lingered in me, and rarely did it awake. Rarely and thankfully, for when it lives, I cease being myself, and turn into a fearsome monster: a beast with an appetite for death, whose ears only consider the chilling screams of pain as music... Such a curse is known as the Fury of the Forests, and when I was younger, I accepted to bear it in my veins... I had been such a fool. But now is not the time to talk about those things. My past was another story at the time, and I had only a mind for the present.  
  
I stood quietly next to two other warriors: Aldebaran, the saint of Taurus, and Felicia, the nimble cat – woman. The golden saint had his arms crossed over his chest, and smiled confidently at the house's entrance. Certainly he would not let any foe cross the temple without knowing his terrible strength. The Bastet, however, seemed quite nervous. I do not know why, for I had heard that she had already proved herself against many foes before. I had never actually seen her battle, though. Yet I was sure that she would be useful against the Heartless.  
  
"Relax a bit, Felicia." Aldebaran said. "Wait and see. I promise you that no Heartless will be able to withstand our combined strengths."  
  
"That's easy for you to say." She answered. "You're covered by the holy armor; you're as big as a bull; you've fought hundreds of crazy battles; and... well, you're a golden saint! I'm just a little girl in a kitty costume... with claws."  
  
"I believe you underestimate yourself." I muttered.  
  
"Next to you two, I don't really think I'm underestimating myself..."  
  
"Still, that will prove enough to beat any Heartless that dares enter the temple." I assured. "The creatures are quite weak. They will fall easily."  
  
"Oh, so I am weak?" she suddenly snapped.  
  
"If that is what you say, then I suppose so." I answered dryly.  
  
"Gee, thanks for the support, 'Etceterus Etceterus'!"  
  
"What was that?" Aldebaran asked, with a chuckle, whereas I did not pay attention whatsoever to such infantile insults.  
  
"You should listen to this guy's complete name." Felicia said. "You could fill a blank page with it. That's why I came up with that nickname for him. The guys love it."  
  
"Lovely. So this means that all of our companions know that you call me like that?" I asked.  
  
"Hey, you started it!" she replied. "When a woman is complaining, or when she's down, or when she's scared, or insecure, or whatever, you're supposed to support her, rather than to just say that she's weak. Haven't you ever had a girlfriend, were – bear? You've lived a lot, or so I've been told: you should know a bit about ladies."  
  
"Are you saying that you like me, cat – woman?"  
  
When she heard this, she began to stutter many words and incoherent sentences, but her fury prevented her from saying anything that made sense. Aldebaran smiled and shook his head while laughing silently, but Felicia just kept looking for something to say, for a way to insult me, I thought. In the end, she merely turned around with a maddened expression in her face and said no more. I think that was quite hilarious, but as I said before, I am void of most feelings, and so I did not smile, for I do not know how to do such a thing. Not anymore.  
  
But then, a flash of light illuminated the sky for a second, and a sudden roar was heard. Aldebaran stopped smiling and Felicia became serious. We all slowly approached the house's entrance and peered outside. The temple of Aries was being assaulted. An army of shadows marched at the house. The enemies' eyes burned like torches, and with each step they took, a thunderous sound filled the air, and their march was constant and quick; like the beating of a frightened heart.  
  
"So it has begun." Aldebaran murmured. "Our defenses will have to hold 'til morning. Hopefully, the sun's light will come quickly."  
  
"I really hope so." Felicia said. "Look at that army... I'm not sure if Cid, Leon, and Mu will be able to keep all of the Heartless at bay... Oh, damn." She added, as she saw how many of the creatures began to fly into the air and a few of them came our way. "Well... They still have it harder than we do."  
  
"Yes, they do." I said. "There are only a few of them coming, and they will meet a swift end by my blade. Let me handle these beasts. It will only take a few seconds." And so I stood in front of them and waited for the monsters to arrive. They were just a couple of gargoyles, a pathetic sample of the enemy's evil power. When they lunged themselves at me, I cut them down with a swift attack. "If the Heartless attack us like this, I am certain that this will be an easy battle."  
  
"Yet, I don't think that Mu and the other two will be able to stop all of the Heartless." Aldebaran said. "I'm not sure if his Crystal Wall will be able to contain all of those beings. Many will go through Aries and will head here, undoubtedly. And I fear that we won't be able to contain all of them. Some will pass. But they will be less and less... the ones in the later houses won't have so much trouble in facing the Heartless."  
  
"Here comes another batch." Felicia interrupted. "And this one is a bit tougher than the last one..." as she finished speaking these words, two battle ships arrived to the house, and out of them, leapt ten dark knights and ten little bug – like fiends. They were no match for us, and the cat – woman did not fear such a small army. "Let's take them down!"  
  
She leapt at one of the ships and skillfully evaded all of the projectiles that it shot at her, and shredded it with her powerful nails as if she were a fan of blades. Meanwhile, I took care of the little bug – like Heartless with quick swings of my katana. The knights charged at Aldebaran, but amazingly, the golden saint simply flicked a finger, and the enemies were gone. His strength was truly beyond equal.  
  
Felicia quickly brought down the first battle ship and leapt onto the second. The foe rose above the ground at an amazing speed, trying to crush Felicia under the ceiling, but the Bastet guessed the Heartless's trick and jumped at one of the walls. The ship was broken by its own stupid move, and the second wave of Heartless was successfully destroyed.  
  
"That was a close call." Felicia said, as she approached us. "But I'm sure that this is far from over..."  
  
"Indeed." I agreed.  
  
"Look." Aldebaran said, as he pointed at the house below us. "The Heartless forces are getting bigger and bigger... They can't get through the house of Aries. Mu must be using the Crystal Wall to hold them at bay..."  
  
"Well, that's great news!" Felicia exclaimed.  
  
"I can't really say that, Felicia..." the saint began to explain. "The fire of the temple of Aries is still burning, but I'm sure that it'll soon go out. When that happens, the dark golden saint of Aries will appear there, and he will undo Mu's barrier... The Heartless will come at our three companions in full strength, and I don't know if they will be able to withstand the combined forces of both the black saint and of the army..."  
  
"Many Heartless are still getting through." I added. "Look at them; they are like nasty spiders. They are climbing the hills and are heading towards the other houses. Their force is much larger than I expected..."  
  
"And some of them are hitching rides on gargoyles and other monsters of the sort..." Felicia said. "...I really don't like the idea of fighting against these bozos for twelve hours."  
  
"I just hope that Mu will undo his own wall in time. We will have more work to do, but they will survive." Aldebaran said. "But enough talk. It's time to get rid of these Heartless."  
  
Another wave came our way, both ground and flying Heartless wailing in anger as they drew near. We put ourselves on guard and waited for them to be closer so we could greet them the way they deserved to be greeted. A fat, heavy soldier slowly ran at me, attempting to crush me under its weigh. Those creatures were so idiotic... I was as big as them and still they tried to frighten me with their size. I decided to save the katana for a bit later and to fight bare – handedly, like my two companions. I received the foe's charge with a solid punch that went through his armor and through his skin. The monster vanished into thin air as my arm reached his back.  
  
Felicia's turn to attack came. She was attacked by a pair of dark warriors that wielded Saracen swords. The feline jumped back, avoiding both swings of the blades. The fighters went after her, with no other wish in their somber minds than to cut her down. Yet it was her that did the cutting, for her claws were even sharper than the blades, and when the steel of a Saracen sword met her hand, it did her no harm, and fell to the ground in five pieces. A nimble kick at the bearer's feet ended his threat, and she only needed the other Heartless to let his guard down for a second to slash his neck with her left hand.  
  
Aldebaran did not even uncross his arms. The Heartless that came to him all met their end under a swift glitter of his armor. What he did is still unknown to me, but he ended with the monsters' menace in the blink of an eye.  
  
The rest of the fiends I broke with my arms and Felicia cut with her claws. They were no match for any of us: just mere insects that try to bother a group of bulls. Aldebaran and I remained steady: never did we move from our places unless we had to, whereas Felicia used every inch of the temple as her battlefield, and the foes could not keep up with her blistering speed.  
  
This time, however, we had no rest. The Heartless kept coming in waves, with hunger for battle in their hollow veins. Certainly, their force was not as large as the one our companions in the house of Aries were surely facing, but they were constant and did not give us a moment of peace. We fought fiercely, and were not even scratched by their futile attacks. I did not fear for myself or for Aldebaran, for he possessed the sacred armor which gave him strength, and I had fought against more terrible foes in the past; for two millennia had I faced other enemies, and had waged deadlier battles. I must admit that I was somewhat concerned about Felicia, because I did not know if she had the strength to endure the long battle that was ahead of us...  
  
We kept on battling for a long time, in hopes of seeing less and less Heartless with each passing minute, with every death of one of their kind at our hands. But instead of that, the army kept on growing and growing. All of a sudden, we were battling gigantic hordes of shadows. Not even demons spawned themselves in such huge numbers. Both land and aerial Heartless stormed the house, and we did our best to slay them all, but soon, many of them started to get through and headed for the rest of the houses. That could only mean that Mu's Crystal Wall had vanished, and we could only hope that it had been his doing and not some foe's.  
  
I could no longer master the enemies with my arms and my feet alone, and so I drew my katana and began to slash their bodies with great speed rather than strength, for they were weak and fell apart like pieces of paper. Felicia's agility and speed grew more and more with each moment: she had not shown us her true strength at the beginning of the battle. And Aldebaran started to move a bit from left to right, but did not uncross his arms, or at least I did not see him uncross them. Perhaps he was much quicker than we thought and was actually battling fiercely with fists and legs, yet his speed was so great that we could not actually see him...  
  
The enemy kept on coming and the fire on the house of Aries died. We had only an hour left before the dark golden saint appeared, and things did not seem to get any easier. That was when Aldebaran decided to let loose his most terrible attack in order to give us a moment of peace...  
  
He stood in front of the house's entrance, and waited for a horde of Heartless to get near. He glanced at Felicia and me and muttered:  
  
"Get back. I'll handle these ones."  
  
The cat – woman and I did as he told us and waited for him to make his move. The saint turned towards the army again and did not even blink for a long time. I only wanted him to end it; I wanted to see what he was capable of... And so, when the Heartless were all about him, he stretched his arms upwards and separated his legs. He yelled ferociously and his roar echoed through the pillars of the temple, while a golden light illuminated the night and blinded Felicia and me for a few seconds...  
  
"GREAT HORN!!"  
  
We opened our eyes and found a minute of peace, for all the Heartless had fallen under that mighty attack. Not one was left; they had vanished as if Aldebaran's light attack had been a glitter of the sun itself.  
  
"...Wow...!" Felicia stuttered. "What the heck was that??"  
  
"My most powerful blow." Aldebaran answered. "The Great Horn. I have yet to meet a second man who can defeat it."  
  
"There has been a first?" the Bastet asked.  
  
"Can you see my helmet?" he said, and removed it from his head. There was only one horn intact, but the other one had been cut off. "This was Seyia's doing. That was when he awoke to the seventh sense."  
  
"I see... you guys have quite a story, eh?"  
  
"Yes, we do."  
  
"And how would you judge them by their strength?" I asked. "Are the bronze saints a match for you? Or are they witless worms?" It is not that I had no respect for the bronze saints, but I doubted at the time that they were powerful enough to contend with their friends.  
  
"Not at all. Actually, they have the potential to become golden saints." Aldebaran answered, proving that my beliefs were wrong. "They are all very strong and resourceful. Each of them has their own set of strengths and weaknesses, but when they fight in a team, they are nearly unstoppable."  
  
"I understand that there are some golden armors that no saint wears..." Felicia intervened. "Why don't they wear them?"  
  
"Because they are not meant to have those armors, at least not yet. And they are still proud of their colors. Yet I believe that Seyia, Shiryu, and Hyoga can already use the golden clothes of Sagittarius, Libra, and Aquarius if they wish... But Shun and Ikki are meant to have the golden clothes of Virgo and Leo, and Shaka and Aioria are still alive."  
  
"Oh, I see..." she murmured. Then, her glance was caught by the new wave of Heartless that came our way. "Well... here we go again."  
  
We battled some more against the lesser Heartless, destroying them effortlessly at the beginning, but again we started to battle for a long time and began to tire a bit. It was then that Aldebaran released his power again and erased all of the shadows...  
  
We fought on restlessly until two hours passed. It was then that the fire of the house of Taurus waned and died. A low grumble came from the center of the house and we all turned to face a new, terrible enemy. The dark golden saint emerged from a pool of shadows. Our foe was a towering giant, just like Aldebaran, and had a black armor on his body. His eyes were different, though: they were red and evil, and his smile was wicked. And when he stood tall over the ground, and the Heartless stopped coming for a minute, he launched an attack.  
  
"GREAT HORN!!" he yelled in a dark voice.  
  
An intense shadow engulfed the house and hit us with its terrible might. I had never felt such a hard blow. Felicia and I flew over the ground and fell on the outer stairs of the house. I managed to place a foot on the floor and stopped my wild rolling, and also managed to catch the cat – woman. When I looked at her, I saw that her stomach was badly bruised and that she hat cuts on both arms and legs. A drop of blood fell on her forehead and I then realized that I was also bleeding. The dark saint's attack had been like a thousand cutting knives that went through our skin...  
  
"Are you alright, cat – woman?" I asked.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine, I just..." she paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "...Need a little breather, that's all."  
  
"Well, that is a luxury you cannot have right now. The Heartless come again, and Aldebaran is still inside the house, battling against himself." I said.  
  
"All right... Just help me to my feet and I'll keep on fighting."  
  
Aldebaran had withstood his own terrible power and was now letting loose a fierce duel against his dark clone. Although we could not see him in battle, we could hear his valiant cries and his foes fell yells. The house flashed as if it were on flames, and its shadow fell on us and the Heartless that ran up the stairs to our meeting. Thankfully, the wave of enemies was not very great, and Felicia and I took care of them in a few moments. Her arms were wounded, but her claws were as sharp as ever, and they cut through all of her opponents with swift savageness. I used my blade to shatter armors and shadows alike, and when we were done, we quickly returned to the house only to found Aldebaran and his other self locked in a deadly match. We could not afford to let him battle against himself for such a long time: the army of Heartless would surely grow and we would certainly need his aid later on.  
  
"Felicia..." I whispered. "You handle the Heartless that come our way. I will help Aldebaran against this monstrous opponent."  
  
"Are you kidding?" Felicia asked. "You may be strong, but I'm sure that I can use my speed to help you two on this fight. I'll help you and Aldebaran, whether you like it or not."  
  
I knew that it would be no use to argue with the Bastet, for she was as stubborn as a mule. I accepted her aid and we both raced to Aldebaran's help.  
  
The nimble cat – woman jumped at the dark saint's head and held on to his skull, while I tried to stab his face. He rose on of his hands and stopped my blade. It was a fortune that he did not break it. I then tried to use my fists against him, but he stopped them with his hands, too. Felicia scratched his face with fury and the foe let go of my hand as he let out a scream of pain. I then managed to give him a good punch in the face, and he fell to his back. Next, Aldebaran let loose his power and sunk him deep into the ground. The foe stayed still under a pile of rocks for a very long time, and we all thought that we had just carved his tomb.  
  
A wave of Heartless came and we began to battle against them without paying attention to the pile of rubble at our backs. Magicians had come this time, and we had more difficulty in killing them than I thought, for when we were about to reach them with our fists, they would vanish into thin air and reappear away from us. But Aldebaran's attack traveled as fast as lightning and the sorcerers met their doom after a short while. Some Invisibles also attacked us, yet we already knew their weakness. Felicia blocked their swords with her claws and used powerful kicks to shatter the blades. I broke the swords with both my fists and my katana, while Aldebaran again used his Great Horn to eliminate all opponents in sight.  
  
But after a while, a dark scream came from below the ground and an explosion made the house shake. A black light poured from the floor and raced by it, crawled by the walls and covered the ceiling. We were all sent flying high into the air, and this time, Aldebaran fell with us. When we got to our feet, we noticed that our dark opponent still stood, his face twisted in an enraged expression... We sighed unhappily and braced ourselves for another terrible and long battle... Yet Felicia's quick thinking and speed made it possible for us to, surprisingly, finish the dark golden saint in a matter of moments.  
  
The cat – woman abruptly raced at the foe with a battle cry. The dark golden saint seemed to smile for a moment and raised his arms high above his head, readying himself to finish the Bastet. Aldebaran and I gasped as we heard his yell and saw how the shadows covered the ground and walls one more time...  
  
But Felicia skillfully sidestepped and leapt at the foe. With an amazing dexterity, she flung herself to his back while holding his neck, making him lose his balance and fall on her. Yet Felicia had not finished: she received his body with her legs and with strength unknown to me, she threw him into the air. Aldebaran and I knew that this was our opportunity to end the fight and so he leapt after him and I ran to where his body was meant to fall.  
  
The golden saint used all of his strength to hit the enemy on the stomach. The blow had been so fierce that the armor crumbled beneath his fist. Then, he turned the foe in the air and emitted a strange glow. He then began to fall with great speed, and I knew he had used his power to boost himself and his opponent to the ground. I realized what he was trying to do and worked with him: I held my sword high in the air, and became a stalagmite in which the dark saint fell. A wall of blue, but harmless flames surrounded me, and the foe was gone...  
  
Aldebaran smiled to himself and laughed long and loud.  
  
"What quick thinking, Felicia! I thought that the battle would last longer than that...!" but then, he stopped cheering as we both noticed that the cat – woman lay on the ground and did not move. "Felicia!!"  
  
We raced to her, and saw that she was terribly injured. She bled from her stomach and face, and we knew that the Great Horn of the dark one had hit her. The wound was too deep, and I could do nothing to stop it. A sudden fright overcame me, as I knew that there was no cure for that cut: the cat – woman would soon die.  
  
"Why did you do that?" I asked her. "We could have battled another way, and still you would be with us!"  
  
"Much must be risked in war." Felicia murmured, with a weak smile. She coughed blood and then said: "At least I succeeded in defeating a golden knight... with your help, of course..." but her vain words could not hide her fear of death, and I became, for a moment, sad, and angry, for I had begun to like the wily Bastet.  
  
"Don't worry, Felicia." Aldebaran said, quite calmly, to my surprise... "I don't know if you'll be able to fight with us any longer, but I'm not going to let you go." He placed his left hand in her belly and her right hand on her face. A golden light shone weakly, and the trail of blood began to vanish. When the saint lifted his hands, the cuts had gone... "I guess I should have told you that we golden saints have the power to cure creatures other than ourselves."  
  
"You should have." I said. "I was beginning to worry..."  
  
"You were?" Felicia asked, seemingly better. "Oh, so you do care...! Ow..."  
  
"Of course I care. I may be a cold person, but from time to time, I do have feelings..." I said, beginning to remember what was it was like to have good friends that would risk their lives for you.  
  
"Thank you." She whispered, with a happy smile. "But mostly, thank you, Aldebaran... How can I repay you?"  
  
"Don't worry about it. You don't seem too good to me yet." Aldebaran answered. "I believe that it is not a good idea to force you to fight. As a matter of fact, I think that Octavius and I are going to have to take turns to protect you. What do you say, Octavius? Do you think that we will be able to handle the Heartless with one companion down?"  
  
"If no other dark golden saint comes, then I believe that we will win this battle." I declared. "I will look after Felicia. You guard the house."  
  
"That's my job. Take good care of her. When this is over, we'll tell your friends to heal her properly."  
  
"How nice of you two..." Felicia giggled. "But you'd better hurry to the entrance, Aldebaran. There comes another batch of Heartless..."  
  
"These ones will not get through, that I promise you." He said, and got ready to attack the wave of foes. Some of them did go through, but I made sure that the golden saint kept his promise by slashing them down with my blade. Yet I never left Felicia's side; I became her guardian at the time, and I daresay that the feeling of being her warrior was not an unpleasant one.  
  
Gemini: Camille  
  
It had been quite a long time since I had done so much battling. And I do not mean just the Heartless in the houses of the Sanctuary, but the evil army of them in all the worlds. Well, it was a good thing, to know that I was still a fierce warrior. The last time I had fought against anyone before my part in the adventure began, had been against Wilheim, when I had invited him to stay with me in my castle in the realm of Urthalien. He had been an easy opponent at the time, and I had defeated him effortlessly (and I am certain that he enjoyed getting beaten). But this time, my foes were not dear friends, and I was fighting with all of my strength...  
  
One hour had passed since the fire of Aries had vanished. We could see flashes of light constantly coming from the temple of Taurus; the battle that they were waging against the Heartless was surely a more interesting one than ours. And the few enemies that managed to get through the storm on the second house met a quick end at our hands.  
  
I fought alongside Morrigan and Ikki. There was no golden saint protecting the house of Gemini, so the Phoenix knight would have to do. I really wanted the clock to speed up its pace, so that the flame in Gemini would soon die. Not that I was longing to fight against the dark golden saint of Gemini, no, but because I hated long waits. I reckon that if you would be in my place, you would think the same, too. When something bad is bound to happen, what good is it to wait for it?  
  
Have you ever had that feeling? The feeling of your entrails clinching to your stomach? It is a nasty feeling, is it not? Some people say that they are butterflies fluttering inside you, but I do not like to think of it that way. Those sorts of expressions must be saved for love. At that time, the feeling was rather intense, to the point were my belly was beginning to ache. Despite the fact that I disposed of my opponents effortlessly, I was somewhat frightened of the dark golden saint, for the bronze saints had told me about the power of the knight of Gemini...  
  
His name was Saga, and he was their main enemy when they fought on the houses the last time. By his order, Athena had been wounded in the chest by an evil arrow. He wanted to see her dead. Yet, like Gemini, Saga had two faces, and in the end, the good inside of him overcame his malice, and he died to save Athena from himself. But the warrior we were going to face had no trace of good will in his shadowy body...  
  
From time to time, the waves of Heartless stopped for a few moments, and we all approached the entrance of the house and looked at the clock tower, waiting for it to strike the symbol of Gemini; that would be our cue to brace ourselves for a terrible fight.  
  
"It is common to feel that the flow of time speeds up when it ages..." I said in a low voice. "Nevertheless, it does not feel that way here. It walks more slowly and tiresomely, as if it were about to end."  
  
"Only that it won't." Ikki said. "I know that you're nervous, Camille, but the black saint of Gemini won't be able to handle the three of us at once. Just... be careful. Don't be scared, but don't get cocky. This enemy has a lot of cards up his sleeve."  
  
"Did you fight against him the last time you were here, Phoenix?" asked Morrigan. "How terrible is his strength?"  
  
"Don't worry about it. Just concentrate on fighting." He answered and walked to the house's center, while Morrigan and I gave each other a worried glance.  
  
"That isn't good." She murmured. "If he doesn't wish to talk about the former battle, that must mean that he was beaten by a foe far more superior than himself."  
  
"And what worries me most is that we stand next to the most powerful saint of the bronze knights." I added. "I dread to think what sort of tricks this enemy has in store for us."  
  
"Here comes another wave!" Ikki exclaimed. "Look sharp!"  
  
A group of Heartless considerably large stormed into the house. Ikki finished with three of them with a single flick of his wrist: before the enemies vanished into nothingness, Morrigan and I noticed an orange feather buried in their heads, the same feathers that adorned the saint's armor. The other ones dived themselves into three groups. Ikki managed to kill his remaining opponents with a single blow. Morrigan and I worked together: our wings became sharp tentacles that flew at our opponents and went through them like arrows. Two Heartless managed to withstand the blows and charged at us. I jumped high into the air and then landed on one of them, sinking its head deep within its body. Morrigan fired a flaming projectile that burned the other foe to a crisp...  
  
Though at first we had not liked each other much, Morrigan and I were beginning to establish a nice friendship. A pity, I must say, that it was just a mere friendship, for her body was quite charming, as her fair hair and eyes... Certainly, I could get as much pleasure from her as she could get from me. Yet Morrigan was a less... savage succubus, as Wilheim would certainly say. He too was quite surprised that I liked other women. But I can do nothing about it, for my lust is endless... But enough about that. Those are unimportant matters.  
  
We were about to go to the entrance of the temple yet again to contemplate the clock tower a bit longer when another small army of Heartless appeared by the entrance. This time, horrid wyverns accompanied the foes. We had been battling a lot of aerial units, but it was the first time in the night that we were facing wyverns. Those creatures were large, their skin was as thick as a shield, and they flew as quickly as a hawk. We resolved that Ikki should fight against the Heartless on the ground and that Morrigan and I would battle the flying menaces.  
  
The bronze saint used his potent technique – The Flying Phoenix – to exterminate the enemies on the ground. Yet when he did, Morrigan and I cursed him, as the rest of the flying enemies, for the currents of wind that he created with his strong arms were quite difficult to manage. We were lucky not to crash against a pillar or a wall, but we were not lucky enough for the Heartless to die with that assault. When he heard our angry yells, he quickly stopped his doing and battled the few Heartless that remained in front of him with his fists. Morrigan and I focused on evading the furious charges of the wyverns that tried to catch us with their claws. I was quick enough to escape their sharp knives, but Morrigan got hit a couple of times. I quickly managed to get rid of a wyvern by grasping its head as he flew at me like a torpedo, and breaking its neck in a swift motion. My companion successfully killed one of the beings by blocking its attack with her wings. The wyvern had thrown itself at her just like the one I had broken, and he crashed into a wall that was as tough as steel. Morrigan nearly crashed into a wall, but I managed to get a hold of her before she was wounded. There were still some opponents on the air, and we had to kill them before they shredded us...  
  
"It's time to become the hunter." Morrigan suggested. "Don't you think so, Camille? Use your heels to smash their heads open."  
  
"What a smart plan, my dear." I said, with a snicker. "Very well, then. Let them taste our rage."  
  
And so, like a pair of eagles, we soared about the house, chasing the wyverns that were one after us. Though they flew quickly, their speed did not match ours, and we kicked them down many times before they finally decided to turn around and charge at us head – on. But this was part of our plan. When the enemies flew at us, we stretched our legs at them, covering them with our wings, becoming a projectile shot from a bolt – thrower, and went through them as if they were just wisps of cloud...  
  
When we were finally done, we landed near Ikki and, since there was still no Heartless coming at the temple, seized the opportunity to scold him a bit.  
  
"What in the bloody hell is the matter with you??" Morrigan grumbled. "You could've killed us both with that stupid technique of yours! Weren't you watching that the two of us were up in the air? That damn typhoon of yours nearly murdered us! Try to be more careful next time!!"  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize that it would trouble you too." He replied dryly. "Either way, you're still alive. Why are you complaining?"  
  
"Is that your answer?" I said. "Why are we complaining? We nearly died because of your fault, foolish brute!"  
  
"Hey, it's like I told Wilheim: I'm on your side, but I play by my own rules." Ikki said, his voice turning colder than before.  
  
"Well, to play by your own rules doesn't mean that you can actually kill your companions!" Morrigan replied.  
  
"Argh! I already said that I'm sorry!" he yelled.  
  
"That is not good enough!" I said.  
  
For a moment, Ikki's anger grew, and it was reflected upon his eyes. Yet seeing how we were not intimidated by it, for we knew he would not harm us, he gave up, and his body seemed to collapse under a sudden rush of weakness for a second, and from his mouth came out a low 'What?', nearly impossible to hear. For my part, I nearly burst out in laughter, but then I remembered that I was still mad at him, even though he had no more arguments to use against us, even though he was utterly defeated.  
  
"Next time, try to think a little bit before unleashing your ridiculous strength, alright?" Morrigan concluded.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, okay..." Ikki replied, while rolling his eyes and sighing to the sky. "This is going to be a long night..." he murmured, but before any of us could say anything, he added aloud: "I said nothing!"  
  
Just then, we heard the march of a new wave of Heartless that approached the house. We let out an unpleased sigh and returned to the entrance of the house. The group of monsters was even larger than the last one, and as we gazed to the clock tower, we found out that the fire of Taurus's temple had disappeared. We did not know how long had it been since the blue flame on the large, rock building had emitted its last flicker, but what I did know was that the feeling, that horrid feeling in my stomach, was getting more and more intense...  
  
Though large in number, the Heartless fell easily to our blows. They were, after all, simple knights and bugs, accompanied by a small group of mages. They were all meat for the beast, so to speak. But the following wave of enemies, though not numerous, was much more troublesome...  
  
Three Invisibles flew into us, accompanied by four wyverns, four Angel – like Heartless, and another enemy unknown to Ikki and me... Though we knew the weak point of the Invisibles, breaking their blades was not an easy task. Even the Phoenix saint had a bit of trouble in keeping up with the foe's fast swordplay. The Angel – like enemies proved to be a nuisance too, flying away from us, working their foul magic against us. In less than ten seconds, four small, yet powerful twisters stormed the house of Gemini, sucking us into their storm and away from our opponents. The wyverns attacked like before, but since we were busy fighting both the Invisibles and the Angel – like Heartless, things were not as simple. We could not merely fly into our preys while being chased by other vultures.  
  
Ikki fought against both a wyvern and an Invisible with all of his strength. With time, he began to take control of the battle, and to drive back the wyvern, to the point were he was facing only the sword – wielding demon. The foe was not as fast as Ikki, and not before long, the Invisible lost his balance. But before the saint delivered the 'coupe de grace', his eyes reflected alarm and he covered his face with both arms. He then flew across the house and crashed against a wall... Something had hit him, and I could not guess what it had been (after all, I was very busy fighting against an Invisible, a wyvern, and two Angel – like Heartless).  
  
"There is another enemy in here!!" Ikki warned us. "But I can't see him!"  
  
"Damn it!" Morrigan exclaimed. "It must be a dark Chameleon, like the one we fought in the Deep Jungle!"  
  
"How can I kill it??"  
  
"I don't know! Tish eradicated it by bringing down a mountain on its bones!"  
  
"Well, bringing down the house of Gemini won't do us much good, will it?!"  
  
"We have no choice but to first kill our other enemies and then focus all of our strength in this adversary!" I suggested. "Let us be rid of these fell creatures so that we may together see the end of this battle! Battle on!"  
  
The Angel – like Heartless that I was facing began to accumulate energy and to glow in a mystic way. I did not know what they were up to, but I knew it was no good. Fortunately, I was skillful enough to turn their schemes against them. As they fired two intense glowing balls of energy at me, my wings hardened on their own, and I knew what I had to do; I hit both energy balls with my wings, sending them back to meet their creators. Both foes were too slow to evade their own attacks and got hit by them. Although they did not die, they remained still, and stopped causing me trouble. I seized this moment, knowing that it could be over at any second, and grasped the Invisible's sword by its hilt, and then hit it as hard as I could. I did hurt my hand, but I succeeded in shattering the steel of the blade, hence, killing the Heartless.  
  
Now for the bloody wyvern... I thought to myself as I flew at full speed at the damn demon. Again I wrapped my wings around my legs, turning into a deadly arrow, and driving myself through the Heartless. The Angel – like fiends were still dazed from their own stupidity, and I lost no time in finishing them with a swift attack from my wings, which turned into a thousand sharp tentacles, and went through them like bees on a hive.  
  
Morrigan had already killed the Invisible that harassed her, but she still had plenty of trouble with the remaining wyverns and the Angel – like foe. I flew to her aid as quickly as I could and drove one of my fists through one of the wyvern's chest. The other one dropped his guard for a moment, and those few seconds became his undoing; Morrigan shot a fiery projectile at him, sending him into oblivion. The Angel – like fiend was the only adversary left, and he stood no chance against our combined forces.  
  
Ikki was not doing as good. He had gotten rid of the Invisible, but the wyvern, the Angel – like Heartless and the giant Chameleon, which still remained unchecked by Morrigan and I. The Phoenix saint had a special gift: he could feel the enemy's attacks before they hit him, and that saved his life in battle...  
  
"We cannot see him." I said. "Attacking him with direct attacks will not do any good. How did you manage to hit him the last time you faced him? Did he become visible at all?"  
  
"Yes." Morrigan answered. "But it was Tish's magic and Sakura's wits that won us the battle. We shall have to do something else this time, since there are no leaves nearby and not you nor I know how to cast magic spells."  
  
"We have our wings..." I said. "Let us turn them into sharp tentacles and swing them about us. Surely we will hit the foe. Is he large?"  
  
"Enough to receive many blows." She said. "Let's do that!"  
  
We quickly landed next to our companion and began to swing our wings as if they were whips. I heard a chilling roar and knew that we had succeeded in hitting the creature. We could still not see it, though, and kept on whipping the air about us, in hopes that the monster would become visible soon enough.  
  
"It's going your way!" Ikki suddenly warned. "Move!!"  
  
Without losing another second, Morrigan and I leapt high into the air. The floor beneath us crumbled under a mighty blow, but we could not see the hand of the giant that caused that mess... But instead of remaining in the air, I performed a reckless move: I attacked the invisible foe in the same fashion that I had killed the wyverns. Amazingly enough, my legs did penetrate its rock – like skin, and the foe became visible... It looked at me with its frightening eyes for a second and then swung its paw at me. I flew against a pillar, knocking it down, and then remained still as I tried to shake the terrible dizziness that had invaded me.  
  
"Camille!!" I heard both of my companions yell, but did not move. I needed a bit of time before I could get myself back to my feet. But time was a luxury that I did not have. The ground shook under my body and I realized that the Chameleon was running at me. I had to fly away, lest I wanted my body to be shattered by its paws. But I simply could not find the strength in my legs to get up.  
  
Something yanked my arm all of a sudden, and carried my away from the Chameleon. The dizziness left me and I realized that Ikki had saved me from the Heartless.  
  
"Ikki... Thank you." I murmured.  
  
"Sure. Just stay on focus." He replied. "Help Morrigan with the other two weaklings... I think that I know how to take this one out. Just leave it to me. Now, go!"  
  
I did not have any idea of what he was up to, and so I flew to Morrigan's aid, who was being attacked by the Angel – like Heartless and the wyvern. The later enemy did not notice me and so I managed to go through it with my sharp wings. The other Heartless turned to face me and got ready to attack me, and that was when Morrigan let loose a fiery projectile that ended with its menace.  
  
Ikki skillfully evaded the Chameleon's blows, while accumulating power in his fist. I could see an orange aura engulfing him, as if his body had caught fire. And after a few moments, the Phoenix's saint let out a terrible battle cry.  
  
"PHANTOM PHOENIX'S FIST!!"  
  
A small ray of light was shot out from his hand, and went right through the enemy's head. The Chameleon remained still and quiet for a moment, and then, its eyes began to spin in all directions before he fell to the ground. Morrigan and I saw in awe how it stayed there, without moving for a few seconds and then began to vanish, to fade like an illusion in a desert where the rain as come...  
  
We had finally managed to end with the terrible wave of Heartless, but many fiends had gotten through the house. It was better to have them go through, I must say, than to have them attacked us. We would have had a much harder time in dealing with them, and maybe one of us would have been erased from the map... Me, most likely, for I had not been swift enough to dodge the Chameleon's terrible blow. But luckily, my strength was back and I was ready to defend the house of Gemini with my friends once more...  
  
"How did you do that?" Morrigan asked Ikki. "I didn't think that it would just take a mere punch to finish that monster for good... What did you do to it?"  
  
"I have the power to crush souls and minds." Ikki answered. "Though these creatures are void of a soul, it seems that some of them actually have thoughts in their heads. The Chameleon was one of these foes, and I took advantage of this: the technique I just performed destroyed his mind."  
  
"That is great!" I exclaimed. "You should use this technique against the dark golden saint that is bound to appear..." but before I could go on, a sudden sound stole my attention and I turned to look at the clock tower. The fire of our temple had gone out.  
  
The walls of the house began to tremble. We all became alert and turned to all directions, looking for our foe. But we found nothing. Instead, we found ourselves in some sort of nightmare, for all of a sudden, the walls, floor, and ceiling of the house began to stretch themselves into the outside, covering the nocturne sky with their rocks. The pillars multiplied by the hundreds, and the shadows of the temple grew thicker. The sound of the wind hushed, and every noise that we made echoed through the halls endlessly. It did not take me long to convince myself that our new enemy was the one doing this... And I grew afraid as I found no trace of him. We all slowly walked to the center of the hall and joined backs. This opponent was bound to be a terrible one...  
  
"I can't use the Phantom Phoenix's Fist on the dark golden saint." Ikki murmured. "I tried it before, and it didn't work. And besides, you don't use the same technique against a golden saint twice. He can turn it against you."  
  
"Where is he?" Morrigan asked. "I cannot even hear his breaths in this foul place. The house of Gemini is no longer the same temple... It's as if we had been transported into another world by a sudden power."  
  
"The labyrinth of Gemini." Ikki whispered to himself. "I didn't got to know it before, but now I see it. The dark golden saint is using this... very real illusion to confuse us."  
  
"'Very real'?" I asked. "Explain yourself, Ikki."  
  
"Believe it or not, if we run through this endless corridor, we'll find ourselves running forever... We can't trust our eyes right now. Not one of my friends managed to get through this place in the former battle... except for Shiryu, who was blind at the moment. We must trust our other feelings; we must trust in the powers that we feel ahead of us..."  
  
"Are you suggesting that we should solder on blindfold from this point?"  
  
"Not quite... You see, Shun told me that Link had a rather unusual item: a mirror that could see the truth. Foreseeing such an occasion, I asked him if I could borrow his Magic Mirror for the time being..." and so he took out a fair mirror that had a purple handle, its glass was red and blue, and it shone mysteriously. "Hopefully, this thing will tell us what's real and what not, and we won't have to go... blindfold."  
  
"Then raise it so we can see through it and discover our fate." Morrigan urged.  
  
Ikki nodded and peered through the mirror. We did not know what to search for. It could be anything... An enemy... or a fake wall. But we saw nothing of the sort. Instead, we suddenly noticed, as Ikki slowly turned around, a ray of yellow light coming from one of the walls. The Phoenix's saint smiled and put the mirror down. There was nothing to be seen, apparently, but when he raised the mirror again, we saw the light.  
  
"Blessed be that Hylian." I said, under my breath.  
  
"Come on, let's go!" Ikki exclaimed, and we started to run behind him as he approached the fake wall from whence the light came. Ikki ran through the stone, and so did we. I did not even feel a breathe of air as I made my way into the other side. The illusion had been most convincing, but it was a fortune that Ikki had remembered this puzzle and grasped a quick solution.  
  
We ran through the new corridor and found out another ray of light coming out of another wall. We quickly made our way through it and then stopped short. Before us was the tall, dark body of our opponent. Though we could distinctly see his armor and the engravings in it, we could not see the man's face, for it was clad in shadows. The enemy stared at us silently and as still as if he were yet another pillar in the house of Gemini.  
  
"This is it..." Morrigan murmured as she raised her fists and got ready for battle.  
  
Ikki slowly raised the mirror and looked through it. Morrigan got ready to charge at the foe and let out a battle cry as she began to fly at him. But before she could go far, Ikki stopped her.  
  
"Don't!" he yelled. "That's an illusion! Look!" he gave the mirror to her and both of us peered through it. Indeed, there was nothing more than shadows in front of us... What kind of trick was our opponent playing us? "If you attack the illusion, it'll attack you back. And believe me, you don't want it to attack you back."  
  
"Where is this black knight?" I asked.  
  
"I have no idea... but be on your guard." Ikki said.  
  
"The sight of that illusion is making the blood in my body boil." Morrigan said. "Should we get away from this demon before it decides to attack us?"  
  
"It won't make a move unless you make one." The saint answered. "Just stay calm."  
  
Again, we pressed our backs against each other and began to eye every corner of the corridor. Nothing could be seen. And we could not feel the presence of the fiend. Instinctively, I looked up, expecting to find a shadow in the ceiling, peering down at us. Yet I saw only more shadows. Again, my eyes returned the floor, and still there was nothing. The beating of our hearts began to race, and I could hear both of their scared breaths and I could feel them crashing against my skin. But then, we all fell silent as we heard a footstep. We all quickly gazed in the direction from whence it had come, and waited for something to come out of the shadows.  
  
The sound was followed by another of the same sort, only that this one sounded louder. And then, a third footstep... The enemy was slowly moving toward us. We waited for a long while, and each footstep that he gave was accompanied by a gasp of our throats. And finally, the shadows rolled back on his body, uncovering it. This time, we needed no mirror to look at him. There he was, standing in front of us: the black saint of Gemini.  
  
Before we could even say a word, the foe began to accumulate his power in his fist and a strange aura of black light engulfed him. His roar began to resonate in the walls, and we became quite alarmed.  
  
"Oh, no..." Ikki muttered. "MOVE!!" and so he threw us aside. Morrigan and I crashed against a wall and looked back at Ikki as the dark golden saint unleashed his power.  
  
"GALAXY EXPLOSION!!" he yelled in a malevolent voice.  
  
The house of Gemini disappeared momentarily. The saint's power seemed to have brought the space to us: I could see planets and stars so close that, if I would have stretched my hands, I would have been able to touch them if they were real. But the beautiful scenery was suddenly broken by Ikki's cry of pain. As Morrigan and I looked upon him, we could see a terrible white blast of stars affecting his body and sending him crashing against the vastness of space. When the power of the enemy faded and all returned to normal, we saw that Ikki had crashed against a wall, and that he lay unconscious, his armor shattered to pieces...  
  
"Oh, my God..." Morrigan murmured in a frightened breath. "If Ikki was beaten so easily, what can we do against this enemy?"  
  
"I do not think that we will be able to beat him." I confessed. "But I rather die fighting than cowering behind a pillar..."  
  
Morrigan turned to me and nodded silently. We got up and charged at the fiend at full speed.  
  
The dark golden saint turned to us and, to our dismay, attacked us before we could even reach him.  
  
"ANOTHER DIMENSION!!" he cried.  
  
Again, the house vanished under the blackness of space. A sudden force stopped our flight and began to drag us away from the saint. I turned back and saw a black hole vacuuming the planets, the stars, and the light into its dark mouth. With a gasp, I turned my wings into tentacles and had them take a hold of one of the house's pillars. Luckily, I could still see them... Morrigan did the same thing and we held on for as much as we could. I then noticed that Ikki was beginning to fly into the monster's mouth... I could not let that happen. I swung a bit to my right and caught him before he flew into nothingness...  
  
"Hold on, Phoenix!" I shouted. "Hold on!" but I could not think of something to save my friends and myself from the cruel fate that awaited us...  
  
I heard a shattering sound, and turned to Morrigan. The pillar from which she was taking a hold of was breaking. With a gasp, I tried to get a hold of her with a tentacle... But she was too far away. She even tried to reach me with her hand by swinging back and forth... Yet not to avail. And then, the pillar broke, and Morrigan flew right into the black hole with a chilling yell.  
  
"MORRIGAN!!" I yelled, but my friend had already disappeared in the black mouth of the abyss...  
  
The saint cackled aloud and his power became fiercer. But I was no longer afraid... All I felt was a terrible wrath building inside of me... I began to gather as much power as I could in the palm of my hand and began to get ready to shoot it off in the form of a flaming projectile. How could that foul demon do such a thing? Not only had he defeated my friend... She had suffered a humiliating loss. I could only think about her, with tears in my eyes...  
  
"I will... avenge you." I vowed, silently. And then, I fired a deadly blast, as I shouted: "DIE, MONSTER!!"  
  
The saint tilted his head to one side and evaded the projectile. I thought it was all over, for I had no more strength to continue fighting. The pillar I was holding to began to break. I closed my eyes and thought about Wilheim: he assured me that there was a Heaven. But I did not know if I would be worthy of entering it... A thunderous noise reached my ears, and I knew that the pillar had broken.  
  
But suddenly, my blast reached the far end of the corridor, and shattered a wall. The rocks of it became affected by the foe's technique and were dragged towards the black hole at such speed that they became blasts come out of a cannon. One of them hit the saint's head, and his helmet was knocked off. With a yell of pain, the enemy fell to his knees, and the illusion of space that had filled the room vanished. I turned into all directions, trying to find Morrigan, but my friend was nowhere to be seen.  
  
The fiend growled and began to gather all of his power in his fist again. This time, however, I was on guard, and was ready to battle a deadly duel with the beast.  
  
"GALAXY EXPLOSION!!"  
  
I did not move. I could not move. I saw how the room became black once again, and an explosion of stars and stellar dust shattered it all. Some of the pillars came down and the walls about us crumbled. I did not feel any pain, nor fear... For it was not I who had received the blow: it had not been the dark saint who had fired such power.  
  
The enemy yelled in pain for a moment and then hushed. His head suddenly was shot off from his shoulders. The black fiend fell to his knees and vanished. A golden glimpse of light blinded me for a moment. I covered my eyes with my hands and knelt alongside Ikki, who was still unconscious. I felt the light fade and turned to see what was the matter.  
  
A tall man stood in front of me, clad in the golden armor of Gemini. He was beautiful: his hair was long and had a blue color, as his eyes. His face was manly and serious. His body was strong and tempting. He held his helmet under his arm respectfully, and a white cape hung from his shoulders. The labyrinth created by the foe disappeared as the saint approached me. I slowly stood up and sighed in relief: this newcomer was an ally, beyond any doubt.  
  
"I wish I could say thank you for saving us, golden saint, but you are a moment too late." I said sadly. "For one of us has fallen to the power of the evil fiend that you have just vanquished."  
  
"Then thank me already, because your friend isn't dead." He replied in a fair voice, and I gasped in surprise. "You managed to break the effect of his power before the other succubus could be sucked into another time and space. That is why she is safe. She is in Libra right now."  
  
"Is she?" I said, clasping my hands and smiling in relief.  
  
"Yes." The saint said. "I'm sorry that I couldn't help you sooner, but if I would've gotten closer, I would've been sucked into the void. I wouldn't have helped much that way, would I?"  
  
Before I could answer, Ikki began to shake and opened his eyes.  
  
"What the...?" he muttered. Then, he looked at the saint and urged me to help him to his feet. "Saga? How...? You should be dead..."  
  
"I'm not Saga." The saint replied. "I don't know if you'll like to hear this... I am Saga's twin brother, Canon."  
  
"Canon?" Ikki muttered in shock. His face was then filled by rage, and he said: "What the hell are you doing here? You are a traitor! It's because of you that Poseidon revived!"  
  
"I know that I wronged Athena in the past..." he confessed. "But I have redeemed myself. That is why I have come here to help you..."  
  
"Lies!!" Ikki cried, and all of a sudden, his armor appeared on his shoulders, no longer shattered. I could feel his burning strength renewed. Indeed, he was a flaming bird of the legend. "You lie!!" he prepared himself to attack him, but I stopped him.  
  
"No, Ikki!" I yelled. "He saved us! It was he who destroyed the dark golden saint! Please, do not attack him!"  
  
"What?" he muttered and turned to me.  
  
"Listen well, Ikki." Canon intervened. "I understand why you are mad at me, but please, understand that I am no longer your enemy. I'm here to help. I'll stay here and help you guard the house of Gemini... And when all of this is over, I will submit myself to a trial, if that's the rest of the golden saints will."  
  
Ikki stared at him silently for a while in suspicion.  
  
"How can I trust you?" he asked.  
  
"Strike me with your hardest blow." Canon replied. "Kill me, if that's your will. I will do nothing to stop it. Do the Phantom Phoenix's Fist, which kills both the mind and the soul. Even I can't handle a technique like that once it hits me." He said.  
  
The Phoenix's saint turned to me with a questioning glance, and I smiled at him; there was no need for him to do such a thing. But the saint quickly turned back at Canon and yelled:  
  
"PHANTOM PHOENIX'S FIST!!"  
  
"IKKI, NO!" I cried.  
  
Ikki had stopped his attack just before he had hit Canon's head. He slowly put his arm down and muttered:  
  
"You didn't move."  
  
"I already told you that I'm no longer the villain I was." Canon insisted.  
  
"Very well, then. I'll trust you, for now. But then, the golden saints will have to decide what to do with you."  
  
"That's fair enough."  
  
"Camille... Where's Morrigan?" Ikki asked as he turned to me. I was still a bit shocked by the saint's reaction, so it took me a moment to answer.  
  
"She... she is in Libra. Or so Canon said to me."  
  
"In Libra? So... she's suffered the same fate as Hyoga." Ikki sighed.  
  
"But there is no fiend in Libra waiting for her." Canon said. "The house is guarded by the Dragon's saint, and two other warriors. They will surely look after her."  
  
"Thank God." I muttered. Knowing that my friend was now safe, a sudden lust invaded me. What can I say? I cannot help myself! "Well, at least we are alone now. And I deem that it would be very nice if we could just have some fun, the three of us."  
  
"Huh?" Canon muttered.  
  
"God, you're insatiable, woman!" Ikki exclaimed, with a sudden laugh, to my surprise, for he is not the laughing kind.  
  
But we fell silent as we heard another wave of Heartless racing to the house. The battle had not been over. And surely, during the time we had been locked in the dark saint's illusion, a great deal of Heartless had gotten through... We looked at each other and nodded. Again, we were ready to fight off any intruder that dared enter the house of Gemini.  
  
Cancer: Yuffie  
  
It had been ages since we had started to fight against the Heartless in that stinking house. And when I say "stinking", I don't mean it as a euphemism. The place smelled terrible! It was as if someone had mopped the floor with crap or something like that... I know it's not a pretty picture, but hey, I was the one unfortunate enough to smell it. And so where my other two friends, Vincent and Ariel.  
  
At first, not many monsters were getting to the temple, and that was fine with us. Ariel got to practice her sword techniques a lot. Even though she hadn't had enough time to train, Link had done a good job teaching her. She wasn't exactly the deadliest warrior, but she did just fine. She hadn't been hit a single time since the enemies started to arrive. Well, let's be fair: she had only been fighting off little mages, bug – like Heartless, some knights, and occasionally, a large, fat Heartless. But she hadn't destroyed any major foe. Vincent and I took care of the bigger packages.  
  
As always, I was pretty fast and accurate with my shurikens. No enemy could withstand my speed and agility. After all, I am the best there is in Wutai. And if the foes managed to get past my shurikens, I'd beat them with my bare hands. That's all there was to it. I also had some materia I knew I could use if the occasion arose, but chose to keep it safe and not to take it out unless my life depended on it... 'Cause, you see, that materia belonged to the guys... Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Nanaki... You know. All those guys. And I kind of borrowed it without asking. And Vincent was one of them, so...  
  
Speaking about Vincent, well, he was doing fine without my help. He was a pretty good shot and almost never missed. And the times that he did miss and the enemies ran up to him, he would hit them with that mean – looking claw of his and would send them into oblivion. So far, he hadn't transformed himself into anything unnatural. There hadn't been any need for it, and he doesn't like to show off. I say that he has no common sense when it comes to fighting: if you can do it, you have to show off. You can win a battle unless you do it with style. And don't say stuff like 'Oh, Yuffie doesn't know what she's talking about', 'cause I do. Ken is a smart man: he agrees with me.  
  
Anyways, the fires on Aries, Taurus, and Gemini had gone out. I really don't know about the other two, but I just couldn't wait for the damn light to go out on our temple. I really wanted to give the dark golden saint a good kick in the butt. Everyone was always saying 'Ah, all the golden saints are the most powerful fighters on Earth!' Yeah, right. Like I couldn't beat one if I wished. And what angered me the most was that my two partners didn't believe that the saints could easily be taken care of.  
  
"I'm kind of nervous about this..." Ariel said. "I don't know if we're going to be able to beat the dark golden saint. They're all much too powerful. And besides, they've got a whole army backing them up. If we don't do something about the Heartless, they're going to overwhelm us."  
  
"Come on!" I replied. "It's not going to be that difficult. You'll see. Besides, why are you worried about the Heartless? Check this out." I paused as a wave of Heartless marched into the house. I took out about... five shurikens, I think, and threw them at the first five bozos that crossed the entrance. And guess what? Five out of five. Five clowns hit the ground and vanished into nothingness. The other ones were easy meat for Vincent's gun, my own fists, and even for Ariel's sword. When all was taken care of, I turned to her and said: "See? Now tell me that that wasn't a piece o' cake."  
  
"Well, it was sort of easy, but don't you think that the dark golden saint is going to cause us more trouble?" Ariel asked.  
  
"You worry too much, little mermaid." I said. "Come on, don't you see that we're kicking butt up here? Not a one Heartless has managed to go through the house. Do you think it'll be any different when the saint gets here?"  
  
"It's good that you still have that cocky attitude, Yuffie." Vincent interrupted. "You're going to need it against this new wave of fiends. The wave is larger than I would've expected."  
  
"Huh?" I walked to the entrance, next to him, as did Ariel, and we all checked out what was going on.  
  
I didn't know what the hell the bozos at Gemini were doing... They were probably taking a nap or hiding in one corner of the house like three frightened chickens... But those guys were letting a lot of Heartless go through! It hadn't been like that for a while. The enemies that had managed to get to the temple had come from the sky or had climbed over the mountains. But not one had gotten through the third house. Sure, the fire in the clock tower was out, the dark golden saint was probably there, but still, that wasn't an excuse to let all those filths just run past them.  
  
"That's a lot of Heartless..." I murmured, as I gazed on to the shadow that covered almost all the stairs that led from the third house into Cancer. "But, hey! Don't tell me that we can't take on them."  
  
"Sure we can." Vincent said. "Yet I want you to know that things won't be easier with time..."  
  
"Oh, won't they?" I mocked.  
  
"I'll take these ones." Ariel declared. "Step back. I'm going to use a handful of my fire potions on them..." with that said, she took a hand into her pocked and took out a bunch of red little balls. With a loud yell, she threw them at the Heartless. A huge (and awesome) wall of flames came out of the ground, and closed in on the fiends.  
  
"Whoa! Look at them go!!" I laughed as the pathetic enemies began to run in all directions and to roll over the ground in a desperate attempt to put the fire out. They were like little fireflies caught in a fierce draft of wind. "They're burning to ashes! Way to go, girl!"  
  
"Yeah... thanks." Ariel said, somewhat shocked by my reaction (Yeah, I was kind of hysterical at the moment. Big deal).  
  
"Well, that got us rid of some combats." Vincent said. "But we aren't done yet. Take a look at that..." he pointed at the clock tower. The fire on Cancer was flickering incessantly. It was clear to us that it was about to go out. "The dark golden saint of Cancer will be here soon. It'll mean a lot of trouble."  
  
"There you go with that again." I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Come on, you guys! It's not like it's the end of the world because of this bozo."  
  
"Actually, Yuffie, it could mean the end of this world if we lose." Vincent answered, coldly.  
  
"Oh!" I snorted and slapped my forehead. "You're such a baby!"  
  
"Hey, guys..." Ariel suddenly muttered. "I don't know how to explain it, but... haven't you noticed that the stench in this house is getting nastier and nastier by the minute?" her nose tickled for a few moments and then she covered it as she let out a moan.  
  
I sniffed the air about me and realized that she was right.  
  
"Eww!!" I cried, on the verge of... doing a very nasty thing. "Oh, God! What's with this house?! It smells as if somebody had eaten a bit too much of rotten food!"  
  
Before I could complain more (believe me, I can complain all day about one thing if I want to), Vincent drew his gun and shot at the first of a new wave of Heartless that had come into the house. This time, things weren't as easy as before. Just a tad more difficult...  
  
The new wave of Heartless included a bunch of Invisibles, a couple of wyverns, and my personal favorites: wizards that could teleport to anywhere they wanted. Those cowards always run away when they see you coming after them. They're like cockroaches, only that they're a lot faster when it comes to fleeing. And Ariel couldn't get rid of those guys by throwing a potion at them, 'cause they feasted on magical energies.  
  
The wyverns were pretty quick, but Vincent and I were good at hunting them down. They only took one, maybe two shots or shurikens, and then they went down. Once the wyverns were out of our way, we concentrated our attacks on the stupid wizards. They were causing us a lot of trouble with their sudden lightning storms and their dark blades that emerged from beneath the ground. It would be easier to first take care of those clowns and then get back to the Invisibles that were so eager to try their strength against us. I was confident that Vincent and I would make it through this wave of enemies just fine, but when I turned to look at Ariel, I began to get a little scared.  
  
Our friend had engaged a fierce duel with one of the Invisibles. Thank God it was only one and not two... She defended herself well, but she lacked the strength to break the blade of the Invisible, and there was no other way of killing the damn thing. The fiend had no trouble in parrying her blows, 'cause none of them was strong enough to shatter the sword. I wish that Link had taught Ariel a bit more about strength and a little less about speed and agility. That's all she had. She was fast and she was agile. But she wasn't strong. Her only hope was the both Vincent and I would get rid of the rest of the foes to race to her aid.  
  
I was getting very tired of having to chase the stupid wizards all around the house. So I decided that it would be best to just guess. That's right: I thought about throwing shurikens in random directions each time one of those headless turkeys disappeared. Eventually, I had to get one of them. Of course, I would have to run and pick up my shurikens before I completely ran out of them. I didn't have the rest of my ammo with me (that's what happens when you get clumsy and leave the rest of your stuff back in the ship... I only wished that the machines would survive the battles. Especially Goofy and Donald's ship, 'cause both Jiminy Cricket and Pluto were inside it). But thankfully, on my fifth attempt, I succeeded in hitting one of the damn magicians. It let out a terrible cry and vanished. Its other companions seemed to be shocked by its death, and Vincent and I lost no time and attacked them with all that we had. A few shots, a few more shurikens, and there you go. No more wizards. Now it was time to focus on the Invisibles so we could go help Ariel...  
  
I know that Vincent hates his claw, but he had to thank God that he had it, 'cause that was what helped him in getting rid of the Invisibles. The bullets of his gun didn't suffice in getting rid of them, so he had to take care of the foes with his metal hand. For my part, I wasn't in the mood of throwing shurikens anymore, so I decided to battle hand – to – hand with the stupid Invisibles. Since my main weapon, my big – ass shuriken is so large (and I'm so unbelievably good), I killed two Invisibles in one blow. By the time I was done, Vincent was still fighting against a second Invisible. It didn't take him long to end the battle. And when he was done, we both ran to help Ariel... But when we saw her, we gasped and hurried our step.  
  
She had managed to defeat the Heartless, but her hand was all swollen and was bleeding. Her fingers curled up against the hilt of the blade, as if they didn't want to let it go, even though this hurt her hand more. Vincent reached her and tried to make her let go off her sword, while I covered their behinds keeping a keen eye on the house's entrance.  
  
"Easy... easy... let go..." Vincent mumbled as he stretched the girl's hurt fingers.  
  
"Ow... Ow!" she yelped, with tears practically running down her cheeks.  
  
"What the hell did you do, Ariel?" I asked, without turning to see her hand. It sort of gave me a chill...  
  
"The Heartless had me against the wall..." Ariel said, doing her best not to sob. "And then he tried to stab me... I managed to dodge the blow and to hold his sword with my foot. Then, I don't know what came over me, but I sensed that there was no other way out, and hit the blade with the hilt as hard as I could... I thought that I would be able to break it... and I did."  
  
"Yeah, but you broke your fingers at it." I replied.  
  
"Don't worry. It's nothing that a healing potion can't heal. You do have one, don't you?" Vincent asked.  
  
"Yeah, a lot of them." Ariel said.  
  
"Well, use one. And switch hands. Your fingers may recover from the blow, but I don't think it's wise to keep on battling enemies with a hurt hand."  
  
"Next time you face an Invisible..." I began to say, but my words were cut off by a sudden sound. I knew what it had been. I raced to the entrance of the house and looked at the clock tower... the fire of Cancer had gone out. "Finally!!" I exclaimed. "It was about time! Come on, bring it on, dark golden saint!"  
  
"Yuffie, be quiet!!" Vincent scolded.  
  
"What for?" I replied. "He knows we're here anyhow..." I started to walk to him, but then I stepped on something odd. I first thought that it was perhaps one of the enemies' bodies, yet I then realized that those goofs don't leave a corpse when they die. I gulped and dared to look down... The floor had suddenly been covered by a strange mist. And the smell of the house had gotten even worse...  
  
The mist slowly retracted and unveiled the scariest thing I've ever seen in my whole life. I felt how the color in my face vanished, and a terrible chill ran down my back as a silent cry escaped my lips. I even felt a tear of fright running down my cheek, and my heart began to pound its way up to my throat.  
  
There was a face on the floor. A human face! And I don't mean it as if it were some sort of illusion looking up at me from behind a mirror... No: I could feel the dead face underneath my foot. And when the mist rolled back a bit more, I saw yet another face... and another... and another... and then I realized that the whole ground was covered with dead faces. All of them were twisted in suffering: an endless suffering within the walls of the cursed temple... They all screamed soundless cries, and each yell was terrifying. And that was not the worst of it. As I gazed at the walls, I saw that there were faces there, too... Countless dead faces of men, women... and children. Little kids' faces staring down at me with fright and disbelief... I let out a terrified moan and then I suddenly felt someone grab me and press me against him. It had been Vincent, who had turned my head against his neck and kept me from looking another way.  
  
"What's going on, Vincent?" asked Ariel in a scared voice, but she wasn't as frightened as me... I suppose that she hadn't seen the faces yet.  
  
"Don't look around you... Whatever you do, just don't look." He said, trying to stay calm. "Stay together and try to keep your eyes closed."  
  
"Vincent...?" I stammered. "I – I thought t – that the house had been cleansed of t – this t – things..."  
  
"I thought that, too." Vincent answered as he slowly left our side. "Stay calm. The dark golden saint must be somewhere around here..."  
  
"Heh heh heh..." we heard a sudden laugh. Vincent and I turned to the voice, but I kept Ariel from looking at the house. I didn't want her to go through what I was going... From the depths of the house, a dark figure came. He was clad in black armor and was tall and strong... But his face wasn't in shadows. We could see his purplish hair and eyes and his evil grin... That wasn't a Heartless we were staring at! "Well, it seems that you kids don't like the decoration of my house. But I find it quite suiting... It's been a while since I last saw it like this."  
  
"No... It can't be... Deathmask??" Vincent asked as he pointed at the man's head.  
  
"It seems that some of your friends have said much about me, eh?" the dark golden saint cackled. "So, tell me. What have they told you about me? And it would be very nice if both girls would look at me when I speak to them."  
  
"I don't think that Ariel needs to be exposed to such a dreadful place." Vincent replied, and I held Ariel's head firmly so that she wouldn't turn to face that monster.  
  
"Do you think that this is dreadful?" Deathmask asked. "It doesn't look dreadful to me. Do you kids know what these dead faces mean to me? They are medals. Medals that I have gained by defeating evil. So I put them upon this house as prizes..."  
  
"Faces...?" Ariel murmured in a gasp.  
  
"Defeating evil?" Vincent muttered in shock. "You are with the Heartless, even if you are not a being void on the inside... How can you consider yourself a just person? And what's more, how can you speak of defeating evil when there are innocent children's faces upon your walls and women's as well?!" he demanded, no longer scared, but mad with fury.  
  
"Those pitiful people were unfortunate enough to be walking near the places where I was battling." Deathmask explained. "They are worthy sacrifices, I believe. As for the Heartless, I've come to understand that... I'm better off with them. For power is greater than wisdom..."  
  
"Do you mean you'd betray your goddess??" I ventured to ask.  
  
"Call it whatever you like." Deathmask said and raised his guard. "But I'm through with words. Ready yourselves! There will be three new faces in the walls of Cancer quite soon..."  
  
"We shall see about that!" Vincent cried and began to transform himself into I don't know what sort of ferocious beast.  
  
But before he could complete his metamorphosis and fight against the evil saint, this latter one began to conjure a dark, malevolent technique... The walls of the house suddenly vanished. We became surrounded by an infinite blackness and a bright, ghostly aura engulfed Deathmask. He raised his finger and many spirits seemed to come from it as he put an evil grin on his face. I shivered along with Ariel and we both moaned in terror (yeah, yeah, I was being pretty cocky, shouldn't have underestimated the bastard, blah, blah... Don't you say anything).  
  
"INFERNAL WAVES!!" he cried and a tunnel appeared over his head. A fierce wind began to come from it and it pulled us into it. We all cried, trying to resist it as best as we could, but we weren't strong enough. The gale was too intense for us to handle, and we were raised from our feet. I felt like a piece of paper dragged away by a draft... But I couldn't do a thing about it... And then we fell into the tunnel. I felt and even saw how our bodies fell into some sort of unearthly graveyard void of all color, into another dimension empty of life... I lost hold of Ariel's hand and Vincent escaped my sight. After a few moments, I lost consciousness...

Well, that's it for now. I had to rush things up a bit, 'cause it's been quite a while since I last updated, so...  
  
Don't worry, though. I promise that I'll try to post the following chapters as soon as I can. Still on vacation, so there's still time to write. C' ya! :) 


	26. Chapter TwentyFive: Infernal Battles

Hey, again, guys.

I know I'm doing this quite often, but here goes again: I'm sorry for having taken such a sweet time in posting this chapter. During the vacations, I was working on two other stories, not to mention that I've become the story – teller of a role – playing game, and this is hard business, too. And what's worse, I'm back at the University, third semester, which is the most awful test of the first two years, so to speak. And last but not least, I entered a program (in the University) in which I have many obligations as a student with high grades (yeah, there's a bit of bragging involved in there, but, then again, that leaves me with less time to write). :)

I'll try to write as quickly as I can to post the next chapter. But I won't make any promises... This semester is going to be de death of me if I get careless... Oh, well.

Anyway, on with the story. Hope you enjoy... and wish me luck! :)

_Chapter Twenty-Five: Infernal Battles_

Cancer: Yuffie 

"Uh... Where am... I?" I muttered dryly as I slowly opened my eyes to the new place that trapped me within its frightening... mountains.

I was in a rocky valley surrounded by dry mounts. As I rose myself to my feet, I noticed blue flames flickering here and there, and these looked very much like the fires of the clock tower. Only that I didn't know if those flames would ever stop burning. The sky had some strange bluish color. But it's not the color that you see on a sunny day; it was more like the blue that you notice when you are looking at a... um... a dead guy. It was a scary blue, that's all that I can think about. Well, the point was that I was no longer in the house of Cancer; I had to go and see where Ariel and Vincent had gotten themselves into... Somehow, I didn't feel like the best ninja of Wutai right then.

I stumbled over the rocky floor as I tried to focus my eyes onto something still. I was feeling very, very dizzy, almost as if I was back in the Highwind, flying high over Midgar, Nibelheim, or the Golden Saucer. Of course, it would be a great thing if I would actually be over those places... This empty wasteland was really giving me the creeps... and it later turned out that it wasn't empty at all.

Everything was still blurry, but after having staggered and fallen many times, I kind of saw a glimpse of a red – haired girl jumping up and down: that definitively had to be Ariel.

"Hey! Hey!!" I heard her scream as I approached her. "Help us, please! Where are we? Hey, are you even listening to me?!"

"Ariel!" I called to her. "Ariel... what are you yelling at?"

"Oh, Yuffie!" she exclaimed, seemingly relieved to see me (well, I was, after all, the prettiest sight in that cursed place... you'll see why). She grabbed my hand and dragged me to a small place where there were hardly any small mounts... she looked in much better shape than me. How the hell could that be? "Look, I was trying to call the people that are over there..."

"People? What people?" I asked while squinting my eyes.

"The ones that are over there!" she replied and pointed at the top of the hill that was in front of us.

I squinted harder and finally saw a line of figures walking slowly and quietly to a place unknown to me. They looked as if they were men and women, but they were obviously deaf or something like that 'cause the way Ariel screamed, she could put out a forest fire...

"Hey! Help us, please!!" she cried.

"Ow! OK, that's enough, Ariel. I don't think they're listening to you." I said, with my ears still ringing. "Forget about them... Where's Vincent?"

"I don't know." She answered. "I thought that maybe they would know."

"Those guys are deaf, Ariel!"

"Not deaf..." Vincent's voice suddenly murmured from behind. We gasped and turned to face him. I was about to slap him in the mouth for being such a jerk when I suddenly noticed his eyes... There was fear in them. And we're talking about Vincent, the man who can turn into scary stuff... "They are dead..."

"Dead?!" Ariel and I yelled and glanced at the line of figures again. "D – D – Dead?! H – H – How??" I stammered.

"Something tells me, Yuffie..." he said. "That Deathmask's attack drew us here... to this land that Shiryu spoke of: the gateway between the world of the living and the underworld."

"The underworld...?" we gasped. I began to follow the line with my eyes. It disappeared behind a mountain and reappeared farther away, where the blue flames flickered less intensely. "They... they must be heading to the mount... aren't they, Vincent?" I asked and he nodded his head silently.

"How are we going to get out of here?" Ariel asked in a low voice. Clearly, she was growing more and more afraid of the place... What do you want me to say? I didn't blame her.

"According to Shiryu, I understand there are two ways to get out of here." Vincent explained. "The first is by defeating Deathmask, if he shows up. And the other one is... falling down the mount to which the dead are marching."

"But if we fall down there, there's no coming back up!" I cried. "Death is not a way out, if that's what you're trying to say!"

"Then I guess that leaves us only one option." Vincent said.

"Guys! Guys!" Ariel called. We quickly ran to her side in alarm and looked at her quietly and with concern, waiting for her to go on. "Look!" she pointed up a small hill and when we followed her finger with our eyes, we gasped in horror and surprise.

There was a little girl there, sitting on a rock, with her golden hair falling down her back and her eyes fixed on the far horizon. Her mouth was half – open, but she spoke no word and drew no breath. I was certain that if I would search for her pulse, I would never find it (To be quite honest, I wasn't even sure if either of us had a heart beat in that place). I had seen her before. I recognized her instantaneously.

"Oh, God, that's Alice!" I whispered to myself.

"Who?" asked Ariel.

"Someone we met on our travels." I answered in a soft, scared voice. "Before we left the world she was in, she disappeared right under our noses. I can't believe that we found her here... And in this state..."

"Dear God!" Vincent gasped and quickly climbed up a nearby hill. There too, was a young woman, her glance lost in the spooky scenery. "...Jasmine!"

"What...? AH!!" I cried as soon as I noticed that the situation was much more worse than we thought.

Alice – and the girl Vincent had seen – were not the only women around who merely sat in the rocks lifelessly: there were about eight more girls sitting without even blinking! Ariel nearly screamed her lungs out and ran over to Vincent. I am ashamed to admit it, but I actually wanted to do the same thing... The only reason I didn't do it was simply because I was too afraid to even move a finger. What had happened to these girls? Had Deathmask also trapped them with his Infernal Waves? Were we also destined to become flesh statues ourselves?

But it was not until then, when I was about to run at Vincent like a frightened kitty, that I realized who these poor women were...

"The princesses of Heart!!" I exclaimed.

And as an answer to my words, Deathmask's sinister laughter began to echo throughout the land. We all faced him with both confusion and terror in our eyes, not knowing what was to become of us...

"I see that your hearts are not as weak as I first thought." He sneered. "Otherwise, you would already be on your way to the gate of the underworld, like that crowd of mindless zombies. That's just a minor problem, however. I'll throw the three of you in there myself! But before I do that, I suppose that it should be all right if I told you what is the matter with all these silly, little girls." He walked to one of them – a young girl who was about Sora's height, had a white shirt, purple skirt, short, red hair, and deep blue eyes – and put his hand on her head. "See this puppet? She isn't dead, but she's not alive, either. Her essence – her heart – has been stolen. As one of the princesses of Heart, the Heartless need her here. She's irradiating energy: energy that they need to open the darkest of gates that will cover all in shadow... She was supposed to be the seventh princess of Heart. With her, the circle was supposed to be complete. But since you idiots sealed up so many keyholes, the power of the seven princesses isn't enough. But that's not a problem. The Heartless will find the remaining princesses and will open the gate. And when that happens, this little girl, Kairi, and the rest of the young women will fall into the abyss, never to come back. I'll even make sure to throw them in myself."

"Kairi??" I muttered. "That's Sora's girlfriend! Stay away from her!!"

"Ah, here's a pretty one." Deathmask said, without minding my sudden anger. He approached a beautiful young woman whose hair was long and purple, like a magical, strange cloth, and whose eyes were sky blue, and whose face was full of both innocence and wisdom. "Do you know who this lady is?" he went on, with a cackle. "This one is none other than Saori Kido, the goddess Athena. Tell me, does she look divine at all? What sort of pitiful creature would dwell here, with its life escaping from its hands? Only a weak one! And the weak creatures must die! And you are just weaklings... Time has come to make justice upon you!"

"Justice?!" Vincent growled and his eyes shone a bright, red light of anger. "It's you who will receive the touch of justice, Deathmask! I'm tired of hearing your senseless words and your insane laughter! It's time someone finished the job Shiryu started... And I'll be that someone, you insufferable bastard!" he raised both arms after sheathing his gun – we all knew that the bullets which came from said thing wouldn't even tickle the evil saint – and his claw clenched into a tight fist. But as menacing as that could seem, Deathmask merely chuckled and crossed his arms.

With a battle cry, Vincent charged against our adversary. He threw a terrible punch at his face (with his claw, of course). But Deathmask had only to raise his hand to stop him! And there I thought that a hit from Vincent's claw could bring down a wall! I was now really worried... and so were Vincent and Ariel, naturally.

Deathmask then used his other hand to grab Vincent's skull and lift him off the ground. He began to crush him with his strong fingers. Vincent cried a pain – filled yell, and though I was about to piss on my shorts (again, sorry for the scatology), I raced to his help. I wasn't sure if my big, bad shuriken would be so big and bad against a major bastard like Deathmask, but it was well worth the shot. I swung it as hard as I could to his face, hoping to blind him. But obviously, that didn't work. He merely ducked under my blow and kicked my stomach. And that was it: I was out for the count. And yes: I was now beginning to think that maybe I had underestimated the golden saint...

With a very loud yell, Ariel charged at Deathmask in a desperate attempt to help us. Well, if I didn't do so well against the damn saint, obviously Ariel wouldn't help much. And she didn't. When he saw her coming, Deathmask threw a nearly death Vincent at her. Her body was pinned by Vincent's and a rock... I guess that she must have felt a lot of pain... And so our pathetic attempt to put and end to him ended in utter failure.

"You are so weak!" he laughed (did he really have to emphasize it?). "If you receive my Infernal Waves in here, you'll die for sure. But that wouldn't be too fun, now, would it? I guess that I'll just take you three idiots to the mount and throw you inside the Gate of death myself! Yes, we'll have a really good time!" and so he grasped both Vincent and Ariel by their long hairs and began to pull them with one hand. Vincent groaned and Ariel began to cry, but neither of them tried to free themselves from his grasp: they were just too weak to try anything. And so was I: Deathmask grabbed me by the neck and began to drag me along with my friends, and I tried nothing to stop him.

As we advanced to the mount, Deathmask laughed more and more, and the blue flames dimmed when he passed by them. I was so weak that my sight became all blurry once again. I could only see the shades of the zombies as we passed by their side. I did notice, however, that they were creepy cadavers with empty sockets and bony faces... I raised my hand and tried to get a hold of one of them, thinking that perhaps it would help me... And don't laugh: it actually turned out to be not as stupid as it sounds.

"There it is." He said and stopped briefly so we could turn and face the huge mountain. The lines of zombies walked to the peak of it and then, only a faint, chilling scream was all that remained of them. They fell inside the mount one by one, like grains of sand going through an hour – glass... "That's where I'm taking you. It'll be so nice to throw you inside, with the rest of the mindless zombies..." he looked at us and his evil smile grew. He began to walk toward the mountain once again, and spoke a bit more. "Do you think that you are really here, in this wasteland? Your bodies are still in the house of Cancer, void of all life. What I'm dragging with my hands are your pitiful spirits. And when you fall, you'll remain forever in my temple, roaming it for eternity like all the ghosts that dwell there."

"Why are you doing this?" Ariel suddenly asked. "You're supposed to be a good person! You're one of Athena's golden saints!"

"I'm doing this because I like doing it." Deathmask replied in a malevolent voice. "And I'm no longer a golden saint. My clothes are black, as you can see."

"Goes with your heart..." I said, trying to sound defiant (of course, I didn't quite achieve the effect).

"Possibly." He answered. "But who cares?"

"Throw me inside..." Vincent said in a weak voice. "But leave the girls alone. Have you lost your entire honor? Are you willing to kill two innocent women?"

"Not two: I'll also make sure that the princesses of Heart keep you company when they get the job done."

"You demon...!"

"Ah, here we are!" he exclaimed with a chuckle. He had already climbed the mountain and we were lying at its very top... He really was quite eager to throw us into the Gate of death. There was a black hole in front of us, in which the zombies fell as they let a horrid scream escape their mouths, and then they were quiet. But only for a second, 'cause another zombie would then follow the other one, and then another, and another... the line of corpses was endless. It was the scariest thing you could imagine... "It's time." He pushed both Vincent and Ariel aside and held me high above the abyss. I squirmed and began to kick my feet as hard as I could, yet Deathmask was like a rock that wouldn't budge an inch. "Ladies first." He jeered. "See you in hell." And then he let go off me.

With a cry, I began to fall into the darkness. I heard Vincent's yell and Ariel's scream for a moment and then they faded. I thought I'd see my life flashing before my eyes, but I saw nothing. I guess that in the gates of hell, there was no turning back... But then, I felt a yank and shouted in both surprise and horror... There was a hand coming out of the wall! And it was holding my arm! I didn't know where it had come from or why was it helping me, but the point was that it was somehow crumbling to dust. Without losing a second, I grasped my shuriken firmly and drove it against the wall. The hand then fell down along with a scream. The zombie had actually helped me! How he had gotten himself to that point and had staid there without falling any further was beyond me, but I was still alive, and that was all that mattered. With a groan, I began to climb up the inner wall of the mount, promising myself not to look down...

Nevertheless, before I could go far, I heard a high – pitched shout which came closer and closer. Fear filled my eyes and I stretched out my arm just in time to catch Ariel. She had tears in her face and her teeth chattered as if she was suffering the worst cold. Behind her was an immense shadow that didn't let any ray of light illuminate it... I gulped and cursed myself for looking down.

"Hang on, Ariel!" I whispered. I took a deep breath and began to climb some more, with Ariel hanging from my back still sobbing her lungs out. But as you may have already guessed, it was not long before we had another visitor. Vincent got a hold of us just in time. I groaned as I struggled to keep my friends and myself alive and thanked God that my shuriken was a truly resistant one.

"Now what are we going to do, Yuffie?" asked a terrified Ariel. "Even if we do go back up, Deathmask will simply throw us in here again!"

"It's no use." Vincent muttered, dryly. "We can't defeat him by ourselves... Not without someone as powerful as him..."

"But we won't find anyone that powerful..." I said on the verge of losing my mind. "I wish that someone would help us..." and then, you won't guess what happened.

A sudden ray of light escaped the abyss below us. We all turned instinctively to the Gate of death and found out that there was some sort of golden pool slowly forming itself over the shadow. I felt a rush of hope in me: light is good, so there probably was something out there that would help us!

The golden pool turned into a silhouette that started to float up the dark inner walls of the mountain. It illuminated the rocky walls and our faces with its mighty glow. We looked at it quietly and with hope in our hearts. And then, the silhouette turned into the shape of a woman. We couldn't see her face or the color of her long dress, but we could tell that she had long, lovely hair, beautiful body, and that she was holding some sort of staff in her right hand... The woman began to approach us and we felt its warmth. I felt at ease and filled by strength and confidence... Could it be that Yuffie is reborn, I thought... I turned to see my friend's faces and found Vincent smiling and Ariel staring at the golden woman in awe. Again I saw her and she shattered into many pieces that flew at us and dove into our bodies. We yelled and tried to shake them off at first, but after a few moments, we realized that they weren't harming us. And when all was dark again, when the golden light had finally found a place to rest within ourselves, we all felt a sudden rush of power pulsing in our veins... I felt as strong as ten golden saints, and figured that I could now beat the hell out of that psycho if I wanted to...

"What power...!" Vincent exclaimed in a bewildered voice. "I don't believe this!"

"I've never felt so strong in my life!" added Ariel. "Do you think that maybe that woman was... Athena?"

"I don't know." I said. "But if she was, then thank Athena! I'm ready to kick some good – for – nothing – saint butt!!"

And with that said, I put my feet on the wall and leapt high into the air. After the first jump, Vincent began to climb on his own, with Ariel grasping his neck. I didn't believe our new power! It had been a blessing by some sort of goddess, indeed! And it wasn't long before we finally reached the top of the mountain and found Deathmask, who was happily walking away from the crater. When he heard us land, he turned to face us and his face was filled by both surprise and fear... How did you like that, jackass??

"It can't be!!" he yelled. "I threw the three of you inside! How can you be here still?"

"Apparently, there's someone out there who wants us to finish you, Deathmask." Vincent answered with a cold voice. "And I'm willing to do just that!!" and so he gave out a loud battle cry and his body began to turn into a hideous, but terribly powerful monster. Wings grew out of his back and fangs came out of his mouth. His muscles became so large that they shredded his clothes... Vincent had turned into a monstrous gargoyle by the name of Chaos: a demon with a thirst for blood... Cool!

Our friend flew at full speed at our enemy and grabbed him with his strong arms. Then he went up, up, and up... And then, well, let's just say that Deathmask tripped from way above. When he hit the ground, even I felt pain. But that wasn't going to stop me from giving him a piece of my fist. I charged at him and jumped into the air, double – kicking his face, just like Demean had done so with Ikki at the tournament in the coliseum. But mine was cooler than the one of the elf, 'cause it knocked down a golden saint. Anyway... Deathmask fell to the ground yet again and it took him a few seconds to get back on his feet. I guess that he was pretty scared to see us back from the dead (and please take that quite literally). There was no way he could beat me... I mean, us again.

Ariel was the last to attack in that 'turn', so to speak. She used on of her potions. I suppose that she knew she wasn't still good enough with the blade to challenge a golden saint in a mano – a – mano battle. I thought that the potion would be useless against Deathmask... it turned out, however, that Ariel's things had also been affected somehow by that golden ray of light that had saved us from the abyss. I don't know how it exactly happened, but when she threw a lightning potion at Deathmask, the eerie sky seemed to roar and a devastating ray was shot down from above. It hit the evil golden saint and I swear that I saw his skeleton yelling in pain because of that big, bad thunderbolt.

Deathmask fell to his knees, unable to believe that we were kicking his butt. But disbelief soon left him and he got ready to attack. Yet before he could do anything, Vincent soared again to him and rammed him with a shoulder – charge. Deathmask flew all the way to my feet and then, I slashed his face with my giant shuriken. The poor bastard's blood splashed my face (yeah, that wasn't very nice) as I took a step back. Ariel now gathered enough courage to take out her sword and slash Deathmask's face a couple of times before running like a scared rabbit away from him (a pretty stupid move if you ask me, but it worked out fine for her).

Vincent pressed on the attack again, and flew against Deathmask at full speed. But this time, our foe was serious about being mad. He stopped Vincent with both of his hands and held him still. The good news was that he seemed to be having a hard time at doing so. I raced at them in order to help Vincent, but our opponent kicked me in the stomach and knocked me back. The hit wasn't so hard, however. I was still in the fight, but I had to take a small breather. Ariel also tried to help and received the same nice treatment that I had gotten.

"Damn you!!" Deathmask cried in rage. "I'll kill you right now with my Infernal Waves! You and your friends, cursed gargoyle!"

He threw Vincent against a rock and dished out his terrible move. We all received the impact and I felt a really strong headache taking over me. I tried to overcome it, but it was simply too powerful... Deathmask was going to kill us all.

Yet something happened again that saved us (I wouldn't be telling the story if nothing would've happened, eh? It's just a matter of logical deduction). Another ray of golden light came out of the abyss and seemed to blind Deathmask for a moment. I take it that he was already a bit weak from our attacks (I can't really give that opportune light all the damn credit). He stepped back and we realized that he was on the verge of falling down the abyss. This was our big chance and none of us was willing to waste it.

Vincent roared to the strange sky and unleashed his most powerful attack. The floor beneath Deathmask took the shape of a skull and all became darker than usual. The skull's eyes shone and blinded Deathmask even more. Then, from its hideous mouth, out came what seemed to be menacing phantoms that attacked Deathmask. The saint wasn't harmed by the specters, but they did a good job in distracting him. It our turn to attack.

Ariel grasped a bunch of ice potions and threw them at the ground under Deathmask's feet. The skull became an icy ghost, and our opponent began to have trouble to stand still. It was I, the great Yuffie, who finished off our enemy. I focused all my energy in my hands and fired a huge ray of beautiful light as I yelled in a powerful voice:

"ALL CREATIONS!!"

Okay, so it didn't do that good. I was hoping that Deathmask would be crushed by my secret technique... But those damn armors can take quite an impact. However my attack did push him away from us, and because of the ice Ariel had created with her potions, Deathmask had nowhere to hang on to.

"NO!! ARGH!!" he cried as he fell into the abyss, never to return. He never seemed to touch the ground, or at least we didn't listen to him crash against it...

Vincent return to normal and collapsed on the ground. I thought that he would get up, tired from all the power he had to use against our opponent, but instead, he remained face down, without moving at all. I was about to tell him to get back on his feet when suddenly I felt terribly dizzy and fell down too, just like Ariel after me. Then... something happened that I still don't quite understand at all.

I began to float into the air, along with my friends. We got away from the rocky ground and away from the mount. I saw how the ground shook and the stones began to break. The zombies that marched to the mount vanished like drops of water that fall on a hot frying pan. The mountain then seemed to erupt a golden light of the same kind that had helped us... And so our bodies quickly raced to the eruption and were captured by the light. All became bright and for an instant, I found myself blind. And when I saw again, I found my friends and myself returning to the house of Cancer. We all lay on the ground... I mean, our bodies lay on the ground. I could see us all sleeping. That could only mean that we were presently in our spiritual form, or something like that...

We floated to our bodies and when we were close enough, I opened my eyes and looked about me. My buddies were all right too, and were getting back on their feet. I was too startled to move, so it took me a little longer to stand up. When I finally did, I looked around the house and smiled in relief.

The faces had gone, just like the mist and the unbearable stench. I looked to me as if we had freed (again) those innocent men and women and children. They all rested in peace once more. And hopefully, no one would ever disturb their sleep again.

Without saying a thing, we all approached the entrance of the house, and with a sigh, glanced at the clock tower. The fires in Leo, Virgo, and Libra had gone out, and the flame of Scorpio seemed about to die, too. I shook my head and said:

"Too much time has passed. Many enemies surely got by us undetected."

"Possibly." Vincent said. "But at least they didn't destroy our bodies. Our friends will take them from now on. We were lucky to survive this terrible battle. I suppose that we can now concentrate on the Heartless that will come this way without having to worry about the golden saint."

"Deathmask teleported himself into the gateway between this world and the other..." Ariel intervened. "Do you think that he won't find his way out of that mount?"

"He can use the Infernal Waves to travel to the gateway between worlds, but not with all his powers can he escape death." Vincent replied.

"Then we're lucky..." Ariel said, and let out a giggle. She stayed silent for a moment and then asked: "Do you think that someone helped us?"

"Obviously someone did... The question is: who?" I said.

"If you ask me, I think that maybe Athena is not as helpless as she seems." Vincent said, with a smile. Ariel and I turned to him and after a few seconds, his face became serious again and he murmured: "Here comes another wave of Heartless. Be on your guards. It's time we make our stand in this house again."

Leo: Tish

"The fire on Cancer's disappeared..." Ukyo murmured and let out a worried sigh. "It will be our turn to fight soon. I just hope that we can manage to beat the dark saint before he kills us."

"I shall battle with all my strength, my dearest." Wilheim said. "I promise you that I will not let any harm fall upon you. I will fight like a lion that protects the pack... We will not be defeated by this fiend. Yet..." he stopped speaking for a moment and glanced at the clock tower. "I must admit that I am somewhat worried myself. But we will not yield the control of this house."

"He's right about that." Aioria said. "If there's someone out there that I don't like and he tries to cross through here, he finds it impossible. So far, there hasn't been one opponent that has managed to pass through me. I don't care if it's me who I'll be battling this time. With your aid, I trust that we'll do just fine. Besides, we've got Tish with us. She will help us out if we get hurt, and with her magic spells. Right, Tish?"

I do not know why, but I was not too confident of my skills at that time. Nevertheless, I merely smiled and nodded. It would have been unwise to show uncertainty. We all had to keep our spirits high if we wished to succeed against the terrible evil that was upon us. Aioria was a fierce fighter, and his dark self would prove to be quite a challenge. I knew that the house of Leo homed one of Athena's most powerful warriors... Yet I had no idea that we were going to face a challenge of utter danger.

We had fought against the Heartless for a long time. Four hours had now passed since we had first heard the army marshalling outside the house of Aries. The shadow had grown quickly and had swarmed over the mountains and passed through the houses that lay ahead of us. With every flame that died on the clock tower, the more and more opponents we had to face. Still, I believe that we did not have to worry so much about the Heartless as those in the temples of Aries and Taurus. Those proud warriors truly outdid themselves by defeating the dark golden saints and still managing to hold sway of the houses. We knew that they were still alive, for flashes of energy and their mighty shouts came out of the houses from time to time. I was actually more worried about them than us at the moment. But the time came when all that I would think of and all that I would sense was that which happened inside the temple of Leo. Demean's lesson to Wilheim came true for me, also. My world would be the one in which me and my opponent would be. There would be nothing farther away, till one of us fell...

I was a bit tired, but knew that there was still much more to do, many enemies to defeat before I could rest. It was truly a fortune that the golden saints had the power to heal, for I could not have cured all of Wilheim and Ukyo's wounds by myself. Not that they were hurt many times, but time was our enemy, and though they were skilled with their weapons and strong with their fists, they did suffer a cut or two. Fortunately, in time they became faster and more agile. That gave me a bit of time to rest. Though they have told me not to, I was planning to fly as fast as I could to the house of Sagittarius, were Demean and Merryck had made their stand along with Seyia when the dark golden saint of Leo lay dead on the ground. I had heard that the knight of Sagittarius, Aioros, was once the most powerful of all the golden saints. I had to help my eternal companion and our little Merryck before their battle would go ill. And I actually had a hard time concentrating on my foes because of this little thought.

"Heads up, guys!" Aioria cried. "Here comes a new platoon! Get them all!"

I had to let go of my thoughts for a moment and got ready to attack. If Demean were there, I could cast fire and ice spells on his arrows to make them more deadly than they were. But I was not with him and I would have to settle with my companions at the moment.

The first of the Heartless came into the house. It was a wyvern, which was later followed by some knights, a few wizards, and some gargoyles. They all fell quite quickly. I flew at the wyvern, with my light burning brightly, and blinded him. The monster cried and fell to the ground, where he was finished by Wilheim, who cut off his head with a swift blow from his blade. Ukyo took care of the gargoyles by throwing her little spatulas at them. They flew like shurikens in a dark night and went through them like a knife goes through silk. As for the wizards... there is a small parenthesis that I need to make. When the battle came to an end, all of our companions said that the wizards had been the Heartless that had caused them the most trouble. Yet we, like the ones in the temple of Sagittarius, had found them to be weaklings. It is quite odd, actually... I suppose that this was because Aioria disposed of them with little effort. The wizards could not even vanish when they entered the house. For Aioria's fists moved at the speed of light and smashed all of the foes in less than a second. Oh, and as for the rest of the fell warriors, Wilheim took care of them by swinging Renamark with a brutal strength. Each time the steel of the sword hit the ground, it shook as if it was in pain. The strength of the Children of Cain was still in his body, beyond any doubt.

"This is getting easier..." Ukyo sighed. "I don't know if we'll still have the same luck by the time the dark golden saint gets here. I can only hope that we just last enough time. That's all I'm asking right now... For stamina."

"Worry not, my dear." Wilheim said. "If you are that weary of battle, then hide somewhere in the house, and I will battle with more ferocity."

"Okay, first of all, you won't be able to handle the dark golden saint by yourself, Wilheim – honey. And second, if I so much as sit, the damn thing will fry my butt before I can even stand. So don't go trash – talking on me right now, alright?" she replied.

"You seem to be a little irritable, my dear..." Wilheim began, to say, but his words were most foolish. I suppose that he still had to learn that the more nervous Ukyo was, the angrier she would get if he would say something about it.

"Irritable?? What do you mean goddamn 'Irritable'??"

"No, nothing, I just..." he tried to apologize. But it was already too late for him. To tell the truth, it was funny to watch her scold him over such an irrelevant matter. I decided to rest my wings a bit and sat down on Aioria's shoulder. He gave me a quick glance and we smiled at each other. With a little giggle, we headed toward the entrance of the house. Since nobody was near our temple, we chose to enjoy the hilarious spectacle first hand. "But I was not trying to..."

"I'll show you what 'irritable' is, jackass!" she cried. "Do you think that this is my cup of tea, huh? To fight against a dark golden saint? I'd rather fight against both Ryu and Ken by myself! Are you trying to say that I'm a damn masochist? Are you?!"

"No, I am not! I am only saying that I will help you in any way I can, even if it costs me my life!"

Ukyo kept silence for a few seconds. I thought that it was all over, yet the girl was much more persistent in her anger than I first thought. For when that moment passed, Aioria and I nearly laughed aloud as she said in a low, but strikingly mad voice:

"...Are you yelling at me??"

"...No." Wilheim replied, and his face turned pale.

"Were you yelling at me right now? Because I'm really not in the mood of being yelled at. If you start yelling at me, I'm really going to get mad, and..."

"Are you not already mad?"

"WHAT?!"

"Oh...!" Wilheim cried and then began to speak in German. Aioria was about to burst in laughter, but shut his mouth tight and waited to see more show... Before Wilheim could go on talking to himself for long, Ukyo interrupted him by saying, now madder than ever:

"Don't you dare insult me!"

"I am not insulting you!" Wilheim replied. "Yet I do admit that I am saying many unpleasant things, and I wish you to hear them not."

"Because they're about me, aren't they?"

"No, I swear it! I would not even...!" but he suddenly stopped shouting and ran at her. He grasped her body and threw her aside. Ukyo fell on the ground in shock and turned to see him, no longer mad, but with tears in her eyes. However, Wilheim had not intended to hurt her, but he had saved her. There was an invisible foe, whose claw had nearly struck Ukyo's head. If our young hunter would not have sensed the evil force, his beloved would have surely left us. Renamark was fiercely battling the unseen foe, and held it in place.

"Wilheim!!" Ukyo cried, realizing what was the matter.

"Oh, no!" I said. "It must surely be a Chameleon of the same kind which we battled in the Deep Jungle!"

"Then you'll see it die again!" Aioria said in anger. "Move him, Tish!"

I nodded and flew as quickly as I could to Wilheim. I became a bright bullet, leaving a thin line of light behind me as I went, and rammed the tough boy with all my strength. He was truly a mountain of flesh. I succeeded in throwing him out of the way, but hurt my arms and my head by doing so. And when the way was clear, Aioria threw his fist at the creature as he cried in a voice that echoed within the walls of the temple:

"PLASMA LIGHTNING!!"

A hundred and thousand thunderbolts were shot from his arm at the speed of light. We saw only a flash of energy that crashed against the invisible foe. It happened all too quickly for my eyes to properly see. However, when all was over, I did get a glimpse at the dead body of the Chameleon before it evaporated... Aioria's strength was truly something terrible and awesome to witness. It made the thought of battling against him all the less... enticing.

"That was quite close..." Wilheim murmured as he rose to his feet, holding my hurt body in the palm of his hand. Aioria ran at us and quickly healed me with his powers. I flew again and let out a relieved sigh. "Thank you, Tish. If you would not have pushed me out of the way, I would surely be no more."

"Wilheim – honey..." muttered a repented Ukyo as she walked to her darling with a bright, red face. But Wilheim loved Ukyo too much to be angry at her and smiled. He held out his arms and she gently let her head rest on his chest as his strong arms closed about her. For she loved him too, and felt secure with him. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. This was my fault."

"Indeed." Wilheim chuckled. "But worry not about it, my Ukyo. What I said before I meant: I will help you in any way I can, even if it costs me my life."

"It is a strange thing, to see you both yelling at each other so energetically and moments later, to see you in each other's arms so peacefully." I remarked, and we all let out a soft chuckle.

"All right." Aioria said. "Either way, I suggest you guys save your strength for our foe. I'm betting that it won't be that long before the fire of Leo goes out... It'll be then that we will have to fight for real. These matches against the Heartless are just warm ups."

After a few moments, Wilheim and Ukyo broke their hug and went their separate ways. Ukyo remained close to Aioria while I flew to Wilheim's side. I saw a certain relief in his face. No doubt because he had made his peace with his beloved. Yet I still noticed him a bit nervous. I could not blame him, however, for as the fire on the clock tower trembled and its light became less intense, we all shivered in fright. The hour was nigh, and the more we saw Aioria's immense power, the more scared we became at the thought of fighting against him.

I suppose that Aioria was well aware of this... So, in hopes of letting us forget a bit about the oncoming battle and think about unimportant things, he asked:

"So, how was it that you two guys met each other?"

Ukyo and Wilheim glanced at him and said nothing for a few seconds. Then, he put his hand on his chest and muttered, while looking at Ukyo:

"Are you talking to us?"

"Well, you guys are a couple, aren't you? So, when I say 'you two', you can guess that I'm talking about you. Anyway, how did you meet?" Aioria repeated.

"Um... I suppose it is a bit of a long story." Wilheim replied with a chuckle.

"We've got time. Or is it that you don't want to tell me?"

"No, it is not that, it is just that I do not think that this is the right moment to..."

"That's precisely why we should tell him, Wilheim – honey." Ukyo intervened. She took a deep breath and drew a dreamy smile in her face, and when she did, our hearts stopped their frantic beating for a second, and then they went on with a more relaxed pace. "I don't know when it was that he met me, but as for me, I met him in his human form one night in which he came into my restaurant to 'eat' one of my Okonomiyakis. And I say 'eat' in such tone because he couldn't eat anything back then. I met him... and fell in love with him when he was still a vampire."

"A vampire?" Aioria asked. "This is getting interesting. When were you a vampire?"

"Not too long ago." Wilheim answered. "Thankfully, my days as a child of Cain are over. I no longer belong to the realm of the undead, but now am with the sons of the morning star. For fifty-one years, that was my greatest wish: to rid myself of the terrible curse that had been cast upon me and to see the dawn once again. The tale of my days as a vampire is quite long, however; there is not enough time for me to tell you about it here. Perhaps when this whole thing has come to an end; when the Heartless are vanquished and the worlds come back together, I will tell you all about it."

"I see... Well, I was going to ask you how was it that you became a human again, but I guess that I'll have to ask you all the things that I wanted to ask some other time. Right now, just tell me how it was it that you two hooked up."

"He came into my restaurant one night and left." Ukyo said. "He came back a few nights later. The first time, we had barely talked. He had been somewhat cold, but I guess it was because he didn't want me to find out what was the matter with him. Either way, the following night, he seemed to forget about it. We spoke for a long time. I had a lot of fun with him, even though we did nothing more than just talk. Then he left... And the third time we met, we did so in a rather dangerous situation... His mortal enemy, the one who had made him a vampire, Magnus, was after me, and Wilheim fought against him to keep him from turning me into a vampire or killing me. I aided him in the battle and then we ran away...

"He was very hurt when we arrived at my restaurant. I was about to fetch some stuff to cure him when I realized that he no longer needed to be healed. His wounds had already closed. I realized that he was a vampire, but didn't want to believe it at first. He told me, with bloody tears in his eyes, that he didn't want to hurt me: he said that he was there, by my side, to protect me from his vile creator. And I chose to believe him and he slept over...

"He told me a bit about himself. A little bit about how he had become a vampire, and about his best friend, God rest his soul. Actually, I wish I could have met Siegfried... He seemed to be a great guy."

"He was, indeed." Wilheim interrupted, with a sad sigh. "I still miss him... I am sure that he would have gotten along with Ken. He reminds me a little bit of him, for he is cocky and confident when he speaks to girls... I am more of the timid kind, whereas Siegfried could just walk up to a woman and say to her how beautiful he thought she was. Like I have said before, he was the smartest one of us. But he was also more fragile and younger in spirit. Although he was nothing more than my friend, I considered him to be my little brother. Alas, I could not save him from his terrible fate. I suppose that I was not a good big brother..."

"Hey, don't blame yourself about it." Aioria quickly remarked. "It looks like you cared for him a lot. That's what matters. If you were good to him in life, then you don't have to blame yourself over his death." his eyes turned to the entrance of the temple and he stayed still and quiet for a few moments. There were no enemies on sight, as if the very evil air that drew from our soon – to – be opponent's mouth, scared even the shadows that were trying to overcome us... "You know, when Aioros died, everyone said to me that he had died because he had betrayed Athena, and he had died a traitor's death. Since I was his younger brother, you can guess how the other golden saints treated me. I grew up hating my older brother, thinking that he had betrayed Athena, when he had actually saved her. I learnt this through Seyia, and became terribly ashamed with myself. He fell saving her. That's why I now respect him as the great saint that he was. And if Siegfried was a smart, little brother, then I am guessing that he must've respected you and loved you till the end, Wilheim."

"That is a very nice thing to say, Aioria. Thank you very much." Wilheim said and smiled.

"Don't mention it... But I'm sorry, Ukyo... you were saying...?"

"Oh, right." she giggled. "Well, Wilheim told me about himself and, somehow... I don't know exactly when it was, but, I began to fall for him. And when the one you're in love with is suffering, it's not too pleasant. That's when I decided to help him. Even though he didn't like the idea much, I rounded up the rest of my friends – and some others who weren't exactly my friends – and we all went to fight against Magnus. It was quite a hard battle, but in the end, we won. Magnus is history now, and Wilheim is free. It's somewhat weird, I know... but we're together, and that's what matters."

"It is." Aioria agreed. Then, he turned to face me and asked: "Well, now it's your turn. How did you meet the elf?"

"Oh, Demean!" I exclaimed with a laugh, a bit relieved, I must say. I was hoping that he would ask me something so that I would be able to speak. Listening to them talk was helping me to calm a bit down, but I needed to talk if I wanted to be ready to battle. "Well, I must say that it was not a coincidence. You see, in the forest of Feanorth, where we both come from, there is a very special bond between elves and fairies. In the days of old, the fairies were the sole rulers of those woods. But one day, the elves came. One might expect that I now would say: 'And a war broke loose.', but it was not so, for the fairies of Feanorth like myself, are creatures of peace, and we only use magic to defend ourselves when there is need. And the elves were not aggressive people. For a long time, the fairies let them live there, and grew fond of them. The elves looked after the fairies, and the fairies watched over the elves. A special bond of love was formed, and its manifestation is this: every time an elf is born, so is a fairy. A guardian fairy, you might say; a guardian fairy for a soldier elf who is bound to use his or her strength every time danger lurks near his or her protector. So that is your answer, Aioria. I met Demean from the day I was born."

"That's great..." Aioria chuckled. "No wonder you both care about each other so much."

"No wonder, indeed." I said.

He was about to say something else, but all of a sudden, a distant, fading sound caught his attention. He needed not to turn his head, for we all read in Wilheim's serious, quiet face what had happened. The fire on the clock tower had died. The time for battle had come at last. We then heard a low rumbling that sounded very much like the hungry stomach of a giant dragon. We turned to the center of the temple and saw a puddle of shadow. From it, the figure of Aioria clad in darkness was slowly rising. We took a deep breath and put ourselves on guard.

"This is it, guys." Ukyo said. "Any plans of action?"

"I'll draw his fire." Aioria announced. "You attack him from the sides."

"Why cannot we fight him from the front?" Wilheim asked.

"Aioria fires one-hundred-thousand bolts of power, which are comparable to the strike of a Balrog's whip, and he does so at the speed of light." I said. "Not one of us is fast enough to evade such power. Only Aioria is capable of moving at those speeds. That is why he must distract our opponent, so we can attack him with full strength."

"I hope that someone up there will give us a bit of speed..." Ukyo murmured and held her spatula firmly.

The figure finally came out of the puddle and stared at us quietly with its red, hatred – filled eyes. His glance was the same as the one of Aioria, but full of evil, and his dark armor amazingly shone as brightly as the golden clothes of the Leo's saint. A moment passed, and then he began his attack with a battle roar, letting loose a rain of dark bolts of lightning that traveled through the air faster than our eyes could see.

Aioria quickly counterattacked and nullified most of his lightning bolts with his. Yet a few of them got past his fists and nearly hit my other two companions. No energy bolt came my way, thankfully, for to be as much as touched by one of those things would have killed me in an instant. And the bolts that had passed just a few inches away from my friends had been like bullets come out of a dwarf's gun. They fell to the ground with a scream while covering their wounds. It had only been a couple of energy waves, and they had opened their skin as if they were made of silk. I healed them quickly while I prayed to God to save us from any direct attacks from that monstrous fiend...

Aioria did not lose another moment and charged against our enemy. They started to fight against each other using terrible punches and swift kicks while Ukyo and Wilheim recovered from the attack. Once I had cured their wounds, they put themselves on guard once more, ready to battle the foe. But suddenly, three Heartless came into the house and attacked us before we could go to Aioria's side. They were Invisibles, the pesky foes we had first encountered in Hades' tournament at the Coliseum. Luckily, we already knew their weak point, but they still proved to be quite a challenge. And unfortunately, we were still quite worried about our primary enemy. We were concerned that Aioria would not be able to block all of his blows: even if one hit us, it could be fatal. Still, we had no other choice than to trust that the golden saint would save us from harm. I could only hope that he would not lose the battle in doing so...

Ukyo and Wilheim battled swiftly and fiercely, while I helped them by flying about the Heartless, drawing their swords to me so that they could finish them with a quick, powerful blow. One of them took the bait and tried to cut me with his steel. Yet, luckily, I was too quick for him and his hits cut nothing else than air. Ukyo and Wilheim both attacked him with their weapons and broke the Heartless sword into pieces, hence, ending with his foul existence. The other two, however, were smarter than their companion and kept attacking both boys without paying any attention to me. I lacked the physical power to destroy their swords and I could not use magic to hurt them. Ukyo and Wilheim dominated the fight and it was certain that they would eventually win, but in the mean time, the Invisibles were taking precious time from us, and one second was all that the dark golden saint needed to end with our lives.

But Aioria was an opponent far too strong for the fiend to ignore. He kept on drawing his fire and attacks for a long time, and the boys successfully defeated the Heartless before the enemy could escape Aioria's sight. With no other opponents left, Wilheim, Ukyo and I focused our efforts on this fiend. They quickly began to run at him from the sides, she and I ran right, and he went left. We ran behind the pillars of the temple, some of them already shattered by a sleepless might, and tried hard not to become a target for the evil foe. We succeeded in this and both of my friends charged at him with a yell, while I flew high over their heads, casting magical spells to enhance their great weapons.

The dark golden saint quickly stopped both of their blows with his hands, while blocking Aioria's attacks with his legs. In a fraction of second, he pushed Ukyo and Wilheim away from him, and got ready to fire his terrible energy on them. But the true Leo's saint swiftly kicked his arms around and his unearthly blow hit nothing but air and stone. The ceiling crumbled and part of it came crashing down, raising a cloud of dust as it hit the ground. When the cloud had vanished, I saw that Ukyo and Wilheim had leapt back into the attack, and this time, they were scoring many blows. Yet none of them was fierce enough to shatter the resistant armor. I decided to help them in another way, and began to cast many spells. I shot glowing balls of fire at our opponent, cold shards of deadly ice, and bright thunderbolts. All I did was to slow down his movements... But he was still too quick for my friends, too quick to allow them to deliver the fatal blow. Aioria was the only one who was actually giving the saint battle. None of us could move as fast as the light...

But all of a sudden, I felt that things would get worse. I turned around as I heard a rumbling noise at my back. The floor trembled as an invisible foe stepped on it. I let out a gasp, realizing that the fiend clad in invisibility was none other than a second Chameleon. I felt his paw swing at me and evaded it just before it pinned me into the ground and surely destroyed me. I flew high into the air, hoping that it would not have the strength in its legs to jump after me. Fortunately, it did not. But my friends were not safe. I yelled at them and warned them about the lurking danger, but they could not see the Chameleon, and they were too concentrated on the terrible foe to pay attention to anything else. They needed help. All I could do for them was to blow a gentle blizzard on the invisible enemy. Snowflakes fell on it and covered its body, rendering its camouflage useless. Aioria turned to see it and raised his arms just in time to block a swipe from its claw. The dark golden saint took this opportunity to unleash his attack on the Leo's saint. Yet Wilheim quickly grasped him from behind, and held him firmly by the arms. Ukyo lost not a moment and hit him with her spatula as hard and as many times as she could. The foe became a bit sluggish from the terrible beating and could not muster his attack in time. When he finally let loose a blow of energy and got himself rid of both boys, Aioria had already destroyed the infernal Heartless.

The battle went on forever. The dark golden saint did not seem to tire after so many attacks; it was as if his stamina was endless. Wilheim and Ukyo's blows became weaker and weaker with each passing minute, but the strength of the enemy remained intact. We were fortunate that Aioria also possessed the same endurance that the dark knight and that no Heartless had attacked us again during our battle. Otherwise, we would probably not have survived. Yet I suppose that all of our hearts gave a sudden leap when the fight's tide was turned...

The dark golden saint abruptly leapt over one of Ukyo's swings and kicked her in her face. She flew back and crashed against one pillar. She was not very hurt, but found it somewhat difficult to get up. Enraged by this, Wilheim leapt on the attack and tried to slay the enemy with a mighty blow. Yet he was not quick enough and the dark golden saint ducked under his blade. He was about to uppercut the boy when Aioria quickly charged at him in hopes of saving Wilheim from the deadly blast. But the foe had already foreseen this and countered with an attack of his own. Aioria flew back and hit a pillar. The stone broke and came crashing down on its body. I let out a gasp and rapidly flew to his aid. There was a cloud of dust that kept me from going next to him. I could not go near him and so I turned my head and looked how Wilheim attacked yet again with his blade. He tried to bring down Renamark on the dark saint's head. But the enemy quickly raised both of his hands and stopped the blow by trapping the sword with his palms...

I could not believe that he had actually gotten a hold of Renamark. That mighty blade was sharp enough to cut a diamond! The very fire that came from it was even capable of melting steel! Yet the dark golden saint's palms merely bled. He had not lost even a finger, and this also astounded Wilheim. The foe took the sword from him and threw it away. A defenseless lad now stood in front of a powerful lion with the strength to tear him apart with just a roar. And so he unleashed his monstrous technique. I only saw his shoulder shine with a dark light, and after a moment in which all became black, all that I could see, was Wilheim's broken body under many rocks as its blood escaped from it.

I was sure that Aioria was alive under the pile of rubble. But Wilheim seemed to be as still as the fallen statue of a great city in a time of war. With a loud yell, I began to fly at him, ready to do everything in my power to heal him, but suddenly froze as I felt the cold glance of the dark golden saint rest on me... His red eyes had petrified me, and his fist was aiming at me. Sensing that my end had come, I closed my eyes and fought hard to keep my tears within me...

"Stay away from her, bastard!!" Ukyo's voice suddenly called.

The dark golden saint turned to her and I slowly opened my eyes, my heart still beating like mad, and let out a gasp when I saw her...

Her face was filled by tears of anger and despair, and one could be certain that she had started to shed them when she had seen her beloved's crumbled body under the rocks. Her spatula lay on the ground, for in her hands, she held a much greater weapon. Renamark burned with thirst of blood, and it did so in her grasp. For Wilheim had told her that she could use it if she wished to, and Renamark obeyed the boy's will. I could see, in her enraged eyes, that there was no fear for her own life. Renamark shone fiercely and I knew that it was giving her the strength, agility, and speed of a hundred great warriors... And as the dark golden saint let out a confident grunt and got ready to unleash his power on her, I had an idea.

I must guess that it all happened in mere seconds though it seemed like long ages to me. I summoned all of my energies and cast them in a magical spell into Renamark, in order to make it fill Ukyo with more power. The fire on its steel became even livelier and it began to roar as I chanted the magical words in a language that you would possibly not understand. But suddenly, I felt a strange warmth... Even though I was burning all of my strength, I did not feel weak. I turned my head around and saw Aioria's upper body emerging from the rocks, his left hand stretched at me... no. At Ukyo. He was giving her his power, and I could feel the energy flowing through me. He knew that there was no other way of defeating the dark golden saint without suffering any more losses... His power was so warm and cozy... And when Ukyo felt it, she closed her eyes and let out a quiet breath. The room was filled by a golden haze and when she opened her eyes again, she had no pupils, but golden candlelights instead. For a moment, she had become as powerful as a golden saint... She had acquired that which the knights of Athena call 'The Seventh Sense'. And then the dark golden light finally unleashed his attack with a mighty yell, I somehow heard Ukyo's voice in my head saying in a low whisper:

I see it.

And she was not the only one... An endless web of black rays intertwining again and again slowly advanced toward her. She stayed still and quiet, with her eyes fixed on the lightning. When the first of them was about to touch her, she jumped back and dodged it. Then another one threatened to hit her head, but she bounced off a pillar. She moved so very slowly, almost laboriously, yet none of the lightning hit her. For they were actually moving at the speed of light...

The rays broke the pillar she had bounced off and it came crashing down. Yet it did so too slowly to worry the swift warrior. The net of lightning kept on coming from the dark saint's fist, yet Ukyo did not jump back again. Instead, he leapt forth, doing her best to evade all of the deadly blows. Not one touched her nimble body. And after a slight moment of pause, the foe fired again. Ukyo ran up a wall and quickly leapt off it as she reached the ceiling. She gracefully came down, with Renamark leaving a trail of flames as she fell, and with a battle yell, swung it fiercely. The blade roared and its fire burned all around the dark golden saint's neck. The fiend lowered his arms and fell to his knees as his head rolled over the ground. And when the rest of his body hit the floor, he vanished into nothingness quickly, and Ukyo fell on her back, exhausted by the immense amount of energy she had expelled.

I smiled and was about to let out a happy cry when I suddenly remembered that it was still too soon to celebrate. My face turned serious again as I flew to Wilheim at full speed, ready to cast my most powerful spell on his body. This was not a matter of just healing the boy: I had to bring him back to life.

"Tish... Tish, please, save him!" Ukyo wept in a very low, tired voice, as she struggled to get up and race to her honey's side.

I nodded without saying a word, and when I got to where the boy was, I lowered my body on his chest and said:

"Do not worry, Wilheim. I shall bring you back to life with this powerful incantation... You will soon..."

"Begging your pardon... Tish, but... you cannot bring me back... to life. I am... still alive..." I heard him mutter. With amazement in my eyes, I looked at his face. His eyes were open and his mouth lay half closed, a trail of blood trickled down his cheek. He had barely spoken, but there was still life in him! I let out a laugh and my heart sighed in relief.

"Wilheim...! You're okay...!" Ukyo cried happily in a murmur as she crawled to his side and held him softly.

"Not... at all... but I am... alive." he said. He had a lot of trouble speaking. "You saved our... lives... Thank you... darling."

"It's the least I could do for you... You've saved my life a lot, Wilheim – honey." she giggled and kissed his cheek.

"I am so glad to see that you are both alive!" I exclaimed. "To think that you are so strong!"

"So very strong..." Aioria said. I turned to face him and noticed that he was standing behind us with a wide smile on his face. "I don't know which of you guys amazes me the most..." he went on. "It's either Wilheim, who managed to survive the Plasma Lightning without even an armor on... guys three times as big as you wouldn't have lived to see a full second of the attack... or Ukyo, who discovered the Seventh Sense, if only for an instant, and used it to destroy our enemy. You could be a golden female saint of Athena if you wanted to, Ukyo!"

"Please... Be honest." the girl said. "I only did it because I was holding Renamark, and because you and Tish were helping me with your power."

"Maybe..." Aioria said. Meanwhile, I decided that they all needed to be healed and so I quickly restored their wounds. It took me a little longer to completely cure Wilheim, for his body had been broken by that devastating attack. But in the end, he stood up tall and firm, as strong as ever. "But the fact is that you moved at the speed of light. Believe me, not many people can do that."

"You are certainly stronger than you think, Ukyo dear." Wilheim added. "Do not doubt your awesome power."

The girl blushed and was about to reply something when we heard a sudden sound. Instantly knowing what it had meant, we all raced to the entrance of the house and looked at the clock tower. The fire on Libra had just died. Two hours had passed since our terrible battle had begun. And it was then that I remembered Demean, and knew that Sagittarius was a long way from the house of Leo. It would take me about two hours to get there flying at full speed... Just the time they had before the dark golden saint of Aioros would attack them.

The house of Leo was safe. I needed to go to Sagittarius. So I decided to bid my friends farewell for the moment.

"I must go!" I announced. "I promised I would help you during this battle, but now I must go to Demean and Merryck! They need my aid!"

"You helped a lot." Aioria said. "Then go, Tish. And I wish you the best of lucks. May Athena watch over you."

"Wilheim, it's been an hour since the fire of Virgo went out..." Ukyo muttered. "I'm worried about Sora... and Dante. Shaka is the saint that's closest to God, or so they say... I don't know if they'll be able to defeat him... The boys need help! I've got to go and help them!" she began to run out of the house, but the boy quickly stopped her.

"Aioria, will you be alright?" Wilheim asked.

"Yeah. We've gotten rid of the main threat. The Heartless won't pass through here, nor will I find myself in danger. You can go with her." he replied.

"I do not mean to go with her. I mean to go in her stead."

"What?? No, you're not leaving me here!" she said.

"You risked your life for me just a few moments ago. I will not have you jeopardize your existence with Shaka. I shall go there and aid the boys. But you will stay here and help Aioria defending the temple of Leo. Make sure no Heartless cross the house. That is, as of now, the best help you can provide me." Ukyo stayed silent, not happy with Wilheim's decision, yet his mind was made. "I shall return to you alive, this I promise."

"...You swear it?" she asked.

"I swear it." he kissed her and grabbed Renamark before she reluctantly went to pick her spatula up. Then he looked at me, and said: "I will follow you as far as Virgo, Tish. Then, you must fly over the temple and make way to Sagittarius as fast as you can. Be wary, though, for there are many Heartless swarming through the skies."

"I am aware of that." I replied. "But let us waste no more time here, and go to the aid of the ones we care about. Farewell, Aioria and Ukyo! Let us hope that we will meet again when the last flame of the clock tower fades. Good luck!!" and with that being said, Wilheim and I quickly exited the house of Leo.

Virgo: Sora

I was really, really nervous. Why, you ask? Well, simply because this was going to be the biggest fight of my life. I know that the battle against Ganondorf was terrible and all... But I've got to face it: I wasn't aware of what I was going to fight back then. That and the fact that I was so mad at the damn idiot for battering my friends, kept me from having fear in that battle. Yet know I was totally aware of what was going on. It was not just like we were just going to face a clone of a golden saint. The matter wasn't that simple (yeah, you heard me: facing any other golden saint clone would've been ten times easier). Want to know why? Because Dante and I, two completely capable boys, but not as strong as a bronze saint, were about to face the most powerful of the twelve warriors of Athena...

But, hey, don't get me wrong. It wasn't like I was going to make a run for it when Dante and Shaka weren't watching. It wasn't like I wasn't up for the job. When you make a decision, you've got to take responsibility for it, that's just the way it goes. The thing was, however, that when I accepted to aid the saints in the defense of the Sanctuary, I had a completely different idea about the golden saints' powers. All I knew about them, I knew through stories, stories that Shun, Ikki, and Hyoga, mainly, had told us during our trips. And since they had said that they had managed to beat them in one – on – one combats, I supposed that Dante, Shaka (a golden saint), and I wouldn't find it as difficult to just take one out. But no one warned me about Shaka's strength. When I saw him in action for the first time, I stopped breathing and turned pale... And, even though he surely wouldn't admit it, Dante also freaked out.

It was like this: a big, and I mean BIG, platoon of Heartless came through the house's entrance. Not even one enemy had entered prior to that attack. It was as if the fiends had somehow assembled for a while in front of the house, waiting for the opportune moment to strike (although the fire of Cancer was still lit... I don't really think that it was the opportune moment). When they went in, Dante and I raised our guards and got ready to take them out. Yet Shaka silently walked in front of us, with his eyes closed, and said in a calm voice:

"I'll take care of these insects. Stay still."

And so he sat down and assumed a meditating position. We didn't know what the heck he wanted to do, but we decided to trust him and stepped back. The Heartless spotted him and charged at him while screaming frantically...

"What do you think he's got up his sleeve?" Dante asked. "I've never seen anyone so confident before an army of the sort."

"The saints have amazing powers." I said to him. "You'll see. Just wait and watch."

As soon as I finished speaking these words, the floor, walls, and ceiling vanished. I let out a gasp and moved my arms to where one of the pillars was, but it had disappeared as well. I was about to try to hang on to something else when I noticed that there was no need to do such a thing. We seemed to be floating in space. Yet there weren't any stars or planets around. It was all black, like a clouded night. Dante smiled and whispered:

"An illusion... How interesting."

Yeah. And how useless. I first thought, 'cause I was sure that the Heartless were mindless monsters that would attack Shaka no matter the illusions that he would cast upon them. I thought that they went by instinct, so to speak. But they actually wouldn't attack him. They stopped their race and just stood in front of him, without moving, their eyes turning here and there, mesmerized by the deep, black space. All of a sudden, the darkness began to break and then it began to grow small. It was as like a curtain of shadows that hid a wall of white light... The white color began to absorb the darkness. It didn't shine and there wasn't any need for us to cover our eyes. After a few instants, the white color had all but absorbed the black color. All that was left of the darkness were little dots... It was like a negative of the sky at night!

"They say that every star represents the life of a being." Shaka spoke in a loud, clear voice. "These black stars represent the lives of your kind, they represent the lives of the Heartless that invade the Sanctuary." and as he finished this sentence, some black dots faded into the white, and some other dark spots appeared in the strange space. The black twinkling came and went in a very creepy, yet fascinating way. "You fiends are as numerous as an ant colony, yet you fall like flies. And see this: a group of stars has just vanished. The lives of many Heartless have faded... your own." he paused for a moment and then concluded: "Go to the realm of the dead, where you belong."

Care to take a guess to what happened next? The Heartless, the whole platoon of Heartless simply fell to the ground and vanished after a few seconds. He had actually killed them! I had no idea how in the heck he could have done that, but he had actually killed them outright! He hadn't even raised a fist! Jesus, the guy hadn't even opened his damn eyes!!

In a moment, the house was back to normal. I glanced at Dante and noticed that he was just as astonished as I was. His jaw had dropped and his mouth lay with open, like his eyes. He couldn't breathe. Neither of us could, man. It was unbelievable. And Shaka simply got up, walked back and sat down in some sort of altar behind us. I then shook at a sudden sound. It had been Dante's sword, which had fallen to the ground. The guy's firm grip had gone. I was about to let the Keyblade go, too, but when I saw him, I struggled to keep that from happening. And when I say 'struggled', I mean it, because I was still very amazed... and just plain scared.

Because, here's the kicker of things. Before the fights had begun, before the fire on Aries had burned out, Shaka had told us that he wouldn't fight against his dark – self. He said that it would be too dangerous. Because if he and his dark clone, who presumably had the same power that he had, unleashed their maximum power at the same time, the planet would go 'boom'. It was at that time that I had begun to feel a little nervous. Dante had just shaken his head and said to me in a murmur:

"Don't listen to him. He's just bluffing." and I forced myself to nod silently and actually accept the thought. But after that serious demonstration of butt – kicking, none of us were so sure that he had been bluffing anymore.

Now, imagine a couple of guys like Dante and me going up against that dude... Yep, we were screwed. I only had one thought in my mind: his eyes. I didn't remember much about the story that our friends had told us about their fight against Shaka, but there was something, however, that I hadn't forgotten about Ikki's words: Shaka's eyes. He had said that, before they had gone inside the house of Virgo, Aioria had told his friends to beware of Shaka's eyes. He always had them closed. And if you got him to open them... Well, no one would hear you tell the tale, that's for sure.

We had remained silent for a long time, and had practically sat down near the altar in which Shaka staid silent. Many Heartless came into the house, but none of them passed through. Because, the moment they entered, they would fall dead at our feet... Dante and I constantly glanced at each other, as if asking to ourselves if we should try to convince Shaka to give us a hand when the time came. But none of us dared to say a word. What if the saint would get mad at our request and would kill us just like that? Of course, it was a very stupid thought, but after seeing some serious crap like that, you kind of have all sorts of stupid thoughts. In the end, however, it was he who spoke and us who answered.

"You two are awfully quiet. What's on your minds, boys?" he asked.

"Not too many things, I guess." Dante replied. "There's one thought, however, that I'm sure that we both have, right now. And that is, how the hell are we supposed to beat someone as powerful as you without any help? I mean, it's not that I'm a sissy, but it's not that I'm stupid. Do you get my meaning?"

"Yeah, I mean, how are we going to beat you?" I added. "I don't know... Maybe we should go to either Leo or Libra and ask for another golden saint to help us..."

"Aioria must surely be waiting for the flame of Leo to fade, and that is bound to happen any minute now." Shaka said. "As for the house of Libra, there is no golden saint there. Only Shiryu and your other two friends, the Shotokan Karate masters. Shiryu won't come, because right now, he is the protector of the golden cloth of Libra. You could try to bring either of the other two back here, but I don't recommend you doing so. Even with their aid, you stand the same chance."

"So that means we're going to die...?" I asked, hoping to hear a no for an answer.

"That I cannot answer. If you fall, then so shall the planet, because, as I've said before, if the fiend and I unleash our maximum power at the same time, then all of us will die in an explosion of Cosmo – energy." he said. "But if what you're asking is if you can defeat this enemy, then I'll reply with another question. Do you think that I would've brought the two of you here to die if I knew that there was no way that you could beat this fiend?"

"What?" Dante and I asked at the same time.

"You've heard me, boys." Shaka said, calmly. "There is always a way. You just have to think. If you rely on your physical power for this battle, then you'll surely lose. But if you use your brains rather than your brawn... I'm certain that you'll find the enemy's weak point."

"That's relieving." Dante murmured, meaning it. "Yet, I've got a better idea. Why don't you tell us what your weak point is so that we can exploit it?"

"I have no weak points."

"Everyone's got a weak point." I remarked. "And if you have no weak point, then how is it that, when the battle of the twelve houses took place, the bronze saints got past you? I mean, they did save Athena at that time, right? And if they did save her, that means they must've passed through here."

"The only way they could get past here was because of Ikki, the most powerful of the bronze saints, raised his power to the very limit, and we both disappeared in a great explosion of Cosmo – energy." Shaka answered... So that meant that the strongest of the bronze saints had to die in order to kill him... Sort of. How magnificent. "Even then, he could not manage to entirely kill me. I understood the nature of their quest and decided to bring Ikki back to life and to let him fulfill his quest."

"So you mean that if you wouldn't have wanted it, the guys wouldn't have been able to go through?" Dante asked.

"Exactly. As with most of the golden saints. If Aioria would've not come out of the spell, they wouldn't have been able to get here in the first place. You see, boys, the bronze saints have great hearts and battling spirits, but they still need to grow up in power. They have immense potential, but they still haven't been able to quite unleash it."

"Oh..." I muttered. And after letting out a sigh, I forced myself to remain the high – spirited state that I had entered when Shaka had said that we stood a chance, and declared: "Well, if you say that the enemy has a weak point, then he surely must have one, and we'll find it."

"Well put, Sora." Shaka said, and smiled.

"Oh, well... I guess that there isn't anything more to it than just wait until this bozo shows up." Dante said, and lay on his back. "I suppose that you're going to be taking out every other Heartless that walks in here, aren't you?"

"That's right." Shaka replied. "I cannot help you against my dark clone. So helping you save your strengths for the battle is the least I can offer you."

"Thanks, then. All right, Sora... I'm going to take a nap. I know it's not the greatest time to do so, but, like Shaka said, we need to save our strength. Are you in for a nap?"

"I don't think so, Dante..." I said.

"Fine, then. Wake me up when you feel the fire on Virgo is going to fade. Until that time, good night." he concluded and closed his eyes. In less than a minute, he was sound asleep, snoring loudly and occasionally twitching his legs.

"Sure... good night." I chuckled. Seeing him so calm sort of made me stay cool.

So, that was it, for a while. While I sat on my butt doing nothing, Dante took a nice nap, almost snoring his lungs out with every breath, and Shaka remained still in a meditative state, wiping every Heartless off their horrid lives the second they entered the temple of Virgo. I had a lot of time to convince myself that we would do just fine (well... perhaps not 'just fine', but we'd do well, nonetheless) without Shaka's help. It was just like he had said: the enemy had got to have a weak point. And I was sure that, sooner or later, we would find it and beat the hell out of him. I could only hope that it would be sooner than later...

None of us spoke while the clock tower ticked time away very, very slowly. After several minutes, I got up and went to the house's entrance. I peeked outside and noticed that the fire on Leo had gone out a while ago, and that the fire of our temple was slowly dying. It would soon be time to fight... A flash of dark light followed by a golden one caught my attention, and I turned my head to the house that was below us, the house of Leo. It seemed like a fierce battle was taking place there... I took a deep breath and hoped that Wilheim, Tish, and Ukyo would be all right. I wasn't too much worried about Aioria, though. One simply shouldn't be spending any energy in worrying about those guys. They're ridiculously powerful, so why should we care?

Either way, I didn't have much time to think of this. In a matter of minutes, the fire of Virgo began to grow dim, and I knew the time had come.

"Wake up, Dante." I heard Shaka's voice say. "The time of battle is at hand. Ready your sword."

"So, we've come to it, at last." Dante said, letting out a yawn and cracking his neck as he walked to the center of the room. He swung his sword and then tapped the ground with it a few times. "Come on, Sora. It's time we teach this foe a lesson." Then he glanced at Shaka and said: "You go and do whatever you've got to do. Leave it to us, from here. Just don't let anymore Heartless interrupt our fight, all right?"

"Of course." Shaka said, with a chuckle as he slowly got to his feet and went into the back of the temple. As his body was lost in the shadows, I could only hear him say: "Good luck."

"We sure are going to need it." I added to myself and quickly took a stand next to Dante. "Any thoughts or words before this crazy thing starts?"

"Here's one: don't attack him." he said. "Let's wait for him to attack us, so that we can counterattack. If we start the aggression, he'll surely win. You've seen how powerful Shaka is. And if he doesn't do anything, then we've got nothing to worry about. These bastards will all vanish once the fires of all the houses have vanished."

"Still, you actually think that this guy won't make a move?"

"I never said that."

Before we could go on, we heard the fire of the clock tower burn out, and the light that came from the house's entrance was gone. Suddenly, some torches in the house's walls began to get lit. This was getting me very nervous, especially due to the fact that I hadn't seen any torches when we had entered... I convinced myself that that was nothing more than an illusion and pointed my Keyblade at the puddle of shadows that had appeared at the center of the house, right in front of us. Slowly, from it emerged our enemy, Shaka's shade itself. He had his head turned to us, but his eyes remained closed under black lids. I just hoped that they would stay that way forever. If he would open them... We'd be history.

"Don't attack him, Sora." Dante whispered, as we slowly began to circle our enemy. "Don't you dare attack him right now."

"How are we supposed to beat him, then?" I asked.

"I'm still on that..." he replied, without taking his eyes off the foe.

We circled him for a long time, like a pair of sharks hunting a prey which is more dangerous than they can even imagine. The dark golden saint didn't make a move. It seemed to me that he wasn't even breathing. It was as if it was a ghost, just hovering in front of us, an illusion that would never leave the temple... As a matter of fact, when this thought came to my mind, I began to wonder if Dante and I weren't already ghosts. What if the enemy had already killed us and we were only shadows of our former selves? Thankfully, nothing like the sort had happened, because, when Dante wasn't looking, I quickly pinched myself, and it hurt a little bit. Although we weren't spirits, I was worried that we would soon be, 'cause this fiend was simply to calm for us to believe that he was harmless...

"Dante, this guy is beginning to freak me out." I declared, as if wanting to entice the dark golden saint to make his move. "Do you think that maybe magic will hurt him? Perhaps you can work on some spells, and I can throw some fireballs from the tip of my Keyblade."

"I'm not so sure about that, Sora." he replied. "We might make things worse."

"Worse? Nothing bad has happened."

Yep, I shouldn't have opened my big mouth to say a thing like that. Because, as soon as those words stopped echoing within the house's pillars, Dante looked at my feet and yelled:

"Sora, look out!!"

I glanced down and saw a puddle of shadows just like the one from which the dark golden saint had emerged before the fight. I looked up again and realized that I seemed to be a bit shorter. The answer: the black puddle was swallowing me. Luckily, I was quick enough to leap out of it. By mere instinct, I threw my Keyblade as if it were a boomerang (yeah, a trademark move of mine which you already know, I suppose), and it the enemy's hand. The weapon came back to me and I let out a silent 'yes' as I noticed that the foe seemed to be bleeding some sort of dark, blue blood... And you know what? Dante was right. I should've never attacked him.

"Sora... look at your feet..." he said in a low voice.

I did as he told me and let out a frightened gasp as I realized that the whole ground was flooded with the same liquid that oozed out of the dark saint's wound. The blood was flooding the house, and it was slowly rising. I gazed at Dante and saw in his eyes that he was trying to convince himself that this whole thing was just an illusion. I nodded and did the same thing. But, damn! If it was an illusion, then it was a really great one, because as the blood rose, I could actually feel it soaking my socks, and eventually, my legs. I didn't have the slightest idea of how our enemy had managed to unleash a thing like that, yet I wasn't really that much interesting in finding out. Actually, I just wanted to get the hell out of there.

"Oh, no!" I cried, as the blood began to drag me into a fierce current. I was trapped in a river which attempted to drown me with its waves. "Dante!!" I called, hoping that I would catch a glimpse of him before he would drown.

But, thank the Heavens, I suddenly felt Dante's hand grab me by my shirt and lift me out of the river. I turned to see him and noticed that he had buried his sword in one of the pillars, and held on tightly to it. I quickly put my arm around the pillar and climbed a little bit, just out of the bloody sea's reach and then stabbed the stone with my Keyblade. I coughed out the blood in my mouth and then let out a relieved sigh. I knew that the danger wasn't over, but at least I had lived through that little chapter.

"Well, we've unleashed the monster, Sora." Dante said. "My guess is that now's a good time to use our fireballs."

"To evaporate the blood, you mean... 'Cause our fireballs won't do squat to that guy." I inquired.

"Right. I guess we'll have to think of something else to do before he sends us right into hell."

I held on tightly to the pillar and pointed my Keyblade at the rising sea of dark blood. I let out a yell and began to fire as many fireballs as I could at full speed. Dante began to let loose a blurry of magic spells that quickly crashed against the gloomy pool of blood. Amazingly, the blood began to evaporate, and its horrible stench filled the house. Either way, I couldn't be worrying about some liquid being smelly right now. I held my breath, and kept shooting fireballs with all of my power. Very soon, we were rid of all blood. Dante and I let out a relieved sigh and jumped down to the ground, and face our adversary yet again.

Dante seemed to be a bit weakened from the spells he had cast. It was like he had told us... he hadn't yet mastered the use of magic. Yet right now it was a terrible moment to be weak. I just hoped that it would be some sort of dizziness that would pass away in a moment... You know, like the sort of weakness you experience when you get up from bed in a rush.

"What do we do know?" I asked Dante in a whisper, without taking my eyes of our enemy, which seemed to smile at us confidently.

"Do I have to do all the thinking here? You ought to help me out here too, you know." he replied. "We've got to do the right thing, that's what we've got to do. What it is, though, beats me..."

But before I could answer that, I felt a hard blow on my chest. I tried to scream, but my voice got caught in my very lungs. Everything started to become blurry and I lost the strength to stand. I fell to my knees, and then my face it the ground. I heard a faint thud, and noticed that Dante had fallen, too...

How could he have done that? We had been looking at him during all that time, and he hadn't even moved! Not even a damn finger! And already we were down for the count! I didn't even dream that he could be that powerful. We clearly never stood a single chance against the guy... And as my eyes darkened and as I ceased to fell all sorts of sensations and as I felt a trail of saliva running down my cheek without me being able to help it, I knew that I was seconds away from death.

I began to fall through a dark hole, with Dante behind me. We fell for a long time, and our yells got lost in the complete darkness that surrounded us. The sound of our shouts quickly faded away, and when that happened, a sudden ray of light shot through the blackness. And so it was that we beheld, with terror, our fate: six hells, one of them destined to imprison us for the rest of eternity... Ikki's words began to echo on my mind as we fell through each and every one of the six hells...

The first hell is a horrifying place. Mountains of needles rise tall from the surface of the earth, impaling all those who fall into them. It is a place as hot as the entrails of a volcano, a wasteland whose only music is the pain – filled cries of those unfortunate enough to have been cast into it by evil...

The second hell is the hell of hunger. In here, starvation is the sole ruler. Every one of its inhabitants has an inflated stomach, and crawls around the place in search of something to eat. Such is their hunger, that they will eat anything: rotting meat and excrement; and they will most certainly feed on the weak...

In the third hell, the law of the strongest one abides. It is the hell of the beasts, a hell in which you have but one choice: to feed on those beasts lesser than yourself. If you don't follow this rule, you'll surely be devoured by a monster.

The hell of Azure is the fourth hell. In this place, you'll do nothing more other than fighting. An endless war takes place in there, where sharp swords and heavy axes cut down warriors doomed to an eternity of battle, and where the stench of blood and the rust of steel is all that you will ever smell...

The fifth hell is a place where sadness and tragedy dwell... It is the world of us, humans. Yet you will return here as a ghost, or as a beast, or as something else... And you will only feel pain and all the tragic feelings that you have ever felt.

The last hell is the most dangerous of them all... In this place, you can fall to one of the other hells that you have seen. Or you can return to earth as a ghost, or an animal in pain, a soul without a vessel...

"Take your pick." said the evil saint's voice in our heads.

Again, all was covered in shadows. I felt wind blowing through my hair, and knew we were about to fall down in one of the hells that had passed right before our eyes, even though I really hadn't picked one, and I'm sure that Dante hadn't made up his mind, either. I mean, who in the world could pick a hell in which to stay for the rest of eternity? It isn't a choice you'd like to be taking, mark my words... But answer me this, though: if we would've fallen in one of those horrible places, do you think I'd be telling this story?

A bright lay of light cut through all those hells and blinded me for a moment. I let out a loud scream, and actually got to hear my voice. I felt a strange tickling in my stomach as I started to hear Dante's yell. Then we hit something: the ground. I don't know how the hell we did it, but all of a sudden, we opened our eyes, sprung to our feet and quickly attacked the dark golden saint, who had his back turned to us, thinking us dead. He realized that we weren't quite defeated too late. Dante kicked his face with his powerful legs and I swung the Keyblade at his feet. Both of our attacks succeeded in knocking him down and inflicting a little damage. We heard him grunt as he slid over the floor and finally hit a wall. Surprised, he slowly got up, and then staid still and quiet.

I didn't exactly know how that had happened, but I was truly amazed by our sudden burst of speed. I turned my head to Dante and whispered as quietly as I could, without actually taking my eyes off our opponent:

"What the hell just happened?"

"I had no idea, but it was cool." he replied, with a smile. "Something tells me that Shaka isn't just sitting around, doing nothing at all. I have a strange feeling:I believe that he just saved our butts, back there. How we got back on the show so quickly, though, I have no idea."

"So Shaka's helping a bit, huh?" I said, and smiled as well. "Well, we've seen that this guy's not undefeatable. We just have to find his weak point, like Shaka said."

"Yeah, yet I'm still not sure what it is..." Dante murmured.

The dark golden saint then took a step forth and we shut our mouths for a moment. Again, we began to circle him, waiting for him to make his move. Yet he just stood quietly and as still as a damn statue. I was beginning to lose my nerve, but I knew that I had to hold on to patience. There was no telling what might happen if we attacked him when he was aware of us... First there was the sea of blood, and when we were planning our second attack, was that horrible tour through the six hells... What was he planning to do to us next?

Of course, something told me right then that I shouldn't have asked that question in my mind. I felt as if somehow, he had heard it... And so, the dark golden saint began to levitate. He clasped his hands together, as in prayer, and the whole temple was absorbed by shadows. Dante and I turned around and saw in terror how nothing of the place remained, not even pillars, not even the floor or the ceiling. But not all was black forever: before we knew it, we seemed to be inside a strange cube of doom, whose walls stretched every time we tried to reach them. It was a horrible prison, the most frightening place you can imagine; not even the six hells had given me such a chill. And in the walls that kept us from escaping the terrible power, a picture of a foul demon appeared. It had two horns on his head, and a waterfall of flames poured from his mouth. He had many arms and hands, all of them armed with sharp claws, and his body was large and strong. I didn't know what sort of devilry was this, but I sure wasn't enjoying it. We turned to the dark golden saint just in time to see how he raised his chin, smiled wickedly, and opened his eyes...

The white in his eyes was actually red blood, and his irises were spectral blue, and his pupils were white. He had the most frightful stare I had ever seen. I couldn't move a muscle. I thought that terror had taken over me. But when I finally convinced myself that it was either time to get killed or time to attack... I still couldn't move at all. I looked at Dante with just my eyes and realized that he was also struggling to move, but he couldn't even lift a finger.

"...Hell's Treasure." the dark golden saint whispered in an evil voice, and when he did this, an intense pain began to invade my eyes. I screamed as loudly as my lungs allowed me and blinked. Yet when I opened them again, there were only shadows. This time, I couldn't even see Dante or our enemy... The damn demon had left me blind.

"Hell's Treasure..." Dante suddenly murmured in a shaky voice. I could tell that he was also in a lot of pain, and probably couldn't see anything either. "Hell's Treasure! Sora, that's it!!" he screamed, and then began to speak really fast. "I know the saint's weak point, Sora! Shaka doesn't have one, because he's the strongest golden saint of them all... But this is no golden saint! This is a shadow of our common enemy! He's a Heartless...! When he opened his eyes, he released his maximum power! And there's one thing, just one thing that every Heartless has in common!! Their weakness is...!!" but before he could finish, the enemy's power zapped his words, and none of us could speak. He had left us without speech.

All too late, Ikki's tale of Shaka again came back to my mind. I realized that this was the end. I knew what would happen next... Either I would go deaf or I would lose my sense of smell. And after either one of those things happened, the other would surely follow. Because, even though this was a mockery of Shaka's most powerful technique, it still had the same effect. That was what the Heaven's Treasure had done to Ikki: it had taken his five senses from him. I felt pain in my ears and tried to scream, but no sound came out of my mind as I realized that I wouldn't hear another sound ever. And then, the final blow. I began to have trouble breathing. Before I knew, I was on the ground. Or at least I thought I was. I mean, I couldn't feel the floor, or anything. I was practically a zombie void of all feelings... To tell the truth, one would be better off dead.

But amazingly, I suddenly felt a warm air... It came from my right hand. It took me a while to figure it out, but I still had the Keyblade tightly grasped. And then I felt a chill. It was a cold air that stroke my legs... I supposed that that was the direction in which the dark golden saint was standing... And that was when Dante's words made sense, and I knew that I still stood a chance. I didn't know how it had been that I had been so blind, but the answer had always been in my hand. The Keyblade! That monster was now vulnerable to the Keyblade!

Dante was indeed a smart guy. To make the dark golden saint open his eyes had been a terrible mistake, but it had also been a blessing. Shaka (and the enemy, for that matter) always has his eyes closed when he is storing and building up his power. When he opens them, his maximum power is released. We had survived that power, and now he was defenseless, because the Keyblade pointed me the way! I left all disbelief go and held on firmly to the warm weapon on my hand and chased the chilling cold that tried to escape me.

I really can't describe the battle very well to you, 'cause I really don't have the slightest idea of how it went. I could only feel the cold wind from within the shadows that surrounded me, and the warmth of the Keyblade running through my arms as I swung them. I knew that I was actually fighting, because the enemy's power wasn't as strong as before. I was void of my five senses, but I still had my sixth sense with me... Thank God I didn't give him any time to destroy that one.

I fought on with all my might, running after the cold wind with that hot weapon in my hands, and swinging it with what little strength I had left. And then, it happened. The chilling air blew just behind me and I thrust the Keyblade backwards. There was a little friction for a moment... and then, the cold wind stopped blowing. The warmth of the Keyblade grew, and I felt my hands begin to tickle. I let out a soft moan, which I actually heard, and fell to the ground, dizzy. I nearly puked my guts out, but I held on and didn't do anything embarrassing. I opened my eyes, and, although blurry, I saw the house of Virgo once more. I turned around, and noticed the final remnants of the dark saint's body, slowly burning away...

"I... I did it..." I murmured to myself. "I did it..." I needed a little breather. I sighed and let my head dive against the ground. It hurt a little, but I was glad it did...

"Sora! Dante!" I heard a voice call. It hadn't been Shaka's... Yet I knew it. The sound that comes from a sword that is unsheathed echoed through the house's pillars, and then I felt a hand touch my neck. "Sora? Can you hear me? Are you alive?"

"...Wilheim?" I muttered. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in the house of Leo..."

"I was, but the dark golden saint of the Heartless has already been defeated. That is why I am here now, to lend you a hand against the terrible foe... Where is he? I shall break him with my blade, and claim his black armor when I cut off his head!" he threatened.

"There will be no need for that." Shaka said in a gentle voice. I slowly got up to my feet, stumbling a few times, and saw him helping Dante to get up. "Sora has already beaten the dark saint."

"What?" Wilheim stuttered, amazed to hear those words. Hey, I was also surprised to hear them... and proud as well.

"I'm glad that these two boys were the ones who stayed here and helped me guard the house of Virgo." he went on as he helped a still dazed Dante to his feet. He shook his head and then let him stand all by himself. Then he looked at Wilheim and said: "No one else could have defeated this enemy. For Dante found out his weakness with a clear mind and cunning wit, and Sora managed to overcome his deplorable condition and reach the Seventh Sense in order to defeat the dark golden saint."

"The Seventh Sense?" I asked. "What's that?"

"You reached the greatest power. Only for a few seconds, but you reached it. Actually, you wouldn't have been able to do so if you still had all of your five senses."

"Five senses? Do you mean that you lost your five senses, Sora?" Wilheim asked.

"Yeah, we both did." Dante replied. "That was a pretty hard battle... Next time, I would appreciate it if someone would please give us a briefing before going into a crazy fight like this one."

"I am so relieved to find that you two are both all right, and that you have fulfilled your mission by defeating the dark enemy that stormed this temple." Wilheim said, with a triumphant smile. "I cannot believe that you reached the Seventh Sense, Sora. It appears that only you and my dearest Ukyo can do such things without being part of the saints."

"Ukyo made it, too?" I asked. "Wow!"

"You warriors are much stronger than I imagined." Shaka said. "I'm happy to have you fighting by our side. But I see that you two boys are exhausted. Why don't you rest for a while? I'll take care of all the Heartless that come this way. The hard part is over." he looked at Wilheim and asked: "Do you still have the strength to help me?"

"I did not help much in the house of Leo, for I was hit by the dark saint's Plasma Lightning, and I feel ashamed that I was of no aid." Wilheim confessed. "I feel that it is my duty to assist you in whatever way I can, golden saint." he swung Renamark fiercely and confidently. "I shall not let you down: I will cut all enemies down with my mighty blade."

"To survive the Plasma Lightning is no little feat." Shaka chuckled. "It's alright, then. Feel free to fight the shadows. You boys go back and get some rest."

"Yeah... Thanks, guys." Dante murmured and put his arm around my neck, and I did the same thing. We both helped ourselves to get to the center of the temple, right next to the altar in which Shaka sat. There, we collapsed, but didn't quite lost consciousness. At least, I remained awake enough time to see a platoon of Heartless come inside the house of Virgo only to get slaughtered by Wilheim's furious blows and by Shaka's unbelievable power.

Libra: Shiryu

"Do you think that she'll be alright? She's been out for a long time..." Ken muttered in a doubtful, worried voice, without taking his eyes off the succubus's unconscious body. She had appeared inside the house of Libra over an hour ago, and all she did nothing but to breathe slowly and stay still. Her eyes hadn't even twitched, and that was beginning to worry me, even though I had tried to stay calm and positive during the time Morrigan had been there. But luckily, nothing could ever damp Ryu's spirit.

"She'll be fine, Ken." he assured. "Just give her some time to wake up..."

"But I don't think it's that easy, Ryu." Ken said. "We should ask the expert about this just one more time to see what he thinks... So, Shiryu, when Hyoga woke up after he was caught in the Gemini saint's 'Another Dimension' technique, was he still alive?"

"One more time, yes." I replied. "What he later told us is that he had woken up and had then faced the golden saint of Aquarius, Camus. What happened after that had nothing to do with the golden saint of Gemini's technique. In theory, Morrigan should be fine. She actually should be waking up any minute now." I concluded, actually trying to convince myself more than I was trying to convince Ken.

"...'In theory'?" he asked, none too pleased with those words.

"Give it a rest, Ken." Ryu insisted. "You should be more worried about the rest of our friends... It's a fortune that the evil energy of the dark golden saint of Gemini has faded, but I still sense a lot of malicious 'chi' all about us. And none of the regular Heartless, so to speak, possesses that sort of power. I'm both a bit frightened and excited at the thought of fighting against a golden saint of Athena. Well, a dark golden saint, but you guys get the picture... It's been a while since I got into a really big fight against someone. I had a lot of fun when I fought with some of the guys at the battle in the Coliseum... You know? When this is over, I'm going to ask them if we can have another go at it."

"There you go again, changing the subject right under my nose." Ken sighed. "Ryu, is there anything else on your mind, besides food and fighting?"

"Easy, Ken." I intervened. "Ryu is right, actually. We shouldn't be worrying too much. Morrigan will be fine... All we can do is try to relax a bit before the evil clone of my master shows up."

"But... Whoa!" Ken whispered. "Hold on, guys! I think that she's coming back!" we quickly ran to where she was lying and looked at her in silence. Her eyes twitched and she moved her body restlessly, as if she were dreaming and was having some sort of a nightmare. "Morrigan...? Morrigan? Can you hear me? Wake up, girl." Ken lowered his head enough so that he was whispering in the succubus's ear. He had only to speak a little more than two seconds before Morrigan suddenly sprung back to life and planted a big kiss on Ken's lips. The fighter seemed somewhat surprised... He didn't kiss her back, but he didn't try to fight her off... "Whoa! You're back!"

"Ken...!" she exclaimed in a low voice. "I knew it was you!"

"Really? That's why you kissed me?" he chuckled triumphantly.

"...Ken..." Ryu mumbled.

"Right, right! Eliza, Eliza!" Ken muttered and hit his head with his fist a few times... That explained why he didn't kiss her back. "Sorry, Morrigan... but you see, I'm sort of engaged."

"Engaged? Then I won't press on the matter. I am still happy to see all of you, though... Where are Ikki and Camille?" she asked as she reached for Ryu's arm, who helped her to her feet. She looked around and after a few moments of staying silent, she said: "I am no longer in the temple of Gemini, correct?"

"No." I answered. "You are in the house of Libra. My guess is that you were sent here by the dark golden saint's techniques. Still, you're lucky that we were here, and not some other enemy."

"Certainly..." she said, with a relieved sigh.

"How are you feeling, Morrigan?" Ryu asked. "Can you get up and fight or would you like to rest a bit more? You don't have to worry about us. We're doing quite alright by ourselves. None of us mind protecting you, right guys?"

"Hell, no!" Ken replied. "On the contrary. I'm more than happy to fight for a lady."

"It's our duty as knights and gentlemen." I added. "We'll keep the monsters off your back, if that's what you want. You don't have to be ashamed to ask for our help..."

"Well, perhaps the gentlemen would allow me to express my thoughts?" she interrupted me. She didn't do it harshly, though. Either way, I decided to shut my mouth for a few seconds and let her speak her mind. "Although I am still somewhat dizzy from that powerful technique's effect, I am confident of my skills. It'll take me a minute to shake off this nasty feeling, and then I will be ready to battle by your side. I am not the kind that passes on a good opportunity to have a bit of fun."

"Then that's good news." Ryu said. "The more the merrier." then he turned to Ken and asked: "Would you mind having another competition with me, Ken? After all, Shun did scam us last time, leaving us with nothing to fight but water..."

"All right, if that's what you want..." Ken replied. "Yet I'm not that thrilled with these competitions. I still have pending business with you, Ryu. I suppose that you haven't forgotten, have you?"

"I have the better score." Ryu chuckled. "Of course I won't forget."

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked.

"What is your competition about?" Morrigan added.

"Oh, it's a little contest that's been going on between me and Ryu for years." Ken said. "We fight against each other and see which of us has the better skills..."

But before he could go on, a small army of Heartless marched through the house's entrance. There were four large knights that held shields with the shape of the head of a dog in front of them. The eyes of this animal shone as if it was alive, and its jaws moved up and down as if wanting a piece of our meat to chew on. A few wyverns there were too, and some mages. We stopped speaking for a moments while we focused in battling against our foes. These lesser creatures didn't worry me at all, actually. I was in fact, saving all of my strength to battle against the dark golden saint of Libra. I was truly nervous: in a way, it would be the first time I would have to battle my own Master. I had practiced against him in the past, yet I knew that he had never let loose all of his power. This enemy would be different, and he would also show no mercy...

Nevertheless, I would have time to think about that later. Right now, I had other opponents to deal with. I quickly made my stand against the stout knights with their broad shields and waited for them to attack. Two went after me and the other two charged against Ryu. Ken readied himself to attack the wyverns while Morrigan flew high and went after the magicians... The two monsters swirled their shields and after an instant of doing practically nothing, they shot a cold blizzard from their shield's mouths. The air was very chilling, but not as much as Hyoga's great attacks. I raised my shield and blocked the blizzard without any trouble. My armor was as resilient as the best diamond, and that petty attack wouldn't even put a scratch in it. Once the attack had ended, I took a step forward, while yelling:

"That won't do you any good!" and then, I unleashed my fiercest attack. "RISING DRAGON!!"

Both opponents tried to block my fist with their shields, but it did them no good. At that moment, I remembered my battle with Seyia... In the beginning, he had also tried to stop my attacks with his arms. I broke his armor into pieces. And these shields were not even half as strong as the old Pegasus's clothes. I hit both of their heads, and literally turned them around. They fell to the ground without a breath of life in their bodies. I raised my guard again, ready to fight the next challenger. But my part in that attack had already ended...

The wyverns quickly dived at Ken. The man put a confident smile on his face and clenched his fist. An aura of energy engulfed him for a moment as he began to gather power. The pillars and the floor near him seemed to grow dark for a moment before he exploded into a furious attack of great power.

"Come get some!! SHORYU – REPPA!!"

His fist caught fire and he leapt into the air with a mighty uppercut, which was later followed by two more attacks. All of the wyverns fell to that terrible technique. As soon as Ken's hand reached them, they stopped flapping their wings and fell to the ground like airplanes hit by a missile. Some of them crashed against the walls and some others against pillars. But when Ken had finished, there were no wyverns alive.

Morrigan shot fiery projectiles of her own at the magicians. A couple of them disappeared and successfully avoided the blows, but some of them were not as quick and died in an instant after being burnt to a crisp by the succubus's attacks. Those that did manage to vanish and reappear somewhere else did not last long alive. Morrigan quickly turned her wings into a hundred whips with sharp ends, and hit her opponents with them. Their attacks were as deadly as the hit from a spiked ball. The enemies couldn't withstand more than two blows. They would be destroyed like dry leafs sucked by a hurricane.

Finally, the two remaining knights began to shoot fireballs at Ryu. The strong warrior merely avoided them by leaping to the sides or if he couldn't evade them, he would simply block them with his hands. He didn't even suffer a scratch from the ceaseless flurry of attacks. He toyed with them for a while before deciding to put an end to the fight. When the two Heartless ceased their fire for an instant, Ryu quickly began to accumulate energy into the palms of his hands. When they saw him doing this, the monsters resumed the attack, but it was too late for them. Ryu's eyes shone with power and a mighty yell came from his throat as he unleashed his potent technique.

"HADOKEN!!"

There was nothing left of the two dark knights. Not even a piece of armor had they left behind. They had simply disappeared into nothingness after being hit by the energy wave Ryu had shot at them. And so, the attack came to an end. Ryu and Ken quickly counted their kills and announced them to their opponent.

"Two!" Ryu said.

"Four!" Ken yelled triumphantly.

"Hey! I used a much lesser technique than you!" Ryu argued.

"Yeah, but I beat the crap out of those guys with style!" Ken laughed.

"What a fun contest." Morrigan intervened, with a giggle. "Aren't you going to take a record of the ladies you have had?"

"Excuse me?" Ryu and Ken stuttered.

"Ah, I see." I chuckled. "You mean like Don Luis Mejía and Don Juan Tenorio, isn't that correct?"

"I see that one man here isn't completely ignorant." the succubus said with an erotic voice and a sexy smile. I could not help but to smile back. Even though she was a bit extravagant for my taste, she was a beautiful woman.

"Don Luis and Don Juan?" Ken said. "'How they shout, those devils! Let me be damned by forked lightning, if when this letter I'm writing is done, I don't end their revels!' (1.)Hah! You thought I, I mean me, Ken Masters, wouldn't know that play? You should have said a little more about it in the first place. Don Juan's list of ladies is pathetic next to mine."

"Really? I thought you were engaged." Morrigan said, with a laugh.

"Prior to that, I'd beat him any weekend."

"Does Eliza know that?" I asked, with a smirk.

"Nah. I'm just goofing, that's all." he laughed. "Yet if I wanted to kill people, I'm more than certain that I would've already beaten more foes than he would ever have in his whole lifetime."

"What are you talking about?" Ryu asked.

"Oh, right, you don't read that much literature. Either way, I certainly would've beaten you too, Ryu." Ken said.

"Really? Even when I have the upper hand in our challenges?"

"That's just because I've let you win."

"Well, you let me win too often." Ryu chuckled.

"Ouch."

"What challenges do you speak of?" I asked. "You were beginning to say something about it earlier, but then the Heartless came, and there was no time for talking."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Ryu said. "Well, it just so happens that every now and then Ken and I fight against each other to test our strength. It's something we've done since we were studying martial arts at the same dojo. Even when we were there, we would compete. I've actually lost count of the years we've been doing this. But now our matches are somewhat rare, since Ken's fiancée doesn't like him to do any fighting. I don't blame her, though. Yet that doesn't make me feel different about fighting against Ken."

"Yeah... Well, Ryu isn't lying, either." Ken admitted. "He has the best win record of the two. But that doesn't mean that I'll never beat you."

"By all means, I hope not." Morrigan interrupted. "That would be very sad."

"Ouch! Quit taking shots at me, people!" Ken exclaimed, and we all laughed. He then turned to me and said: "What about you, Shiryu? Don't you ever fight against one of your buddies? You know, a friendly fight. That's what Ryu and I do."

"Friendly fight?" I murmured. "A friendly fight against my buddies?" I then fell silent for a few seconds and then answered: "I've fought against my friends before. Against Ikki and Seyia, actually. Yet I don't suppose that you could call our matches 'friendly fights'." Seeing that I had gotten their attention, I took a deep breath and kept on talking. "I fought against Seyia in the Galactic Tournament. We were all competing to win the golden clothes of Sagittarius... And we were filled by hatred to one another. In the beginning, I was crushing him. But later, he managed to break both my fist and my shield. I thought that my armor was worthless and took it off. Seyia did the honorable thing by also taking his armor off, which was too, shattered. We fought for I don't know how long... When at last, he discovered my weakness. He took advantage of it and won the fight. I nearly died, but Seyia showed mercy and saved my life. I only succeeded in sending him to the hospital... Since that day, we became good friends. He's saved my life countless times, and I think that I've also repaid my debt by saving him, too... As for Ikki, we all fought against him. In the end, it was Seyia who managed to beat him, using all of our power." Finally, I sighed and concluded: "I guess you could say that Seyia has the upper hand."

"I knew something about the match between you and Seyia." Ryu said. "I heard it on the radio. The Galactic Tournament was a big thing, and many people went to see it. I only knew that he had saved your life, but I didn't know that there was so much story to it... Actually, I thought that you would stay enemies for sure. The last thing I heard was that the Phoenix saint had stolen the golden armor and that four bronze saints had gone after him. As a matter of fact, Ukyo was very surprised to see Hyoga and Ikki fighting side by side in the tournament at the Coliseum. She thought they were enemies... I thought it was all theatre."

"Well, clearly you were mistaken, Ryu." Ken intervened. Then he turned to me and said: "At least you're all friends now."

"In what ways has he saved your life?" Morrigan asked.

"Because of him and my sister, I recovered my sight... That's one thing..." I answered. "And there were a lot of other occasions. It's actually a bit hard to remember them all."

"And speaking about saving lives, we've got four to save: ours!" Ken suddenly shouted, while pointing at the clock tower. The fire of our house had gone. It didn't take us long to realize that the dark golden saint was already waiting for us in the very center of the house, with sharp swords in his deadly hands...

When we turned to face him, he didn't move. He only stood still, waiting for us to make the first move, waiting for us to make a mistake. I had no idea of what to do... I was, after all, facing my master, the man who had taught me everything I knew. And I was certain that he hadn't told me everything he knew. He still kept many secrets to himself, and I dreaded to think what those would be at that time. I was facing my greatest challenge. Yet I wasn't alone: I had three powerful allies who would help me face this evil with their amazing might. But the dark golden saint also had an ally of his own...

Morrigan spun her head around at the sound of a step that came from the entrance to the house. We all turned around when we saw her and realized that another Heartless had entered our domain. It was just one Heartless, but because of that, we knew that it would be a terrible foe to battle. It... looked like a she. She wore a black kimono over her slim body and had voluptuous breasts. I could see that a katana lay still in its sheath on her right side. Her hair was long and was tied into a ponytail. I could see only one of her arms, the left one, for the right arm remained hidden under her long, torn sleeve. Only her right eye shone; the left one was hidden beneath the same veil of darkness that gave color to the rest of her face. I could feel a tremendous power emanating from her; so terrible that it could even match that of Ryu and Ken's... Even my own.(2.)

"That dark clone seems to be some sort of female samurai." Ryu said. "But my guess is that she doesn't use the old – fashioned Hiten Mitsurugi as her fighting style... Look at her closely. She has only one arm. That doesn't mean that we should be too confident... I can feel great power flowing from within her, and I'm sure that you all feel the same as well. This is going to be a tough fight; I have no idea of how that woman will fight against us. I don't know what sort of style she's going to use. Most likely own – taught, which is quite dangerous..."

"That's great. What are we supposed to do now?" Ken grumbled as he turned around over and over again, not knowing whom to face. "I don't know which of these guys will be worse. Any of you have any ideas?"

"It looks to me that they are on the defensive." Morrigan said. "Maybe if we stay still and wait, the fires on the clock tower will burn out, and they will vanish into nothingness. Let them come at us, rather than us going after them."

"Don't you think that they'll attack us sooner or later?" Ken asked.

"They will, if they are aware that they are facing a test of time. But your plan isn't very practical, Morrigan..." I said. "If we wait for them to attack, it's very likely that many Heartless will come. And then it will be a lot harder to defeat these opponents. We must beat them quickly so that they won't get reinforcements. The more they are, the more trouble they will cause. Let's try to beat this two as fast as we can... Do you know how to stop blade thrusts with your bare hands?"

"Yes." Ryu and Ken answered.

"I don't, but I can use my hard wings to stop the attacks." Morrigan said.

"I don't think that will be good enough against the dark golden saint, that is if his swords are as sharp as the ones of the real knight of Libra, and I'm betting that there's a good chance that they are." I said to her. "They can cut through metal as if it were hot butter. But strong, capable hands can stop even the sharpest of blades... I know that Ryu and Ken can stop these swords, for their might is great, but I fear for you, Morrigan... Let's do this: Ken and I will attack my Master's clone, while you and Ryu take on the clone of that woman. I'm certain that your wings will be capable of stopping her blows..."

"I'm fine with that. I guess we'll have to leave the competition for some other time, huh, Ryu?" Ken said.

"We can try it after this, if the battle goes well." Ryu answered. "Attack her from the air, Morrigan. She'll stand no chance against the two of us."

"Alright, then." Morrigan said.

"Okay, then, I think we've given these two guys a lot of time to rest themselves." Ken announced aloud, and pointed at the dark golden saint. "You're going down, buddy! Better brace yourself. You're going to lose big time!" and with that said, he summoned his energy and seconds later, let loose a mighty fireball. "HADOKEN!!"

The dark golden saint skillfully cut the projectile in half with his great swords. Nevertheless, we didn't feel intimidated by this. Ken and I let out a battle cry and ran to meet our opponent, while Morrigan flew high into the air and Ryu charged at the woman...

Our enemy was not only equipped with two sharp swords, but he also possessed a pair of sturdy shields that were as resistant (and maybe a bit more) than my own. I knew that those were not his only weapons: the golden saint of Libra had twelve accessories at his disposal, one for every house that there existed. He had two tridents hanging from his back; a pair of nun chucks hiding on his boots, two triple – nun chucks, and two tonfas, also. I was certain that the minute we would learn his strategy with the swords, he would quickly switch to another weapon...

Yet I chose not to think about that at that moment. I had only to concentrate in defeating my opponent, not to distract myself with other matters. That was why I had lost to Seyia when we had fought... and I would not let my Master down again. I fought with all of my speed, aiming my blows at the saint's head, but not one of them got through his shields. Ken also fought fiercely and valiantly, skillfully stopping the blades with his bare hands whenever the dark golden saint attempted to cut him down. It appeared that our battle was even. But I knew that the dark golden saint had many tricks up his sleeve that he wouldn't reveal until the time was right...

I didn't think that Ryu and Morrigan would have such a hard time against the dark woman. She parried both of their blows with her katana with ease, and did not have even a single scratch on her. She was quick enough to evade both Ryu and Morrigan's projectiles by sidestepping. She was as patient as a snake, waiting for their preys to come at her so that she would later counter attack. Whenever Ryu threw a punch, the woman would thrust her sword at his arm. Many times she almost cut him, but luckily, Ryu was quick enough to yank his arm towards him. Morrigan was safe in the air, however, attacking the woman at will from a distance. Ryu pressed on the attack and kept her off our backs. Ken and I had to do the same thing with this dark foe of ours...

Many times I used my Rising Dragon, trying my best to score a hit at the saint's head. But it had been my Master who had taught me that technique... I had not chance of beating him with that. I had to think of something else, some other technique that I could use against this fiend. As a matter of fact, Ken was having it much easier than I was. His technique, although flamboyant and somewhat stylish, was unknown to the enemy, and he managed to score many blows. On the other hand, the dark golden saint quickly countered every attack that I performed. It was quite a luck that I was wearing my resilient armor. I would be long dead if I hadn't been doing so. Still, it had been severely scratched, and seemed to be on the verge of breaking into a thousand pieces, and this time, Mu wasn't around to fix it.

The enemy got tired of using the swords and quickly put them away. We blinked and he was already holding the two nun chucks in his hands, swirling them with ease.

"Nun chucks?!" Ken yelled. "This is terrific!"

"Try to attack from a distance!" I said to him.

The saint lunged at us with blinding speed and succeeded in connecting many blows at our bodies. We fell back, wounded, but not defeated. Now Ken was just as injured as I was. Those blows had been fatal. We jumped back and began to attack from afar, doing our best to keep him at bay. It was imperative that we kept those deadly nun chucks at bay if we didn't want to die.

Meanwhile, Ryu and Morrigan were still battling against the dark woman. Ryu managed to take her into a corner, and got ready to let loose a flurry of punches and kicks on her. But the woman blocked one of his blows and sidestepped, leaving him against the wall. Morrigan didn't lose another second and flew at the woman. The dark fiend kicked Ryu on his stomach. She didn't hurt him gravely, but that was not her plan anyway. As Morrigan charged at her, the woman brought her foot down with great might, kicking the ground below her as hard as she could.

"TATAMI GAESHI!!" she cried in a grave, malevolent voice, and the rocks on the ground shot up in front of her, hitting Morrigan on the head(3.). Ryu immediately moved to strike her neck, but the fiend simply blocked the blow and then murmured as she cast a terrible spell on our companion: "Baku Ki."

Ryu flew against the wall and fell to the ground. He grumbled and tried to get up, but he couldn't do so...

"M – My legs!!" he cried. "They won't move!!"

"Ryu! Hang on!" Ken yelled, doing his best to stay away from the cursed nun chucks.

The dark golden saint backed us against a wall and prepared to deliver the final blow. We were quick enough to leap away from the blow and fall far away from the fiend, while the wall that he had hit slowly came crashing down. I let out a relieved sigh and stood still for a few moments, thinking of what to do next...

"Shiryu! Look out!" Morrigan yelled all of a sudden. I turned just in time to see the dark woman running at me with her sword unsheathed. I raised my shield and readied myself to block the oncoming blows... Yet I was not prepared for what came next.

"SANZU WATASHI!!" the fiend cried and swung her katana at me three times. I managed to block all three blows with my shield... But the strikes proved to be even greater than I would have imagined. The third blow succeeded in finally cutting my shield in half and knocking me away into the dark golden saint's hands... I was filled by dismay. I was so upset that in fact, I barely listened to Ken's warning yell. The next thing I knew was that I was getting pummeled by the dark saint's quick attacks. His nun chucks were even faster than lightning, and I could not stop even one of them. I spat blood as he kept on hitting me. At long last, he delivered the final blow in my chest, and broke my armor into a hundred pieces. I fell on the ground face down, without being able to get up...

"Damn it! Shiryu!!" Ken yelled. I saw him running at me, but the saint blocked his path, while the dark woman had returned to finish Ryu, yet Morrigan had engaged her in battle before she could reach him. "Get the hell out of my way if you don't want me to crush you, you bastard!" Ken warned, but the foe did not move. "You've asked for it, son of a bitch!!" he leapt at the saint and ducked under his attack. And before the fiend could recover, Ken cried as he kicked his head with great strength: "Take this!! SHIPPU – JINRAI – KIAKU!!"

He followed his kick with another one, perfectly aimed to the unprotected part of the saint's stomach. And then he kicked again and again, turning into a deadly tornado as, after a few moments, lifted his enemy high into the air and sent him flying against a wall. The enemy went through it, and the stone fell to the ground, raising a cloud of smoke. And then, I saw something that I didn't think I'd see then... The golden glimpse caressed my face and I felt hope revive in me, as the warmth of the awesome power that lay inside the box of the armor of Libra began to flow through the temple of my Master...

The golden light blinded me for a second, and then I saw again. I was trapped inside some sort of dream. But this was a good dream; I floated in space, and I saw the armor slowly approaching me. Then it seemed to break into pieces, and before I knew it, it had begun to cover my body. As each magical metal attached to me, I felt the strength of the golden saint flowing within me. There were twelve golden items within me, the very same weapons that the golden saint of Libra used. I closed my eyes, as the final piece of the armor, the helmet, finally rested on my head. I opened them again, amazed by the awesome power that had revived my broken body, and grasped the twelve items. I placed eight of them away, and decided to wear but four: the two shields and the two triple – nun chucks.

"Roshi..."(4.) I whispered. "Thank you, wherever you are. I will not lose this battle."

I clenched my fists about the two handles of my weapons and waked from my dream. I was back in the house of Libra, with the golden armor of the saint covering my body from harm, and the sacred weapons of the warrior resonating in my hands and arms. The dark golden saint stood in front of me, grasping Ken's neck with one hand. He was about to smother him when he noticed me. He then threw my friend away. Ken struggled to get up while coughing and rubbing his neck, but he didn't have the strength to do so right then. But he had done enough work. I realized that the fiend was weakened, for he breathed rapidly and his hands trembled. I raised my guard and waited for him to attack. The enemy gave out an enraged cry as he threw away his nun chucks and grasped one of his two tridents. Then he lunged at me, aiming his weapon at my face.

I waited right until the last moment before I quickly stepped aside and evaded his attack. He immediately tried to drive the trident into my face again, but I raised my arm and blocked the blow with my golden shield. With a sudden yell, I counterattacked by kicking him back. I didn't know that I had the strength to kick like that... The fiend flew against the wall of the temple. He crashed and brought the stone down. Naturally, I knew that he was still alive. Though my attack had been quite powerful, it would take much more than that to destroy the dark fiend that impersonated my Master... And as I expected him to do so, my opponent suddenly appeared from the cloud of smoke that the stone had raised and charged at me with blind fury. He was terribly angry; somehow I felt that he was jealous of me, jealous because it was I who had inherited the true golden armor, the sacred clothing of the true golden saint. To see me with the golden armor of Libra enraged him... And to lose the head in a battle is to lose the battle itself.

He threw his fist at my face, but I quickly blocked his blow with my shield and afterwards began to swing the nun chucks as fast and as hard as I could. My attacks became as fast as lightning bolts, and the golden saint was unable to stop them all. I aimed most of them at his head, of course, but, surprisingly, those that did not get his face dented his armor... I suppose that that was because my weapons were the true weapons of the saint hitting a false armor... Yet he didn't give up, and kept defending himself with all his might. Nevertheless, I could feel my Master's spirit burning within me, and I would not stop my attack until that enemy would be utterly defeated.

The might of my Master became my own. The evil Heartless was filled by hatred and wasn't thinking clearly. The harder he tried to defend himself, the harder his armor crumbled. Though he yelled at the top of his lungs, I didn't cease my rampage. And when all of his clothing had shattered and lay scattered over the ground, I finished him using my most potent technique.

"This is for you, Roshi!!" I cried. "Take this, dark fiend! Rising Dragon!! ROZAN SHORYU – HA!!"

The saint cried in pain as my fist turned into the mouth of a dragon and went through his armor. His eyes became small as I felt my arm sinking deep within his flesh. I destroyed his dark heart and he disappeared in a blast of dark fire; there was nothing left of him, but a pain – filled cry that vanished after a few seconds... All of his weapons broke. There couldn't be another armor as powerful as the one I was wearing. I had proved to be superior than my rival... I smiled and sighed.

But the battle was still not over. I heard Morrigan's cry and quickly turned around to find her on the verge of being defeated by the dark woman. Ryu was still unable to move his legs: I don't know what sort of curse she had placed upon him, but the powerful warrior couldn't even stand up. The more he struggled, the weaker he seemed to get... Morrigan had been protecting him all that time, and because of that, she was losing the fight. She was more concentrated in looking after Ryu than fighting against her enemy... Yet I was already able to help her. I unsheathed my swords and ran at her... But I was too late.

An exhausted Morrigan threw a weak punch at the enemy's face. The woman blocked and hit the succubus on her chin with the hilt of her katana. Then she kicked her in the stomach, and left her out of air. And then, with a movement faster than my eyes could see, she ran at her and stood still at her back. Morrigan lowered her arms and her eyes drafted to me, and I looked back at her in horror and dismay as tears began to run down her cheeks...

"Garyou Tensei." The woman whispered.

She had sliced through our succubus with great speed and ease. Before I knew it, Morrigan fell to the ground. Her blood began to cool upon the ground, while the swordswoman sheathed her katana, which was stained with a bright red color.

"NO!!" Ryu cried in horror and anger. "DAMN YOU!!" I merely stood quiet and still, too horrified to say or do anything.

The woman quickly rushed at him, ready to finish him in the same manner that she had finished with Morrigan. But as she ran, Ryu's anger fueled his strength, and the curse on him faded. The fiend threw her katana at Ryu's neck, but the man skillfully grasped the blade with his bare hands. The woman seemed so surprised that she forgot to hold a firm grip over her katana as Ryu took it from her and threw it where she could not reach it. And then, with great rage running through his body, the warrior clenched his fist as his legs got ready to propel him upward in the most devastating attack he knew...

"I'll kill you for this, fiend!" he punched his foe in her stomach and then yelled at the top of his lungs: "SHIN – SHORYUKEN!!"

The woman let out a cry as Ryu gave her the final blow and sent her flying high into the air. She never fell down. She just disappeared into nothingness. Only Ryu landed near us again...

Ken, who had been knocked out until this moment, woke up and rubbed his head. He then noticed Morrigan lying on the ground and a pool of blood around her...

"What...? No!" he exclaimed as we all ran to her. We knelt by her side and turned her around. Her skin was as white as a sheet, and her eyes were closed as if she were in a deep dream. She had a terrible cut in her stomach, and blood still gushed from it. With trembling hands, I touched her neck, hoping to feel a pulse... But I felt nothing. With a frightened gasp, I removed my helmet, lowered my head and pressed my ear against her chest. I heard not a single sound. Her heart had stopped beating... Morrigan was dead.

"No..." Ryu murmured, shaking his head, while I looked at him with a stupefied glance. I couldn't believe it. If I wasn't crying, it was probably because I was still in shock... "No, she... She can't be dead... There has to be a way... Damn it, we have to do something!!"

"We need to get help..." Ken stuttered. "Aeris is with Link on Scorpio! Let's go ask for help! Ryu, we've got to go before she bleeds to death!!"

"Guys..." I murmured, doing my best to keep my voice firm, with nothing else in mind than to get some sense up their heads... "There's... there's nothing we can do. She's gone. She's dead."

"NO!" Ryu cried. "I refuse to accept that! She fought to keep me safe from harm! I'm not going to leave her! I refuse to leave her! I'll get her heart beating again, even if I have to die while doing so!" he got up and added with a determined breath: "I'm going to go to the house of Scorpio, and I'm taking Morrigan with me. Aeris will help me, I know that!!"

"Even if you get her to Scorpio, I doubt that Aeris will be able to revive her!" I said. "Please understand that, Ryu!"

"Hey..." Ken suddenly intervened, while glancing at the house's entrance. We turned our heads and noticed a glimpse of light... "HEY!! TISH!!"

The little fairy stopped short when she heard our friend's call and quickly flew inside the temple and to our side. She need not ask what was the matter. She saw Morrigan in that pool of blood and knew that her heart beat no more.

"Dear God..." she muttered. "What kind of monster did this to her?"

"It doesn't matter right now!" Ryu said. "Please, save her, Tish! We need you to get her back to life!"

"Can you cure her, Tish??" I asked.

"Yes, I..." she paused for a moment, before assuring: "Yes, I can! Stand back!" she quickly pressed herself against Morrigan's chest and began to chant a spell in a strange language. The language of the elves, I suppose... Her voice began to echo within the pillars of the house... And then, a green light engulfed her body. Morrigan began to move as if she was being electrocuted, and Tish held firmly to the succubus. Her voice grew and grew, until we couldn't stand it any longer and covered our ears.

It all ended in a few moments. All became quiet, and so we found a beat Tish kneeling on top of the succubus' chest. I stayed still for a few moments, not knowing what to do, until at last, I walked to them and slowly knelt by their side. I touched Tish's shoulder; she was too hot, and nearly burnt my finger off. She merely turned to me with an apologetic looked, but no word came out of her mouth. She was too weak to speak. But as I moved my hand to Morrigan's chest to check for a heartbeat, she whispered in a low voice:

"She is alive... I succeeded in reviving her. I also closed the wound that had been inflicted on her... But it was too deep. She does not have much blood flowing inside her body: she needs more medicine. Her heart will fail again if nobody cures her soon... And I am afraid that I cannot do nothing else for her. I regret to say this, but I cannot even move... And here I wanted to go to Demean's side. I suppose I will have to trust that he and Merryck will do fine without me."

"Damn it..." Ryu murmured. "How much time does she have?"

"I do not know. But even if she is as strong as one of you, she does not have much time left."

"Morrigan saved me from that dark woman. It's only fair that I repay her the favor." Ryu turned to us and asked: "Shiryu, Ken, can you guard the house of Libra by yourselves for a time? I have to hurry up and get Morrigan to Aeris. I'll also take Tish with me... Hopefully, Aeris will be able to cure her too so she can fly to Demean's side. If she can't, I'll take her there myself. So can you hold on?"

"Why are you still here?" Ken said. "Of course we can hold in here, Ryu. God damn it, get out of here! Hurry up and save Morrigan!!"

"You haven't got a moment to lose, so get moving, Ryu!" I added.

"Right. I'll see you later!" he said, as he quickly put Morrigan on his back and Tish on his shoulder and ran outside the house as fast as he could. Meanwhile, Ken and I stood side by side, silently waiting for more enemies to appear. We spoke no more. He didn't even ask me about the golden armor of Libra, which I still wore on my body. I wouldn't have known what to answer him if he had asked me, anyway. I was still too surprised to have found that I possessed the strength to be a golden saint... But I was more worried about Morrigan. I didn't know Ryu would make it to Scorpio in time. I could only think of our dear succubus... And that thought shut my lips.

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1.These are the first four lines of Don Juan in the play 'Don Juan Tenorio' written by José Zorrilla, as translated by N. K. Mayberry & A. S. Kline. :)

2.I didn't want to tell this at the beginning so it would be a surprise. The shadow that helps the dark golden saint of Libra is actually a dark clone of Baiken from Guilty Gear X (Right: by the way, I don't owe her. She's property of Sammy Studios), in case you haven't already figured that one out. I have too many characters and I know that including yet ANOTHER PERMANENT ONE would be just too much, unless I got rid of one of the other characters. But she just had to appear in this story... I'm actually thinking of making her one of the main characters in the sequel to this tale... The real Baiken, of course. :)

3.I know that this isn't the way Baiken performs the Tatami Gaeshi in the game, but, though my story is quite ridiculous in some parts, it would be just too much to have her pop a Tatami out of nothing, like she usually does.

4.Roshi means 'Master', for those who don't know that already. That's the way that Shiryu actually calls his Sensei. :)


	27. Chapter TwentySix: Sting, Arrow, Sword, ...

I'm sorry. I'm really, really, REALLY sorry that it took me so damn long to finish this chapter. I had something to do during the vacations (that didn't keep me from writing, though... I just wrote less than I expected), so that's why it took me some more time to finish this. Either way, here it is. 

Two things: Mr. Kiosce, I need you to mail me your new email address again. Sorry, I lost it... I sort of had some trouble with the computer... Anyway, just mail me, please. I want to ask you some things regarding you-know-what chapter (it's still planned, don't worry). Okay, the second goes for everyone. It's just a statement... From now on, I'll try to make the chapters a little shorter, so that I can post them sooner than later. But I can't promise anything, because usually I get a little carried away... :) Well, at least the next chapter will be shorter. This I assure.

Okay, on with the story. And, once again, I apologize for taking so long. :)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Sting, Arrow, Sword, and Ice

Scorpio: Link

"SCARLET NEEDLE!!"

"BLIZZAGA!!"

"AAAHHH!!"

Our cries echoed within the walls of the house of Scorpio for many hours. As time passed, the army of heartless grew stronger and stronger. It was indeed a strange thing... It is well known that, in order to win a battle, an army must strike swiftly and hard, or they are doomed to grow weak and lose because of weariness. Yet these monsters kept on coming one after the other, like an endless swarm of bees. The storming of the dark army should have ended hours ago, for we had already killed several hundreds. But the Heartless were endless: not even Ganondorf possessed the power to sprout monsters from the shadows.

Milo and I had much experience from the numerous fights we had waged in the past. We were favored by four goddesses – Din, Nayru, Farore, and Athena – and because of this, we had plenty of energy, enough to battle for another seven hours, perhaps. But Aeris, my beautiful sorceress, had not as much experience as we did, and her strength was beginning to fade. Each time she cast a spell, her voice came out with less and less power, and her fire conjures were not as potent as they were during the first three hours. Her ice magic lacked chill and her eyes revealed a terrible weariness. I doubted that she would be able to stay on foot for another hour, and suggested her to rest a bit. But Aeris was stubborn, and insisted on helping us, despite that she knew well that Milo could only heal wounds; he could not give her more energy.

Because of this, I stayed close to her and kept my shield in front of her body: no arrow, sword, or lance would threaten her while I stood. I was, however, worried about the dark golden saint; we were not losing the battle, but we had yet to face our most terrible adversary. I could only hope that I would have the strength and the skill to shield Aeris from the Heartless's blows... Milo would have to fight more aggressively, for I would risk no harm to my sorceress.

There was a moment of silence, in which no Heartless crossed the entrance to the house. I wiped off the sweat covering my forehead and sighed. Milo turned to Aeris, who had lowered her head and breathed deeply, and said:

"Aeris, in the name that all that you hold holy, get some rest."

"I'm fine." She replied and quickly stood straight.

"By Farore, Aeris, you are as stubborn as a mule!" I exclaimed. "Heed the golden saint and get yourself into a corner. I shall keep a close eye on you. Trust me: no enemy will get past me and attack you."

"If that's the case, then I might just lend you a hand with my magic, while keeping myself out of danger, Link." She said.

"Jesus..." Milo muttered and glanced up while rolling his eyes. Indeed, Aeris could smash anyone's patience. All she needed was a bit of time. But after a few moments, the saint looked at the house's entrance and said: "Damn it... Okay, Link. Get ready: here comes another wave."

"Sword, give me strength." I whispered to the Master Sword, and felt a rush of energy flowing through my body as a response. "Will these fiends ever meet their doom?"

"There's one way to find out..." Milo said and then shouted, as he aimed his finger at the first of the monsters that came into the temple: "SCARLET NEEDLE!!" The Heartless – a large wyvern – cried in pain as an invisible ray went through its body. Then it vanished, and Milo and I confronted the rest of the Heartless.

These ones were mostly wyverns and gargoyles and other sorts of flying Heartless. Though the Master Sword was anxious to let loose its righteous rage, I had to sheathe it, and quickly took out my bow. I took out an arrow and quickly pulled the string back, and then fired a powerful projectile that went through a pair of gargoyles and a wyvern. Milo had no need to resort to weapons like myself: he was more powerful than that. His mere finger could make entire armies disappear in an instant. That man's hand is the one of Din, I thought, for such a power is only held by the goddesses. He did not suffer a single wound and did not even have to take a step in any direction: he held his ground firmly, and no enemy could get past him. Yet I had to be on the move at all times. Mostly because of Aeris... I had to get the monsters' attention so that they would come after me and forget about her. I threw myself at the ground in order to evade the powerful claws of the wyverns and turned my back against the gargoyles so that their projectiles would hit my shield. I quickly defeated most of them by myself... But the stubborn Aeris used her magic to aid me. Yes, she indeed got rid of the Heartless in the blink of an eye, but became wearier. When the wave of Heartless had been destroyed, she gave out a moan and nearly fell to her knees; she had to lean on her staff in order to keep herself from falling.

"Aeris, get to a corner, and stay there." I said in a demanding voice... As you probably have already guessed, I was most vexed by her stubbornness. "That is an order."

"Oh, so now you're going to order me around?" she replied defiantly, with a spark of fury in her eye. "I'm only trying to help, you know."

"If you really want to help out..." Milo intervened, speaking with much more intelligence than me, "Then please, I beseech you, rest for a while. We'll need your magic when we face my dark self."

Aeris breathed heavily, with her eyes steady on Milo, for nearly a minute. Then, she finally sighed, lowered her head and shook it.

"All right." She agreed, at last, to our contempt. "But when the dark saint comes, I don't care what either of you say: I'm going to fight it out."

"Fair enough." Milo said. "Now rest."

"Okay, Hero of Time..." she said to me, "Since you weren't very nice to me a few moments ago, you're going to have to make up for it. From this moment on, you're going to be my personal bodyguard."

"How strange. I thought that I had already accepted that job." I replied, with a smile, feeling a bit repented for having spoken to her like I had done an instant ago. "There is not much time left... Rest a bit, Aeris, before this foe appears."

"Yeah..." she muttered. I went by her side and offered her my arm so that she could lean on it rather than on her staff. She accepted my offer and grasped my arm. But then she also placed her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes, while forming a smile on her face. I smiled back at her and caressed her cheek as I took her to a corner and gently lowered her on the floor. Though it was night and the ground was made out of rock, it was not cold. I suppose that this was due to the warm power that flowed from Milo and from my dear Aeris's magic. Either way, I stood up, not before stealing a quick kiss from her, and readied myself for another wave. Again, I unsheathed the Master Sword and held my Hylian shield tightly, hoping that they would still serve me as well as they had done for such a long time.

"Look sharp, Link." Milo said. "Here comes another wave."

"They will fall quickly." I assured and spun my blade confidently.

We waited a few seconds before a couple of wyverns flew into the temple. Milo killed one with his Scarlet Needle and I slew the other as he flew at me. It did not take us more than two seconds. We patiently waited for the rest of the army to come inside. The Heartless peeked into the temple and let out battle cries before entering. But suddenly, they stopped short and turned their heads around. They stayed frozen for a while, and then they ran down the stairs. Milo and I looked at each other and then we slowly approached to the entrance of the temple, wondering what it had been that had drawn the Heartless attention. I did not, however, take my sight off Aeris, not for one moment. I was like a hawk that looks after its little ones, and I was ready to soar to her help at any second...

A cry deafened the Heartless yells. Milo and I quickly ran outside to help the man who had shouted, for he had a human voice and, for my part, at least, I knew it well...

"SHINKU – TATSUMAKISEMPUKIAKU!!"

When we got to his side, Ryu had already defeated all of the Heartless that had stood on his path. He was very weak, however, and could hardly stay on foot. I cannot tell why, but to see that mighty warrior tired and wounded filled me with a rage that I cannot describe. And I had still to see the surprise he had brought with him...

"Milo... Link! I need your help!" he said, nearly without a breath in his body. "It's Morrigan... A Heartless killed her back in the house of Libra! Tish brought her back to life, but she says that she doesn't have much time! She needs someone else to cure her!"

The succubus and the fairy lay by his side, the later unconscious on top of the other. Tish had only passed out, but Morrigan's skin was growing whiter and deader with each passing second. She was still alive, though, for I could listen to her weak breaths... My rage grew as I quickly sheathed my sword and carried both of them with my arms.

"Milo, can you help her?" I asked the golden saint.

"Her wound has been healed..." he replied. "My curative magic is not that powerful. Take her to Aeris: hopefully, she'll be able to cure her completely."

"I'm here!" Aeris's voice called from behind. I spun my head and saw that she was already running down the stairs. I guess that she must have heard Ryu's cry too. I did not scold her for leaving her hiding place, naturally. It was Morrigan's life that was at stake, and I wanted her to save her... It would just have to be one more spell, and that would be it. "I can cure her." She assured. "But it'll take me a bit of time... Take her to the temple: I'll heal both her and Tish."

"Oh, God..." Ryu sighed and fell to his knees, exhausted. "Thanks, Aeris."

"I can, however, cure you." Milo said and quickly tended Ryu's wounds. In a mere instant, Ryu's wounds had closed, and he was as strong as ever. "There you go."

"Thanks, Milo." Ryu said. "I'll stay with you until Morrigan's better. I hope that's okay with you."

"Certainly." The saint of Scorpio replied. "Now quick, let's return to the temple!"

Without losing one more second, I bolted to the house, with Aeris, Milo, and Ryu following close behind. I quickly left Morrigan and Tish in the same corner that I had told Aeris to stay in. I took a few steps back and my dear sorceress began to work her magic on both women. As she cast the healing spell, her body was engulfed with a green aura and a warm, rejuvenating wind began to blow. And after a few moments, Morrigan's skin began to pink up, and Tish began to squirm in her sleep, clearly wanting to wake up.

"By Nayru, it is working..." I said, with a relieved sigh. "Thank the goddesses for your magic, dear Aeris."

"The Heartless are coming, Link!" Milo shouted. "Come on! We've got to protect the girls!"

He needed not to say more than that. With burning anger, I unsheathed my Master Sword and, with a cry, I threw myself at the oncoming army, along with the golden saint of Scorpio and Ryu, whose fists possessed an even greater fury that my own.

"I'll get you all for what you did to Morrigan, you bastards!!" he cried. "Take this! SHORYUKEN!!" he then leapt into the air, raising his fist high over his head, and destroyed, with that single, devastating blow, a large warrior, a wyvern, and a wizard.

"SCARLET NEEDLE!!" roared Milo, as his fingernail grew long and red, like the tail of a scorpion, and fired invisible projectiles that slew rows of Heartless. When they received his attack, they flew across the house before dying, as if a battering ram had hit them.

For my part, I charged at the Heartless, aiming my sword at them as if it was a lance, and pierced through most of them. A large armored monster stopped my race, but he was not save from me. The creature was armed with a bizarre shield that had the shape of a dog, and before I knew it, it attacked me with its sharp jaws. I quickly evaded the blow by rolling to the side and then leapt at my enemy and brought down my blade upon him with great force. The steel of the Master Sword cut through the Heartless armor and sent him to oblivion. I spun in my feet, shielding my face with both sword and shield, but no more attacks came. The Heartless had all been destroyed.

"Another futile attempt." I whispered to myself. "I can only hope that the dark golden saint will prove to be as much threat as these abominations."

"I wouldn't bet on that." Said Ryu, who had overheard me. "It won't be easy, I can tell you that. All that we can actually hope for is that he'll face us alone. If that had been the case back in the house of Libra, I probably wouldn't be here right now, asking for your help. But a Heartless with the shape of a dark woman came to the fiend's aid... She was the one that killed Morrigan."

"Then she must have been a terrible opponent, for Morrigan's strength is quite amazing." I said, none too happy of his words. "Let us hope that this will not happen here... For if it does, I do not fear for my life, but for my dear Aeris's."

"The dark golden saint should appear any minute now. I'll stay here and help you fight him. It's the least I can do for you."

"I would usually say that it would be best if you just rested... But I am afraid I cannot say that now. I thank you for your fists, Ryu. I fear for the sake of our friends, actually: not for our own."

"Then we'll be their shields."

"Aeris?" Milo suddenly called. I quickly turned to the corner and saw that my dear sorceress lay on the ground, breathing heavily, with her eyes half opened. Beside her, still lay Morrigan, but her skin had no longer the white color of death, and Tish was already sitting up in the succubus's stomach. She had regained her strength, and was glowing brightly, like she usually did... The golden saint and I knelt beside them and he asked: "Are you alright?"

"Sure... just a bit tired." Aeris said. "Guys, I don't think that I'll do much good against the dark golden saint..."

"Worry not about it, Aeris." I interrupted her. "We will hold our stand against him."

"I... I am all right." The little fairy suddenly murmured. "I feel strength in me again." She let out a jolly giggle and spun on the tip of her toes. Then she looked at Aeris and said: "Thank you, dear friend, for saving Morrigan and for helping me get back to my feet. I shall give you a bit of energy, but I am afraid that I cannot give you too much, for I still need to fly to the house of Sagittarius and aid Demean, Merryck, and Seyia."

"You're welcome, Tish." Aeris replied with a sweet smile on her face, as the little fairy cast a healing spell on her and gave her a little energy back. Then, she stayed still in the air and looked at us for a few moments before drawing a lovely smile on her face and nodding her head as a sign of thanks. We smiled back and nodded as well. And so she was off, leaving behind her a trail of faint light that died after a few moments.

"Now that Morrigan's alright, I can focus more on the fights." Ryu said. And suddenly, we all turned our heads to the clock tower, for though there had been no bell that had rung a warning, we all knew that the time for our showdown with the dark golden saint had come. The monster emerged from a puddle of shadows, in the center of the temple. Milo and I stood up and put ourselves on guard. It was time for us to show this creature what the power of our protectors was capable of. Ryu wasted no time and quickly let loose his rage in the form of a potent fireball. "HADOKEN!!"

Indeed, there was fury in Ryu's projectile, and much power, too, but the dark golden saint was much too powerful to fall to that blast, and merely shrugged it off as if it had been no more than a rubber ball. Yet Ryu was not intimidated by the warrior's might, nor were Milo and I, and we quickly threw ourselves into battle.

The dark golden saint leapt away from us and attacked us with the same skill that the knight of Scorpio had used to destroy all the enemies we had faced thus far. Ryu evaded the strikes, while I stopped them with my shield. Milo did not seem to be affected by his own poisonous attack, thank the goddesses, but that could only mean that his powerful strike would be ineffective on the foe as well. But his fist would still be able to damage our opponent, no doubt. Either way, I kept swinging my sword at him in hopes of scoring a deadly blow. His armor was too tough for my blade to go through it, but the power of the Master Sword is legendary, and not even while wearing those dark, hole clothes could the fiend stand perfectly still after I attacked him.

Naturally, I was quite worried about both my dear Aeris and the fair Morrigan, who was still unconscious. Should a Heartless attack them, they would be completely defenseless. Although I am the keeper of the Triforce of courage that does not mean that I am impervious to fear: I was terrified at the thought of losing my beloved sorceress. And because of this, I did not fight my best. Though fear fueled my strength, I was not as skillful as I normally was...

The dark golden saint ran at the temple's entrance and then stood still for a few moments. We stopped our attack, waiting to see what he would do next. But instead of gathering power to let loose a devastating blow, the dark knight simply waited by the house's entrance for other Heartless to join him. And help is what he got: an army of flying fiends and wizards came through the house's entrance, casting fierce spells and throwing themselves at us with their claws.

A wall of flames rose from the ground, making us retreat to a far corner of the house. The fire became yet another foe that blocked our vision of the Heartless. It was not difficult to imagine what the foul creatures were up to. I quickly sheathed my sword and conjured one of the few spells that I knew; a spell that was taught to me by one of the Great Fairies of my homeland, Hyrule: Nayru's Love. A blue field of energy covered my body, and so I leapt through the wall of fire. Unfortunately, I did not know that the magicians of the Heartless had so much power. I passed through the flame unharmed, but the magic shield that protected me wore off immediately. Yet that was unimportant. The Heartless were like hungry predators that hunt the weaker preys: while the army had gone after both Milo and Ryu, the dark golden saint was slowly approaching to both my dear Aeris and the unconscious Morrigan. My sorceress, to my surprise, did not seem frightened. There was resolve and bravery in his face and, although she could not stand, she placed herself in front of the succubus, ready to fight in whatever way she could. I was of course, not going to allow the fiend to get any closer to my Aeris. With rage in my hands and with a loud cry, I brandished the Master Sword and attacked the Heartless with a Spinning Attack.

"Get away from them!!"

My enemy could have easily countered my blow, for I aimed too high. I meant to cut off his head, as you may imagine. But the fiend did not expect me to attack him. I suppose that he thought that I was still behind the wall of fire, fighting against the rest of his comrades along with my two friends. Surprised as he might have been, he was still skilled enough to parry my blade. He tried to destroy me with his Scarlet Needle, but I quickly blocked the blow with my shield. Then he threw his fist at my jaw, yet I ducked under the attack, quickly got a hold of his arms and swung under his legs. I tried to stab him from the back, but the dark golden saint raised his arm and my blade slid by his armor.

I kept on battling against the fiend, while both Ryu and Milo, I supposed (and hopped), were doing their best to destroy the magicians and put an end to their spell. I could not see them through the wall of flames. Nevertheless, their battle cries still reached my ears.

"SCARLET NEEDLE!!"

"SHORYUKEN!!"

I fought restlessly against the foe: neither him nor me were able to strike any blows. I still had plenty of energy, and was not as angry as I had been at the beginning of our battle. My fear had grown as I had watched the dark golden saint approach my Aeris, and fright had fallen like cold water on the fire that was my rage. This had not been a bad thing, for though I did not strike as ferociously as before, I fought more intelligently. After a short time I had already managed to score a few slashes to the dark saint's hands and face. Yet I had still to deliver the fatal hit.

I was gaining the upper hand in the battle. The Heartless could do nothing but to attack with punches and kicks, for every time he tried to hit me with his Scarlet Needle, I raised my shield and deflected his blow. I felt that my victory was nigh and fear began to leave me. But suddenly, another wave of Heartless entered the house. It was not as big as the other one, yet there were still many foes for me to handle by myself. I froze for an instant, not knowing what to do next, hoping for the goddesses to grant me some aid...

As the Heartless prepared themselves to attack me all at once, I heard a cry coming from the wall of flame. I turned to it and saw that Ryu had managed to jump through the fire. He had been wounded by the intense heat, but he was not yet defeated. Milo still remained behind the wall. I take it that he still had to defeat the pesky wizards that kept him there. Whatever the case had been, I only counted with Ryu's help at the moment. While my friend gathered his remaining strength and lunged at the wave of Heartless with his spinning kick while yelling 'Tatsumakisempukiaku', I attacked the dark golden saint again, and did not let him go after the women.

Ryu was weak, but not enough for the Heartless to counter his powerful blows. He was still a fearless warrior with enough strength in his fists to shatter the stoutest shield with a hit of rage. When a wyvern dove at him in hopes of burying its claws on his chest, he would uppercut it. When he found himself surrounded by foes, he quickly executed his spinning kick and destroyed all of his opponents. It did not take him long to finish with the remaining Heartless. But then, another wave entered. Nevertheless, Ryu faced them with no fear and steady fists, allowing me to keep concentrating on defeating the dark golden saint. It was clear to me that hundreds of Heartless were still pouring into the house by the other side of the wall of flames, and they were all surely attacking Milo. The knight of Scorpio was surely too powerful for the evil beings and was taking them down with ease, yet we knew that he had still to succeed in defeating the wizards, for the wall of flames still rose from the ground and did not seem to wane.

Meanwhile, I kept fighting against the dark golden saint as best as I could. I still had the advantage, but he had a powerful weapon at his disposal that he had not used. And suddenly, he decided that it was time for me to die.

He attacked me with a quick flurry of punches and kicks. I managed to block them all while he circled me. When I had turned my back to the entrance of the house, he ceased his rush. I waited for him to attack me again, but instead, he stood still, with his red eyes staring at mine... And then, after a few moments, he turned his back to me and began to run at Aeris and Morrigan, his finger pointing at them like the tail of a scorpion that is about to strike its prey. With terror, I quickly chased him, hoping that I could somehow thrust my sword into his flesh before he could attack my beloved and the succubus. But by going after him, I fell into his trap.

The Heartless stopped short and turned back at me with blinding speed, as he cried:

"SCARLET NEEDLE!!"

Everything went black for a second. I could no longer move my legs, and my sword and shield had slipped from my hands. I simply did not have the strength to hold them any longer. I could hardly see anything and even my ears could not capture any sound, save for the faint desperate cry of my beloved Aeris, who had yelled my name in horror as the fiend's Scarlet Needle had hit my chest. I felt a terrible pain circling through my whole body, a pain that did not let me move nor speak nor blink. It was the Heartless's poison running through my veins. Its sting was the most painful thing I had ever felt. And not before long, he attacked me again, and again, and again...

He buried his invisible sting into my legs and arms and stomach. Every hit blinded me more than before and increased the agonizing pain that I felt. Twelve times he hit me, and his poison was not far from stopping my heart. And even then, all I could think about was how stupid I had been, to fall into such a trap. My fear had led me out of control... I wanted to think that it was better that I should die and Aeris and Morrigan should live, but with no one left to protect them, the bastard would surely attack them next...

The dark golden saint readied himself for the final blow, and as he did, I remembered what Milo and Hyoga had told me about the Scarlet Needle. A single strike is as painful as the sting of a scorpion, and as dangerous, too. The same deadly venom runs through one's veins. But the Scarlet Needle's true strength came from its shape: thirteen strikes formed the constellation of Scorpio, and through it, flowed terrible destructive power into the body of the victim; no man had ever survived the final blow of the Scarlet Needle, except for one... the Cygnus's saint, Hyoga. The dark golden saint needed only to hit me one more time in order to send me to oblivion... I could do nothing more than to close my eyes and to hope that my body would be able to withstand the same punishment that Hyoga's had endured.

A moment of uncertainty passed and then I heard a shout. It had not come from the dark golden saint, or from any of the other Heartless. It had been a woman's shout... I quickly opened my eyes again and found Aeris standing in front of me, with her rod ready to fend off whatever attack may come. But she had not been the one who had shouted. I looked beyond my beautiful sorceress and saw the black knight struggling against Morrigan, who had skillfully managed to turn her wings into tentacles and to wrap them about the fiend's hands and neck. Seeing this opportunity, I knew that I had to strike quickly, before the succubus's strength would fail. Morrigan was still weak, no doubt, and it was only a matter of seconds before she would fall unconscious again. But I too, was very weak. The poison was still flowing in my body and it was not long before my legs stopped supporting my weight. I fell to the ground and began to convulse uncontrollably.

"Link!!" Aeris cried, kneeling by my side and grasping my hand with hers. "Don't give up! I'll save you!!" as weak as my sorceress was, she gathered the last bit of strength left in her to conjure on last spell. Her eyes shone magically as a blue aura engulfed her. She then stretched her hands at my trembling body and whispered: "Esuna."

A white mist of energy surrounded me. It floated about me for a few moments before entering me through the wounds the dark golden saint had inflicted upon my skin. I felt as if a cool air had suddenly blown into the intense fire that had been devouring me until that moment. I stopped convulsing and let out a relieved moan. Her spell had been powerful enough to even undo the harm that the Scarlet Needle had caused... I could fight once again.

Everything was clear once more. Aeris struggled to stay awake by my side. That last spell had left her void of energy. And Morrigan's face was filled by pain as she tried to get a hold of the enemy's arms. He was slowly breaking free and it seemed to me that he was about to shatter Morrigan's wings with merely a strong pull. Ryu was fighting against another wave of Heartless that had entered the house and Milo was still behind the wall of flames. By now, I could already see him. He had certainly killed many wizards. Hence, the spell was weakening. But the fire was still solid, and I reckoned that not even the knight of Scorpio would be able to get through. I did not have a moment to lose. There was only one opportunity...

I grabbed my Master Sword and Hylian Shield and quickly sheathed them. My blade was strong, but it lacked the speed that I needed to finish with the dark golden saint before he would harm Morrigan. And so I took out my Fairy Bow and aimed an arrow at the enemy's head. I pulled the string hard, but not too much, for the succubus was still behind him; the arrow had to fly swift and true, but with just about enough strength to pierce the fiend's skull and stay there, letting light ebb into the black body. Zelda's gift, the Light in the arrows, began to flow through my hand into the tip of the arrow, and so it began to flicker like a candle in a dark room. The dark golden saint of Scorpio, tired by Morrigan's perseverance, turned around and got ready to attack her with the Scarlet Needle. I waited no longer and shot the foe.

The arrow buried itself deep within the monster's head and then, it began to smother it with its pure energy. The fiend raised his hands to his neck and tried to gasp for air, but the projectile's power was unstoppable. After an instant, he fell to the ground and stayed still. He then turned into light as his body turned into the shape of a sparkling heart, and then he was no more.

It was at this very moment that Ryu unleashed his mighty Shinku Tatsumakisempukiaku and destroyed every Heartless within sight. We heard a loud, thunderous noise, and noticed that Milo had finally managed to break the wall of flames as if it were a mirror. There were no more Heartless from where he came: he had destroyed them all. We had won the fight.

I let out a relieved sigh as I sheathed my bow and knelt beside my Aeris, who smiled happily and gazed at me quietly.

"Are you alright, Aeris?" I asked.

"Only if you are..." she answered.

"I am doing quite well, thanks to you. Thank you for aiding me, my dear."

"You sound as if I had done some sort of favor. You know that I'd die for you, Link"

"As would I for you, Aeris."

"I'm okay, really... I just need a bit of rest again. This time, I don't think that I'll be able to stay awake. We're lucky that the worst is over, though."

"Indeed, we are."

"I'm fine, Link. Just look after me and I'll be all right. But right now, it's more important that you go check on Morrigan."

"Then sleep, my Aeris, and I will protect you." I said, as she closed her eyes, and carried her to the corner she had dwelt in, but not before seeing how Morrigan was doing. Both Milo and Ryu were by her side, and this later found no words to say to her.

"Morrigan..." he stuttered. "I-I... I was so s-scared. I thought you were as good as d-dead."

"But I am lucky to have you as a warrior, Ryu." The succubus said with a sweet smile. "You saved my life. I don't know how I can thank you for that."

"On the contrary. You too saved my life back in the house of Libra. Thanks, Morrigan. Besides, I'm not really the one to thank; Tish and Aeris are the ones who really saved you..." And so he embraced her, while Milo turned to me and smiled. "I promise that I won't let anything bad happen to you now."

"Thank you, Ryu..."

"Thank you for helping me get rid of the dark golden saint, guys." Milo said. "As a matter of fact, I should actually be thanking you for defeating it. You've all got some power. I'm glad you're all here."

"You are welcome, Milo." I answered. "We are here to defend the good things left within the worlds. You can count on us. But for now, let us be alert. The battle is not yet over." I then looked at Morrigan and said: "Thank you, succubus. Not only did you save Ryu's life: you saved Aeris's and mine as well. I am indebted with you."

"It is alright. I will think about your payment later." She giggled.

I laughed too as I carried Aeris to the corner and stayed close to her, waiting for more Heartless to come. But no great force came from that moment on. Only waves of three, perhaps four Heartless. It was as if the house of Scorpio had begun to emit a holy glow that the enemies feared...

Sagittarius: Demean

"I am quite impressed, Merryck." I said, with a bit of pride, I must say... After all, I had always felt like the hobbit's older brother. "I did not expect that you would still have energies within you after such a long time. Though we have not battled that much, there has been fighting to do and you have fought well and valiantly. You have grown much since I last saw you, Merryck, and that was not too long ago."

"Why, thank you, Demean." He replied, with a chuckle. "Yet I must admit that I did not grow by myself, if you take my meaning... Wilheim helped me a lot since we first started this adventure, as well as Tish and the others. I'm indebted to them. But at least you now see that I'm still good for something other than fixing wagons."

"I have seen this indeed."

"Guys, here comes another group of Heartless." Seyia suddenly interrupted and we quickly put ourselves on guard. "It's not that big. We'll take care of them in the blink of an eye."

"Let me see how many they are." I said, approaching the Pegasus's saint and looking out the house of Sagittarius. "One, two... ten." I counted. "Indeed, it is not a numerous group."

I raised my bow and tensed an arrow on its string. I lost no time and fired a deadly projectile that instantly destroyed a wyvern. There were only two more of them and these would certainly be easy victims to Seyia's devastating attack, the Pegasus meteor. He unleashed it violently and destroyed the two remaining flying monsters. I fired two more arrows at the soldiers that ran up the stairs as quickly as they could, and Seyia attacked again, eliminating two more enemies. Only three of the Heartless were left: one wizard, one dark ball, and one puny, little soldier. Of these, the wizard was undoubtedly the most dangerous. I was not willing to spare him any mercy and quickly shot an arrow at him. It flew swiftly and true, hitting its target before it could vanish into thin air, and thus the menace of the sorcerer had vanished. Meanwhile, both the dark ball and the soldier had lunged themselves at us. I jumped aside, knowing that my two companions would easily get rid of these pests. Seyia evaded the dark ball's attack by ducking and then counterattacked from behind. The enemy fell with the rain of lightning punches that faded along with the saint's battle cry. Merryck, who was perhaps a bit smaller than the soldier, tested his strength by parrying the Heartless's blow with his blade. Our small friend was sturdier than the foe had thought and his own leg bounced back at him, shortly followed by a deadly strike at his neck. Again, it had been an easy victory.

We had fought for many hours. It had been quite long since I had been in such a lasting battle. Nevertheless, I was not wearied by it. I still had plenty of energy within me, and I could see that, fortunately, my two companions were as lively as I was. This was not only because we all had much stamina (amazing, when it comes to Merryck), but also because the waves of Heartless that had attacked us had not been all that terrible. The largest group of fiends we had seen thus far had been twenty soldiers, and these fell quickly, perhaps a bit too much quickly. And the attacks had not been continuous. Rather, there had been pauses between them, some of them which lasted up to fifteen minutes. This could only mean one of two things: either the Heartless were saving their strength to unleash it on the ninth hour, or our friends were holding their stand with much skill, and had succeeded to repel the Heartless back into the darkness. I trusted that it was more likely that the latter was happening, for if one of the houses fell, then what was left of the world would fall too... We were all lucky that I was right.

I sighed and turned to Seyia. He was quiet and his eyes shone with a sad glow. It appeared to me that he could start to cry in any instant. I could feel his broken heart beating sorrows into his body and head. The Pegasus saint had not fought quite well during all that time, to tell the truth. Yet I would not say something about it. What strength do fists possess when the warrior they belong to is deeply submerged in a sea of desperation? None whatsoever. For he was a warrior of the goddess Athena and she had been lost to our enemy. How can someone wage battle when the reason of his energy, the very thing that keeps his fists thriving for justice is not there? I could do nothing but to try to encourage him not to give up hope. He was the one that possessed the most amazing willpower amongst the five bronze saints. To see him so depressed also saddened me and I wager that Merryck was not thrilled to look upon his sad face as well.

"The world is not yet theirs, Seyia." I said. "Behold the clock tower. We have only to hold on nearly five more hours. The menace of the Heartless will then be gone and Athena's sanctuary will be safe once more. Keep swimming against the dark current with all your might and I assure you that you will prevail, my friend. As will we all."

"I really don't care about the world." Seyia said. "I care about Saori. All I care about is Athena. And she isn't here. We couldn't save her. I feel so useless... I feel as if I'm not even worthy of wearing these bronze clothes. What would Aioros say if he were to look at us all, I wonder? What would he say...?" and suddenly, he fell silent and turned to one of the house's walls. He walked to it quietly, as if something had summoned him. I followed him without making a sound and Merryck walked beside me. And finally, Seyia froze, his eyes reading a script in the wall over and over again...

"Is that in Greek?" Merryck asked in a low voice.

"Yes, it is." I answered.

"What does it say, Demean?"

"It has been too long since I had read in this language. Though I have not yet forgotten the letters of the Greek alphabet, I scarcely remember reading anything in that tongue... But give me a moment, and I will tell you, perhaps not exactly but you will know the idea, of what it says." I read the scripture a few times before its true meaning struck me. And when it did, I lowered my head, like Seyia had done, and felt even more depressed, for it was clear to me that the Pegasus's saint had been attacked by that message as if it had been poison. "It reads: 'I entrust the care of Athena to you, saints. Aioros'".

"Oh, my..." Merryck murmured.

"I've failed him." Seyia whispered. "How could I forget about the will? I'm so sorry, Aioros... I should've been here to save her. This is all my fault..."

"Mr. Seyia, don't be so hard on yourself." Merryck quickly intervened, for the saint was quickly sinking more and more into the swamps of sadness. "You weren't here to aid her. That isn't your fault. That's nobody's fault. It wasn't your mistake. Nor the golden saints', for that matter. You see, there are some things that happen in the worlds, some bad things, and people like yourself aren't the ones to blame."

"I agree with our hobbit, Seyia." I added. "I am certain that Saori – Athena – was more than happy to have such a loyal warrior looking after her. It is a shame that you were not here to protect here when the shadows came. But remember that you were also in another quest, a quest for light. You have not failed anyone: nor your goddess, nor the latter golden saint whose noble words are inscribed in the wall."

"It doesn't feel like that to me." Seyia replied. "Saori isn't here. My only duty on this world... on this life was to protect her. If I wasn't able to do that, then I'm no good."

"Do not speak like that." I said. "Your duty is not over yet. The Heartless may have taken Saori, but we can still get her back."

"How? Those monsters must've surely taken her heart."

"That is true. However, I am certain that her body still draws breath. The body without the essence of the heart may be nothing, but if we can recover that essence, then she will be saved. And if Saori truly is the goddess Athena, then there is little to worry about, for the power of the deities is not easily matched by anything on the Earth. Have faith, Seyia, and we shall win. Not only will we win this battle, but we shall win against the Heartless, and we will win her heart back."

Seyia sighed and raised his left arm to his face. Most likely to wipe off the tears that had surely come out of his eyes. He remained with his back turned to us for a few more moments before finally looking up. He clenched his fists in determination and then looked at us with his characteristic confident smile and his vigorous eyes. When we saw him like this, Merryck and I smiled triumphantly too.

"You're right Demean." He said. "Not all is lost, yet. We'll get Saori's heart back, as well as the ones of the other princesses. All we have to do is to keep on fighting. I won't give up just yet..." he paused for a moment and then added: "But before we do that, we have to protect this sanctuary. It's her home, and I won't let those monsters do anything else bad to her. I swear, on the name of Aioros, that we won't fail here tonight!"

"And so you have regained your hope and your strength, Pegasus's saint." I said, happily. "Let this energy remain within your body and you will find out that you are truly invincible."

"That's the spirit, Mr. Seyia!" Merryck added. "If you truly believe it, Saori will be alright... As well as the rest of our companions. I wonder how they are doing right now, by the way?"

"That's a good question, Merryck." Seyia said. He quickly ran to the entrance of the house and stepped outside. We followed him and then stood still by his side.

"By my great grandfather Beorn...!" Merryck whispered in a hoarse voice, for his breath had been taken away by the picture that was in front of us. "Look at that..."

And it was indeed a breathtaking image. The eight temples of the other saints stood below us while a stream of darkness pouring from somewhere nearby the first house flooded them and the mountains around them. The sky was also riddled with dark monsters. Occasionally, some of them swooped down to one of the houses and entered them. Some times, most of the times, they attacked in groups of ten or more. It was an image that could shatter even the heart of the bravest being on the universe. But there was some light among that infinite darkness, and it came in the forms of golden flashes from the many houses that were below. The walls of the temples shone with a bright color as more and more Heartless came inside them, especially the first four houses. The remaining four houses were mainly attacked by aerial foes, but those who entered did not come out. The cries of the Heartless could be heard for miles away. It was a terrible march of darkness. Yet our friend's yells also found our way into our ears and we knew that they had not given up the battle and were defending the temples with great might. A piercing, grave shout suddenly quieted the roars of the Heartless, and a whirlwind appeared in the stairs that lead to the house of Scorpio. We all turned to face each other and so Merryck spoke again.

"...Ryu." he said in a low voice.

"Yes." I agreed. "That was Ryu, undoubtedly."

"He's out of the house of Libra..." Seyia said. "I thought he was supposed to be fighting alongside Shiryu and Ken. What's he doing out?"

"I am afraid I do not have the answer to that question, as you might expect." I replied. "Yet I have the feeling that his presence is no longer needed there. Ryu is a man of honor. He would never leave his friends in the midst of a battle. Not even to call for help, I reckon. He would keep on fighting and would ask someone else to go in his stead."

"Hmm. Then that must mean that they have already defeated the dark golden saint of Libra."

"That is what I believe."

"How do you think that the rest of our friends are doing, Demean?" Merryck asked.

"I am sure that they are doing fine." I said. "I am sure that we shall win through tonight. Although I must admit that I am still somewhat concerned about Tish. Oh, dear fairy of mine, I hope that you still emit your magical glow and that your skin is unharmed. I would wreak havoc upon any foe that dares to strike you..." I paused for a moment and then went on. "I am certain that she is alright. She is, after all, fighting along with Aioria, Wilheim, and Ukyo. I do not know much about Aioria, but if he is as strong as I have heard, then I should feel safe. And Ukyo and Wilheim are two of the fiercest warriors I have ever met."

"We'll all pull through, tonight." Seyia assured. "It's just a matter of hanging on about four and a half more hours."

"Well, at any rate, I must express my concern about us facing this dark golden saint." Merryck said, catching both Seyia's attention and mine. "As I recall, you and your friends constantly repeated that Aioros was the strongest of the golden saints. How do you expect that we three alone will be able to handle a monster of the sort?"

"I really don't have a clue." Seyia answered. "But I'm sure that Saori will show us the way."

The hobbit sighed and nodded his head silently. None of us spoke again for a long time. No Heartless attacked us again during that rest. All we did was to watch the dark picture in front of us, hoping that we would soon see a ray of light coming from one of the mountains. Yet we all knew that this feeling was in vain, for we would see nothing. At least, not until we had defeated the dark golden saint. It was not before long that our eyes strayed to the clock tower and looked at the remaining five flames flickering in the distance. The fire of Scorpio was slowly withering, like a flower in the chill of winter. And when it completely vanished, a wandering light in the vast darkness of the sanctuary caught my attention. I squinted my eyes and muttered:

"Tish?"

"What?" both of my companions stuttered, quickly following my gaze with their eyes. "It is Tish!" Seyia said.

"Oh, no!" Merryck cried. "Look! The Heartless are after her!"

The hobbit was right. There were five wyverns flying at high speed right behind her. I knew that she still had not realized, for the flight of the Heartless was too quiet. I did not even hear their wings crashing against the air. I unsheathed my knives and furiously ran at her, while yelling:

"Tish, the Heartless are at your back!! Blind them, now!!"

My companion's face, which had been filled by cheer until now, turned into a frightened expression as she flew faster, trying to escape the wyvern's claws. When she was very close to me, she turned around and emitted a fierce glow that stopped the wyverns in their tracks. The Heartless growled as they struggled to get rid of the intense light that tormented their eyes. I was not willing to show them any mercy. With a battle cry, I threw myself at them and cut them down with my Quendi Knives. Once the last of them had fallen, I sheathed my daggers and carefully embraced Tish with one of my hands.

"Demean...!" she said, on the verge of tears. " I did not think that I would make it...!"

"What are you doing here, Tish?" I asked, as I walked back to the temple, back to my friends' side. But there was no anger in my voice. I was very happy to see my little companion alive and well...

"I thought that you were in the house of Leo, fighting alongside Wilheim and Ukyo!" Merryck said.

"Are they okay?" Seyia quickly asked, with concern in his voice.

"Yes, they are." My fairy assured. "I am no longer needed there, so that is why I have flown here. The dark golden saint of Leo has been defeated: it was Ukyo who delivered the fatal blow."

"Impressive!" I said. "And what about Wilheim?"

"Wilheim was severely wounded, but he is alright now." Tish said. "He is also not in Leo. He quickly went to Virgo to help Sora and Dante. Yet I overheard part of their conversation and I guess that the fiend of that house has also been beaten. Actually, it would not have taken me so long to get here, but on the way, Ken called to me... It appears that Morrigan was killed by a foul Heartless."

"WHAT?!" Seyia, Merryck, and I cried in dismay.

"Worry not, I have not finished speaking." Tish quickly said. "I managed to revive her, but was too weak to fly any longer. Morrigan was still weak and could die again at any moment. Ryu lost no time and carried us to the house of Scorpio, were Aeris cured us both. With renewed strength, I flew here... So I could help the three of you." She kept silent for a moment and then said in a low voice: "I have witnessed the power of the younger brother of Aioros, and it is not to be taken lightly. If Wilheim did not have the power that he possesses, there would be nothing left of him now. Only a sad memory. And that is why I am here, to aid you in this endeavor."

"So... you are no longer needed there?" Seyia asked.

"No. I would not have come otherwise."

"In that case, you are most welcome, my fairy." I said, with a smile. "We will need your help tonight."

She smiled back at me and sat on my shoulder. She had flown as fast as she could to meet me and she was seemingly tired. We would all need all the strength we could muster for this task. We silently went back inside the house of Sagittarius, not before taking a final glance at the clock tower. The fire of our temple was beginning to fade. We had roughly an hour before the attack would begin. There was nothing left to do but to wait.

Suddenly, a golden glow began to come from inside the house. We all turned to see each other and then ran to it, knowing that it could not be something evil, for all else that shone with a color different than black was not an enemy. And so we came in and our jaws dropped in amazement...

The golden armor of Sagittarius stood proudly in the center of the temple, shinning magically, dazzling us with its beauty. The mythical centaur tensed its bow and aimed its arrow at us, yet it did not do so menacingly as if it wanted us to flee in terror, but rather it seemed to be looking after us. We all stayed still, not knowing what to do before that amazing armor suddenly appeared from the nothing.

"The armor of the golden saint Aioros...!" Seyia murmured, being the first of us to step forth. He stretched his marveled hand to meet the bow of the armor, certainly in hopes to feel the essence of the heroic man who had wore it. And when he touched it, when his fingers began to caress the rough bow and his skin melted with the holy metal, the armor shone the brightest and it blinded us all for a moment. "What the...?"

But before Seyia could utter another word, the armor broke into many pieces. The essence of the armor itself seemed to crash into the Pegasus's saint's body and when this happened, the golden cloth of Sagittarius began to cover the arms, the legs, and the torso of our friend. I could feel an enormous power rising from within Seyia's hands... Never before had I felt anything of the sort. The golden cloth of Aioros had selected Seyia as his host. And when the golden glow faded, we saw Seyia standing in the very center of the temple, his body being protected by the essence of Sagittarius.

"What... What's happening?" the Pegasus saint asked in a low voice, while looking at his hands. The armor that he was formerly wearing lay still on the ground, but only for a few moment, because when we least expected it, it regrouped, forming the shape of a Pegasus. "What's going on? Demean... How do you explain all this?"

"I beg your pardon?" I said. "Why are you asking me? I am just as surprised as you are, my friend."

"Dear God..." Merryck whispered. "Do you think that Aioros is here right now? Do you think that maybe he wants Seyia to wear the golden armor and defeat his dark self?"

"But that can't be possible! Aioros is dead!" Seyia argued.

"Maybe, Seyia." Tish said. As I turned to her, I noticed that her face was still filled by amazement. I could not see my reflection in a mirror, but I could guess that my own face looked quite much like hers... "Yet I believe that our little hobbit may not be that far from the truth."

"I don't get it." Seyia said. "Why would Aioros want me to wear his armor?"

"Actually, I believe that such question has a much easier answer." I replied. "If indeed Aioros's spirit is here and his wish is for you to have his golden clothes on, then there is no doubt. He wishes us to win here tonight: he wants us to prevail against the darkness. And if such is his wish, then there is something you can be certain of, Seyia: Aioros does not feel that you have failed him. He wants you to keep on battling, to protect the home of the goddess Athena before the evil that spreads here. You shall do well by respecting his wish. We will aid you in your mission by fighting with all of our strength, Pegasus's saint."

Seyia kept silent without taking his eyes off his hands. I suppose that he was still marveled to feel such a power flowing within him. After a long time, he finally raised his head and looked at us. Then he smiled and his eyes shone. I could see that he was about to cry again, but if tears had flown, they would have certainly lacked sadness. He quickly ran a finger by his eyes and sighed.

"If this is the will of Aioros..." he announced. "Then I will do it. I won't let this enemy overcome us."

We kept on waiting in silence for the dark golden saint to appear. Our eyes did not stray from the center of the house. With an impatient breath, we stayed on guard. Not once did we turn again to see the clock tower, to see what little time we had left. When battle draws near, you do not count the seconds. You do not glance at your watch. Time passes by as slowly as a tortoise and as quickly as a leopard. When battle draws near, you cannot trust time. For when the fight begins, it freezes, and it will not walk again until the duel is over. The world also ceases to have importance: only the room in which you and your opponent battle matters. All else is just shadows and mist.

Suddenly, the house grew darker and all the warmth of the temple turned into intense chill. From a dark pit in the center of the house, a shadow emerged, a shadow clad in a black armor with red eyes. Its fists were ready to give us terrible battle. I took out my bow and aimed an arrow at his head, while Seyia quickly began to summon all of his energy to unleash a potent attack. Tish lost no time and began to cast a spell on my arrow. Merryck did not move, nor to attack or to flee. He was brave, not reckless.

The Pegasus's saint finished gathering his strength and gave a battle cry as he threw a mighty attack at our enemy.

"PEGASUS METEOR PUNCH!!"

Hundreds of bolts of energy flew at our enemy with furious speed. Our foe did not move. All of the meteors bounced off his armor like rubber balls that hit an iron wall. Seyia did not give up, however, as he quickly followed his last attack with an enraged punch at the foe's jaw. But the enemy quickly leapt back and stroke back with a terrible, devastating move.

"ATOMIC LIGHTNING!!"

His attack was similar to the one of the bronze saint now clad in gold. Nevertheless, its power was beyond peer. Merryck, Tish, and I were thrown back by a fierce wind. I lost the grip on my arrow and thus, Tish's spell. Merryck's sword flew away from his hand. We were defenseless against a mighty fiend. I stood up as fast as I could and unsheathed my daggers, for I had also lost my bow. I saw Seyia at the foot of one of the columns. His arms, legs, and forehead were bleeding. The golden armor had proved its worth: it had saved Seyia from a certain death. I did not know what good I would to at a time like that, but I was not willing to let the Pegasus's saint fight against that monster alone. I charged at the dark golden saint and aimed my Quendi Knives at his throat. Yet the fiend stepped aside and tried to kick my stomach. I was grateful that he did not try to attack me in the same manner in which he had hit Seyia, for if he had performed that move, I would have certainly died.

I dodged the blow by jumping over the dark saint's leg. As I landed on the ground, I leapt at him and managed to bring him down. Once we were both on the floor, I on top of him, he quickly covered his neck with his arms. He was not just a brute Heartless: he knew his weakness quite well. Though it would not turn the scale in our favor, I spun one of the Quendi Knives and cut off one of the fiend's fingers. At least I knew that this would infuriate him, and he would hopefully fight less intelligently from now on. With a cry of pain, the saint hit me on the chest. I flew to the other side of the house, feeling how all my ribs had crumbled under that horrible blow. Yet I was not worried, for my fairy would lose no time. As my head touched the floor, Tish healed me. I felt strong again and reached for my daggers. Seyia was already on foot, too. He and Merryck stood close one another, and waited for the dark golden saint to attack again.

As the fiend began to ready himself for another blow, Seyia grasped Merryck threw him high into the air. Confused by this move, the enemy took a few steps back and raised his hands to protect his face. The Pegasus's saint then rushed at the foe. As Merryck's sword landed on one of the fiend's arms, Seyia's fist crushed the dark golden saint's stomach. Even though the armor of the enemy was stout, he flew across the temple as Seyia landed his attack. After all, he too was wearing a golden armor and his fists were stronger than ever. Willing to finish the fight as quickly as possible, I spun the Quendi Knives and ran to the dark golden saint, with Tish following close behind.

But the fiend stood again faster than I could imagine. I stopped my charge when I saw him pull his fist back. His attack traveled as fast as the light itself... In less than a second, I grasped Tish and leapt out of danger's way. All I heard next was a thunderous noise. I was unharmed, as was Tish. I turned my head back and saw that one of the walls of the temple had completely come down by that fierce attack. The strength of this foe would make even a warrior as fierce as Octavius quail in terror... I had faced monsters, such as dragons, that were less frightening. I faced the foe again as he walked toward Tish and me. Again he pulled his fist back and again I leapt out of the way before he could land his attack on us. The thunderous noise deafened my ears while Tish yelped in horror and clinched to my chest.

The dark golden saint's rampage was far from over. He walked to us one more time. He drew back his hand; I quickly leapt aside. But before he could attack, Merryck charged at him, aiming his sword at his stomach. The fiend noticed the hobbit, however, and swung his leg at him. Yet Merryck amazingly rolled under it. He then attempted to stab the dark knight in his legs, but the dark golden saint leapt back. Seeing him distracted, I carried Tish to one corner of the house and whispered into her little ear:

"Stay here. Do not come out unless you absolutely must!"

"Demean, no!" she cried.

"Do this for me, I beg of you!" I insisted as I armed myself with my daggers and ran to Merryck's aid.

The little hobbit had been skillfully dodging all of the dark saint's blows. I had never seen him fight so fiercely. Merryck had always been the sort of hobbits that do not like to get mixed up in battles. He was warm-hearted and caring and just, but I never thought I would see him fight with a sword with such ferocity. Nevertheless, now was not the time to be amazed. I lunged at the fiend and tried to cut him, too. Seyia joined our attack, throwing hundreds of punches as fast as lightning at the black knight's arms, legs, and torso. The power of Aioros was with our friend, for he was the one causing most trouble to our foe. Merryck and I were, so to speak, distractions.

But soon we became more than just bait. The hobbit rolled under the fiend's legs and swung his blade at his back. The enemy cried in pain and fell to his knees as Merryck's steel cut through his thighs. There was little time to act. I decided that Seyia had a better chance of defeating this fiend than me. Without giving it any more thought, I jumped behind the dark golden saint and held him by the arms. Our friend acted quickly and unleashed his potent attack on the enemy. His fists were so powerful that I even felt a bit of pain. Still, it was not an unbearable pain, and so I held on to the enemy as hard as I could.

When Seyia stopped, I let the foe fall to his knees. With the Quendi Knives in hand, I readied myself to decapitate the monster. But the battle was not yet over. The enemy blocked my steel with his hands and tossed me over his shoulder. I landed on my feet, next to my friends. I was unharmed, and ready to unleash another flurry of attacks. But the dark golden saint recovered from Seyia's beating with frightening rapidity. Before we knew it, he pulled his fist back... I grasped Merryck and tried to leap aside, but it was too late. However, we did not die, for Seyia quickly put his body in front of ours, his arms extended to the sides.

"ATOMIC LIGHTNING!!"

The attack was very powerful. I was deafened by its roar. I barely heard Merryck and Seyia's screams. Everything turned black for a few moments. And when I saw again, I was lying on the ground, covered by a pool of my own blood and Merryck's. The hobbit was still in my arms, terribly injured as well. And the Pegasus's saint was lying a few feet from us, his hands still trembling. The golden armor had remarkably withstood all of the attacks. Yet the fiend had aimed most of his blows at his face. He could no longer stand up. Nor could Merryck. Nor could I.

As my sight began to fade, I saw Tish hiding behind a pillar with her eyes filled with tears. It was a sight that broke my heart. I tried to tell her to fly away, to save herself. But my eternal companion was not willing to leave me there to die. I cursed her stubbornness, for if the fiend saw her, he would surely kill her as well... I could only wait for the worse.

The dark golden saint approached us with a triumphant, evil gaze. We looked at him from the ground, doing our best to stand up, but our bones were shattered and Seyia's strength had vanished. This foe indeed was unconquerable, as all the golden saints had told us... He readied himself to deliver a final attack. I looked at him in anger. I did not close my eyes: if this was to be my end, then I would face it bravely.

But suddenly, the enemy stopped. He lowered his arm and looked at the house's entrance with confusion in his eyes. What happened next is still something that I cannot truly explain...

I felt a warm wind blowing from the temple's outer stairs. I knew that my friends felt it too, for their face's expression suddenly turned from a defeated into a peaceful one. And then, a golden haze entered the house. It began to cover all the walls and the pillars. It was as bright as the morning sun... As beautiful as the first star that appears in a dark night. We then heard footsteps. They were soft and slow. One would have never guessed that a saint was approaching, because I did not hear the clinking of armor. The figure of a man passed by our fallen bodies and stood in front of us, protecting us, and challenging the foe. I slowly turned to see him and my jaw dropped as I realized that I was looking at someone who was not of this world.

A golden aura engulfed him... he was as tall as Seyia and wore blue pants and brown boots. His hands were covered by two leather gloves and a red bandanna adorned his head. He had no clothes on his chest. His body was muscular and hard and was riddled with battle scars... He raised his arms, putting himself on guard, and spoke with a voice so noble and so pure, that I will never forget it.

"Stand tall, knights of Athena. The fight is far from over."

And so the dark fiend chose to attack us with his powerful blow... But the man pulled his fist back and countered.

"ATOMIC LIGHTNING!!"

All of the terrible rays that the fiend had shot at us vanished under the might of the newcomer. There was no doubt that we were in the presence of Aioros. As Seyia realized this, tears began to flow out of his eyes. I do not know if it was excitement, sadness, or happiness that made him cry, or none of them, or perhaps all of them. But he wept like I had never seen him before as he struggled to stand up and take out his bow. He then readied a golden arrow and pulled back on the string.

It was then that Tish chose to leave her hiding place and fly at us as fast as she could. The dark golden saint saw her and quickly attacked her. But the mysterious man raced to her and then blocked all of the fiend's blows. My little fairy made it to our side safely. She immediately cast a healing spell, curing all of our wounds. With our strength renewed, Merryck and I stood up. I looked at the ground and noticed my bow. Before bending over to pick it up, I saw that Aioros was still parrying all of the foe's attacks with his bare hands. I do not know why, but I felt tears in my eyes as well. I managed to hold them back, however, unlike Seyia, who gritted his teeth as he pulled the string on his bow with furious resolve. I grabbed my weapon and readied an arrow. Tish put her hands on the projectile and filled it with magic, a pure magic that was sure to pierce any metal, no matter how strong it could be.

And so Aioros finally stopped the dark golden saint's attacks. The fiend suddenly fell to his knees; no doubt because of the wound Merryck had inflicted him a few moments ago. A golden aura began to flow through Seyia's hands and then, like a river, fell down its torso and legs. At last, it turned into a mist that surrounded him and filled him with strength and vitality. My arrow began to emit the same aura too. Soon, I was also covered by a golden haze. This could only mean that not only the magic of my little fairy, but that the power of Aioros was flowing through me, as well as through Seyia... The dark fiend raised his eyes and got ready to attack Aioros, who stood still, with his arms at his sides. He was done fighting. It was our turn to attack. Without further delay, we released our arrows at our foe. They both hit the exact same spot: the monster's chest. The dark armor shattered into a hundred pieces as our projectiles went through the enemy's body. He did not scream. He merely pressed his hands against his pierced chest and fell to the ground. Blue flames covered him, and then he was gone.

The fight was over. We were left without words. I gave a quick glance to the clock tower: the fire on Capricorn was still burning. The battle had been short... perhaps too short. But I felt it as it had lasted a hundred years. We all looked at Aioros as he faced us with a smile of satisfaction on his face. His eyes were blue. They were even more intense than the ones of our friend Cloud, who guarded the house above us along with Tifa, Akane, and Ranma. He truly seemed like the legendary hero everyone talked about. He did not even need wear his armor to look knightly.

"Aioros..." Seyia whispered. He then fell silent, because he could not think of anything else to say. Slowly, he began to kneel, but Aioros raised his hand and said:

"I'm not the one you should kneel before, Pegasus's saint." He paused for a moment, as Seyia stood straight again, and then added: "Thank you for everything."

"No... Thank you, Aioros." Seyia said. "I didn't deserve your help. I'm no good as a saint."

"Don't say nonsense." The golden saint replied. "You have proved your worth too many times. I'm sure that Athena is proud to have you as her warrior... I'm proud, too."

We all smiled as we heard this and Seyia's lips began to tremble. He was struggling as hard as he could not to break into sobs and moans. I could understand his feeling... For a hero of heroes had also told me something similar too, and such a feeling is the strongest thing that can clinch to your heart... Aioros turned to us and smiled, bowing his head in respect. We all bowed back, but said nothing. There were no words we could find.

"How... how can I repay you, Aioros?" Seyia asked.

The golden saint gave no answer. He merely spun his head towards one of the walls of the temple. We followed his gaze and saw the wall in which his will was engraved.

"I entrust the care of Athena to you, saints." He finally murmured. As we all faced him, he looked at Tish, Merryck, and me, and added: "This goes for you, too. Even though you don't have the armors, you all have the hearts of Athena's saints." With that being said, he walked out of the temple. "Farewell." Is all that he could say before the golden mist engulfed his body and carried him to the night sky. We watched in awe as he left us, while a feeling, an indescribable, pure, feeling, sprouted within our hearts...

Capricorn: Cloud

I never thought that I'd end up in an adventure as great as the one I had with Tifa, Aeris, Barret, Cid, and the others. Guess I was pretty damn wrong. Not only had I gotten myself in a bigger trouble than the last one... I was also fighting another person's sake, and not for my own... and without charging a cent.

Yeah, I know that sounds pretty selfish and everything, but that was just the way I was before I met Aeris. That was the first time that I pulled a job for a payment that wasn't money. I would be her bodyguard and she would pay up with a date... Well, anyway, that doesn't have that much importance, since I'm Tifa's boyfriend now. I really don't want to remember much about that mess.

Either way, I had more important things on my mind at that moment. For instance, surviving the raid of Heartless that kept on attacking us. We had a few breaks, but they weren't actual breathers. Only a few minutes to regroup and then we would go into the fray again. It had been the most tiring mission I had ever done. And though I really can't say for sure what my other friends were thinking, I'm pretty positive that they were all as sick as I was of the monsters. We still had about three and a half hours to go, and all I could think of was a soft, nice bed with silky sheets and a large pillow. Or better yet, a juicy steak with a large, baked potato on the side, with butter still melting on it... Yep, not only I was tired, I was very hungry.

Well, enough about my tiredness and stomach. At this point, the flame of our house was burning quite weakly. We knew that it wasn't long before it would go out. We had to leave the temple for two reasons: first of all, it was a pretty closed space. We had no room to execute our most devastating moves. I couldn't throw a Beam from my blade to my opponents, because the aftershock would hit my companions; Tifa wasn't able to perform her Final Heaven 'cause she would fry all of our butts, and Ranma's Hiryu – Shoten – Ha was out of the question. And secondly, we were fighting outside because the armor of the golden saint of Capricorn was outside. It stood proudly on the floor of the Sanctuary, surrounded by cracks and shattered rocks, as if it had fallen from the sky (and this actually wasn't too far from the truth).

So far, none of us had serious injuries. Akane only had a small bruise on her left leg. Nothing to be terribly worried about. There were no broken bones or anything. Tifa had a small cut on her left cheek. It had already stopped bleeding. I had done my work as a boyfriend by kissing her when she had got it... Hey, give me a break, I'm sort of new at the sweet boyfriend thing... Anyway, Ranma and I had nothing, save some insignificant cuts and bruises.

And speaking about the sweet boyfriend stuff, Ranma was a newbie at it too... Although Wilheim had told me that these two sort of had a thing but didn't dare to accept it, it seemed to me that they were well on their way to get used to the idea. They didn't fight as much as Wilheim told me and they talked among themselves all the time. It was fun to watch them try to say nice things to each other and then end up saying something stupid. That's the way it is when you aren't used to the idea. And honestly, I'm sure that Ryoga didn't mind much that these two were getting along: he seemed to be just fine by Sakura's side.

That's it. No more idle talk. It's time I told you about what truly important stuff went on while we were there, outside the temple, battling against the Heartless, waiting for the most terrible of them to pop out from wherever it was... Freezing our butts.

"I can't stand so much cold, Cloud." Tifa said, and when she spoke, vapor came out of her mouth. "Are you sure that we can't go back inside? It's gotta be minus seven Celsius by now."

"I already told you that that's not an option, Tifa." I answered. "We'll end up killing ourselves if we fight inside the temple. Besides, why are you complaining so much? You hardly complained when we were on the ice, going after Sephiroth. It was a much colder weather there, remember?"

"The only reason I wasn't complaining was because I was so damn cold that I could hardly move my lips." She said, and turned her head away in anger. I know what you're thinking: I should've gone by her side, told her that it would all be okay and hug her so she wouldn't be that cold. But did that come to my stupid mind at the moment? No.

"Anyway, I think that we should do best in heading back to the temple after we defeat the dark golden saint." Ranma said, with confidence on his words. "I don't like to make a big deal out of stuff like this, but it is very cold, if you ask me."

"I wonder how the others are doing..." Akane mumbled, paying no attention to our little discussion about the weather. We all turned to her and when she noticed our glances on her, she kept on speaking. "I know that at least for now, none of them have lost a battle. If that were the case, this place would've vanished by now. But that can only mean that the golden saints are all right. I don't know how the rest of our friends are doing. I can only hope that they're all in one piece."

"They're probably okay." Ranma assured. "If we've made it this far, I'm sure that they've done it, too."

"Only that we still have to face the dark golden saint, Ranma. I believe that the ones in the houses before Capricorn must've had it a little bit more rough than us." Akane replied, slightly pissed off by Ranma's cockiness.

"Hey, I'm only trying to cheer you up. If you want to be pessimistic about it, then suit yourself."

"About the dark golden saint, guys..." I intervened, before things would heat up. "I think that it would be best if I fight against him by myself."

"By yourself?!" the three of them cried. "Are you out of your freaking mind??" Tifa added. She was now very mad. I can tell you that because she had said 'freaking' after a second of stammering the letter 'f'...

Yet I wasn't being cocky. Mainly, I was concerned about them. But unfortunately, I had sounded quite overconfident.

"It's just that I'm better equipped for this battle than you guys are." I said. They kept on staring at me with wide – opened eyes, as if I were some kind of crazy loon escaped from the nut house. "Let me explain: Shiryu told me, before we came here, in one of his stories, that he had waged his most terrible battle in the Sanctuary in this temple. He said that Shura, the golden saint of Capricorn, used a terrible technique: Excalibur. He was able to cut through rock and metal. He even cut Shiryu's shield in half."

"And you are better equipped than us because...?" Ranma asked.

"Shiryu said to me that the Excalibur technique works much like a sword. I've got a sword. I can use it to counter it."

"Cloud, if the golden saint cut through Shiryu's shield with a blow, what makes you think that that sword of yours is going to withstand an attack of the sort?" Tifa asked.

"Did it brake when I fought against Sephiroth's Masamune?" I argued. "I'm betting that Excalibur is almost as strong as that bastard's blade. I'm sure that it won't get cut by it. However, skin is much more fragile than metal. That's why I'm asking you guys to sit this one out."

"And leave you against that monster all by yourself? No way, Cloud!" Akane exclaimed.

"Okay, just a moment..." Ranma warned, pointing at the sky. A wave of Heartless approached our way, and this wasn't a small group. "Let's take care of these freaks first. This conversation isn't over, Cloud."

"Whatever. Let's just get this over with." I muttered.

One of the Heartless, a dark ball, lunged at me with its jaws wide open, ready to bite my head off. I welcomed it with a swing of my Buster Sword, and cut it in a second. Then I waited for the rest of the monsters to come at me. Many of the wyverns that flew above us were carrying Heartless. Not before long, we were being bombarded by a horde of enemies. Ranma and Tifa ran to the stairs that lead to the house of Aquarius and from there, they began to shoot energy bursts at our flying foes, while Akane and I took care of the other Heartless. She used quick, yet powerful blows that killed all those who stood in her path, and I swung my sword up and down, left and right, cutting every Heartless that dared entered my vital space. The wyverns and magicians and the rest of the dark balls didn't have time to attack us: Tifa and Ranma didn't give them the chance. Some of the foes that were fighting against Akane and I retreated and tried their chances against the other two. Let's just say that they only picked a different way to die.

Though it had been one of the largest offensives we had faced thus far, it hadn't been terrible. In less than five minutes, we had gotten rid of all the foes. And it had been that easy during all that time. We weren't tired at all. Because of this, as soon as the last opponent fell, I leapt back into the argument once again by saying:

"See? You guys don't have any trouble against the Heartless. You can do that."

"Do what?" Tifa asked with a stern voice, while crossing her arms.

This could be delicate... I thought. "You could keep the rest of the Heartless off my back while I fight against the dark golden saint. I won't be able to win if I get attacked by both the monsters and that crazy bastard. But if you guys help me out with the rest of the foes, then I'll be okay. We'll all be okay, and we'll be enjoying the warm dawn before you know it."

"Or better yet: we could all fight against both the Heartless and the dark golden saint." Ranma said. "I think that's a better idea."

"Cloud, you need our help." Akane added. "You won't make it on your own."

"I'm going to fight against this monster, whether you like it or not." Tifa said. I knew that tone in her voice. And she made her intention to me even clearer as she walked toward me, only to stop right in front of my face and add in a menacing murmur: "And you're not going to stop me. I'm helping you out."

"Okay, okay. Just don't get mad." I said. "I'm only doing this because I'm worried about you, guys. Especially you, Tifa."

"Me? What? Me? Yeah, right. Hmm! Right." She stuttered, as her face turned bright red and she walked away from me. I couldn't help but to let out a relieved chuckle.

Yet my laughter quickly faded as my eyes glanced at the clock tower and found the flame of our temple dying. The rest of my friends looked at it in silence, too. It was as if a terrible wind was blowing on that fire, doing its best to put it out. And after a few seconds, it succeeded. The light went out and our eyes turned back to the temple of Capricorn. I stood in front of Tifa, with my sword aiming at the house. I could hear footsteps coming from it. Steady footsteps that approached us, yet the dark saint remained hidden under the house's shadows. As he came to us, the wind became colder and we all shivered for a moment. At that moment, I don't really know if the cool we felt had been because of the terrible weather or because of the sudden fright that that monster had caused us. Nevertheless, we were ready to make our stand. And so he came out of the house, wearing a sturdy, black armor on his shoulders, and a helmet with two horns on his head. He stopped a few steps away from us. He stayed there, looking at us in silence, as if he were studying us... Or defying us with his red eyes, for that was all that could be seen of his face.

I decided to answer his challenge. With a battle yell, I began to run at him as fast as I could, holding my sword over my shoulder. The fiend then raised his arm and left it high in the air for a few moments, as he waited for me to get closer. We all knew what he was up to. And I say 'all', because the rest of my friends had joined me in my charge against this dark fiend. When we were all close enough, he brought down his arm with amazing speed and fury in a diagonal move. A dark ray with the form of a blade flew at us faster than we had expected. I leapt high into the air and barely cleared it. Tifa managed to roll under it, while Ranma had thrown Akane into the floor and he leapt on top of her to protect her from all harm. Fortunately, the ray passed right over their heads.

"Eat this!!" I yelled as I brought down my sword with all my strength. "BRAVER!!"

The dark golden saint quickly raised his arm and blocked my blow. I had never met anyone capable of stopping that blow with just a freaking arm. But I expected no less from this foe. I quickly leapt back and waited for him to make the next move. I didn't have to wait for long, because after he put himself on guard again, he rushed at me, trying to cut me with his arm. I was lucky that I was right: my Buster Sword was indeed a powerful blade, for it didn't brake with the dark golden saint's attacks. He tried to strike again, and I parried his attack. It was my turn, and I attempted to cut through him, but he leapt aside and countered.

At that moment, Tifa joined my attack and kicked the dark golden saint's face as hard as she could. The fiend didn't fall, but he did stagger a few steps back. I took this opportunity to hit him with my Blade Beam. I shot the furious beam of energy at his body, but only succeeded him in knocking him down. That armor was damn tough.

He quickly got up and got ready to perform his Excalibur technique once more. Yet before he could unleash his powerful blast, both Akane and Ranma hit him with flying kicks. Again he staggered, but didn't fall. It was then that I realized that though attacks such as flying kicks and punches wouldn't do squat against this guy... However, constant attacks wouldn't let him keep his guard for long. We would pulverize him then. All we had to do was to keep the pressure on.

We needed no words to synchronize ourselves. I attacked with my sword, making the fiend raise his arm up. Then Tifa would kick his arm away, and both Ranma and Akane would finish the rush with an attack to the face. After doing this a couple of times, we succeeded in knocking his helmet away. I doubted that we would be able to destroy any other parts of his armor, but a well-placed blow to the head was all that we needed to take him down...

Yet he wasn't willing to fall that easy. Our little strategy really pissed him off. Once we all rushed at him to attack one more time, the fiend unleashed his power in the blink of an eye.

"EXCALIBUR!!" he roared.

I managed to evade the actual beam, but the force of the technique threw me backwards and far away from him. I got up and put myself on guard, ready to continue the attack. But then, terror struck me.

I realized that only Ranma and I were standing up. I frantically started to look for Tifa, completely forgetting that I had an opponent to fight. I couldn't just care about that at the moment. But the fiend wasn't willing to let me have a moment of peace. And so he rushed at me, his arm extended to his left side, ready to chop my head off. I noticed him too late, and couldn't raise my sword.

"MOKO TAKABISHA!!"

Ranma's energy beam saved me from losing my head. The fiend fell to the ground, far away from me. The boy quickly ran at the Heartless and pressed on the attack.

"Look for Akane and Tifa!! Find them!!" he urged, as he did his best not to get hit by the dark saint's attacks.

It was strange... to think that Ranma would end up fighting alone against that son of a bitch. Of course I wasn't thinking about that at the moment. All I cared about was Tifa. I felt as if I had just taken a terrible blow to the stomach. It didn't hurt, but I felt as if a fist was clutching to my entrails.

That last Excalibur blow had made a great crack on the ground. There were rocks all over the place. I was afraid that I wouldn't find Tifa again... or Akane for that matter. I dreaded the thought that they had fallen to the abyss created by that psycho. Fear and anger began to pump through my heart. My hand shook as I found no trail of both girls, and as Ranma bravely fought against the foe. I needed to help him before he would end up in pieces.

My heart sank when I at last saw a trail of blood that lead to a pile of debris. I ran as fast as I could to them, but saw nothing behind them. I was about to yell in despair when suddenly I heard Tifa murmur:

"Cloud...!"

Her voice had come from under the rocks. I knelt down and found her and Akane. My Tifa was doing all right. She had a bruise on her head, but nothing too terrible. Akane, on the other side...

"Oh, crap..." I muttered. I felt all the strength on my legs go. I nearly fell to the ground. Yet I knew I couldn't do that. "Akane!"

"Am I that b-bad?" the girl stammered.

Tifa was holding her tightly, pressing her hand against Akane's stomach as hard as she could in order to stop the bleeding. I had never seen a cut as bad as that since Sephiroth had wounded Tifa in Nibelheim. She had survived because she was very strong. Akane was a very strong girl, too, but never before had I feared as much for the life of one of my friends. Her hand trembled and her teeth chattered. Doing my best to keep my voice firm, I held her blood-soaked hand with mine and said:

"Don't worry, Akane. We'll get you out of this..."

"I wasn't fast e-enough." She muttered.

"Don't blame yourself for this." Tifa added.

We all then fell silent as we listen to Ranma's yell. I lifted my head up and saw him lying on the ground, doing his best to get back on his feet. He hadn't been hit by Excalibur, luckily, but the dark golden saint had beaten him up pretty badly. Ranma wasn't willing to give up. With determination in his eyes, he stood up and put himself on guard.

"Ranma...! Where's R-Ranma??" Akane asked in a desperate, weak voice.

"Ranma's okay." I answered and squeezed her hand tightly. "Don't worry about him."

"Please help him, Cloud..." she said. "He's strong, but he won't m-make it on his o-own... Cloud..." she stopped to cough blood. I nearly cried when she did this. Tifa, on the other hand, couldn't hold her tears for another second and started to weep.

"Don't talk anymore." I whispered. "Keep your strength. You'll need it."

"Tell Ranma that I... that I love him." She begged, without heeding my words. "Even though I never say so. T-Tell him that I was t-thinking about him b-before I-I..."

"Enough, please." Tifa pleaded. "Don't speak like this is the end..."

"Tifa... look after her." I said to her, wiping her tears off. "When you get the chance, get Akane out of here, and take her to Sagittarius as fast as you possibly can. Maybe Demean can help you..."

"But Cloud..."

"No 'buts', Tifa. Do this for me... For Akane... For Ranma."

And so I got back on my feet and forced my fear to turn into anger. I couldn't stop my hand from trembling... but it didn't shake from fear anymore. It was rage that kept it in such state. I was so furious, that the freezing wind that came from Aquarius didn't bother me at all. I stayed still for a moment, growling like a mad dog, as Ranma struggled to keep himself on the fight against that bastard. I could see that his strength was beginning to fade, not because of the fact that the saint was stronger than him... but because there was no one helping him. Yet that was about to change.

"DIE, YOU SON OF A BITCH!!" I yelled at the top of my longs, as I tried to stab the monster in the stomach. "CLIMNHAZZARD!!" with furious strength, I tried to cut him open, but again, only succeeded in knocking him down as I leapt high into the air. When I fell down, Ranma was standing by my side, eager to hear some news...

"Akane... Where's Akane?!" he cried.

"...She's fine! And so is Tifa!" I lied. "Help me beat this son of a bitch and I'll take you to them."

"EXCALIBUR!!" yelled the dark golden saint, as he attacked us with a vertical slash. We both leapt to the sides and then stroke together. Ranma rushed at the monster with a flurry of punches and kicks, while I swung my sword as fiercely as I could, being careful not to cut my friend accidentally.

"Get over here, you bastard!!" Ranma taunted, taking a step back. The fiend immediately went after him, attempting to cut him in pieces, but Ranma skillfully evaded all of his blows and began to leap around the place, forming a spiral with his steps. I knew what he was up to, and quickly took cover.

My friend completed the final steps of the dreaded technique and then unleashed it on the dark golden saint without pity in his heart.

"HIRYU – SHOTEN – HA!!"

A twister of energy rose from the ground, chilling the air about to the point where ice began to cover the ground. I heard both of them yell, but their cries were different. The golden saint had shouted in pain and fear as he was shot into the dark sky, while Ranma had roared in rage and determination. But his cry then became faint, and when the twister was gone and the enemy fell to the ground with the force of a meteor, the young warrior fell to his knees, with no strength left in his body. I decided that it was time to end with that cursed battle.

"I'll get you for what you did to her, son of a bitch..." I growled. "Take this!! OMNISLASH!!" and so I threw myself at the damn fiend, unleashing as many attacks as I could, all aimed at his head.

He managed to parry the first slashes. Nevertheless, the more he blocked, the harder I swung my blade. Until at last I managed to get his arms out of the way. One blow was all it took to kill him. But I was so furious that I decided that I wasn't going to let him get away with just one simply cut. I kept on battering his dead body, as tears of anger came out of my eyes. Finally, I leapt high into the air and brought down my sword as hard as I could on him. The blow was so fierce that I succeeded in cutting him in half. He fell down and vanished into the night.

I let out a sigh and wiped my tears off before Ranma could see them. Yet I still had to tell him that Akane's state was critical... He had to know that she might not make it. And he had to know that she wanted him to know that she loved him. I approached him and helped him to his feet.

"Well done, Cloud." He said, as he clinched to my hand. "Thanks for helping me back there."

"No problem." I replied.

"So... where are they?" he asked, as he looked around.

Before answering, I turned to the pile of debris under which Tifa and Akane had been hiding. I noticed that they weren't there anymore. I took a deep breath and answered:

"They're probably on their way to Sagittarius."

"What? Why are they going there?" he asked.

"Because..." I paused for a moment. I really had no idea of how to tell him. He began to grow suspicious, because my eyes reflected the tragedy. "Ranma, there's no easy way of saying this, but..."

"Where is she??" he demanded, and grabbed my by my shirt. "Where?!"

"I already told you, calm down!" I said, and took a step back, while putting his hands down. "Listen... she's badly hurt, Ranma. They went to Sagittarius to see if Demean can heal her..."

"What??"

"Listen, she wanted you to know that..."

"No..." he murmured, and before I could say another word, he turned back and ran to the house of Sagittarius as fast as his legs could take him. "AKANE!!"

"Ranma, wait!!" I cried, but he had already disappeared in the shadows of the temple.

I sighed and sat down. I had to stay there... After all, someone still had to be on the lookout for Heartless. The mission wasn't over. I had to keep the damn monsters from winning in Capricorn. All I could do was to wait. Wait for either the damn fiends to show up, or wait for my buddies to come back. Either way, I knew that the wait would be longest of my life. I raised my eyes to the stars, and wondered why noble, brave persons, like Akane, where the ones who fell to the foulest fiends.

"Come back alive, Akane." I whispered, horrified at the thought of losing one of my friends yet again...

Aquarius: Sakura

I really wished I had picked another house to guard. Well, not exactly another house... Only one that didn't have Hyoga inside. Of course, it wasn't that I didn't like him or anything of the sort. But those damn freezing bolts of his were covering the temple with ice and snow! And though it looked pretty, snow isn't as nice as it is in movies. And there I was, standing right beside that loon, with nothing on but a skirt and blouse. My legs had practically gone numb. After every five minutes, I had to go out of the house and rub them. I was really scared... and not because of the dark golden saint, but because of the fact that I could lose my legs because it was so damn cold in there.

"I have an idea." I suggested, after staying silent while chattering my teeth for quite a while. "Why don't you just save your attacks for the dark golden saint? And if you can, could you please melt a bit of this ice? I can't take this anymore, Ryoga!"

"Huh... I'm Ryoga, Sakura." Ryoga, who was also there with us, said. "I'm not the one responsible for this mess. And this is about the fifth time you've confused us. Are you sure you're all right?"

"No, I'm not all right!" I protested. "That's precisely the point! Besides, it isn't my problem that I keep confusing the two of you. Ryoga, Hyoga, what's the difference? Just a letter! You guys do know that your names sound pretty much alike, don't you?"

"Calm down, Sakura." Hyoga said. "Listen, I can't melt the ice. I'm sorry, but I really can't do that. It has helped us a lot against the Heartless, hasn't it? All the enemies that come in here walking quickly lose their footing and we have taken advantage of that, haven't we? That leaves us only with the aerial opponents to worry about. Besides, once the dark golden saint gets here, it'll be much colder. If he really is as powerful as my master Camus was, then there'll be much more ice..." he paused for a second and then added: "The one thing I can do, though, is not to do the Diamond Dust or the Aurora's Execution for a while, okay?"

As you may expect, this wasn't much of an incentive.

"Whoopee-freaking-do!!" I roared. "What am I supposed to do?? Freeze to death in here?"

"Come on, Sakura, it isn't that bad..." Ryoga intervened, but quickly shut his mouth when I turned to him.

"Not for you, it isn't!" I snapped. "You have a sweatshirt on, genius! Try standing this damn weather without nothing more than a skirt to cover your legs!"

"Well, come on, what do you want me to do about your legs? Rub them?"

"Would it kill you to do that?"

"Guys, you're completely off the subject..." Hyoga interrupted, making both Ryoga and me to shut up as our faces turned bright red. "Listen, Sakura, if you're really that cold, then go outside. It's much warmer out there."

"Yeah, um... I'll go out." I said in a low voice. Yup, I was still pretty embarrassed. I didn't even turn to Ryoga as I walked out of the temple and sat on the stairs.

'Much warmer'. That Hyoga has his intern thermostat completely screwed up. I really wanted to kill him for acting like such a jerk. 'Less colder' is what he should have said, for we were, undoubtedly, below 32 °F outside. I really don't want to imagine how low we were inside the house... Either way, it wasn't as bad. I embraced my legs, cupped my hands together and began to blow into them. In a matter of minutes, I was away from the clutches of death. Yet I knew that I would have to return to the house of Aquarius. The dark golden saint would certainly show up in there...

I stayed outside for a long time, doing nothing more than to trying to keep myself warm and looking at the clock tower. The fire of Sagittarius had just faded. We still had a couple more hours before our enemy would emerge from the dark realm of the Heartless. I thought about our friends. I wanted to know how they were doing. I looked at the temples below me and let out a sigh. They were too far away... I couldn't feel a damn thing. No 'chi' from anyone of my friends or the enemies. The only inner energies that I felt were Hyoga's, Ryoga's, and my own. I sighed again and let my head rest in my hands.

A platoon of Heartless suddenly caught my attention. It was an enormous wave of wyverns and magicians that were flying through the night sky. I was lucky I spotted them. The wave broke up into two parts: one kept on flying towards the mountains... Probably to the house of Pisces, were Shun guarded the golden armor along with Donald and Goofy. And the other bunch of enemies headed straight toward me.

I got up and began to focus my energies on the palms of my hands as I quickly warned those other two.

"Ryoga! Hyoga! Incoming Heartless!" I yelled.

The wyverns were almost on me. The stupid magicians had even ceased their charge. I suppose that they thought that their other friends could kill me pretty easily. After all, I was charging up my power and I was by myself. However, the Heartless weren't fast enough to stop my energy wave. One of them aimed its claws right at my head and was the first to be served.

"HADOKEN!!"

My projectile went through the first monster and killed another two. At this point, the magicians had noticed that I wasn't such an easy prey and had begun their attack. Luckily for me, the Calgary had already arrived.

"SHISHI HOKOUDAN!!"

"HYAAA!!"

Ryoga used his energy blast to defeat two of the magicians and a wyvern, while Hyoga kept his promise and kicked one of the flying weasels hard on its stomach, killing it instantaneously. The remaining magicians disappeared into the shadows, reappearing elsewhere to continue their attack. The wyverns bolted up into the dark sky only to come back like bombs dropped from a jet. Hyoga stopped one of them by hitting it on the head... bones don't fare too well against a metal as hard as that armor. The other one lunged at me, but I managed to jump over it. Before it could escape to the heights of the mountains again, I grabbed it by the tail and managed to toss it against one of the rocks. Before it could spread its wings and fly into the night again, I leapt on his head and squashed it.

Ryoga, sick of having to chase the stupid magicians around, decided to employ a more effective method of bringing them down by sticking his finger into the ground and exploding the floor under him. The burst was so violent that it shot little stones at the Heartless at an incredible speed. They actually seemed more like bullets than pebbles. Two of the magicians died because of the explosion and other two were stunned by it. The bronze saint quickly took advantage of this by kicking both of them in the back of their heads. We had stopped the attack and not only that... I was getting a little warmer.

"Those insects were little more than rocks on our shoes. We have vanquished them with ease!" I cried, happily.

"What?" Ryoga asked, with a smile. "What's that all about, Sakura? Who are you trying to sound like? Wilheim?"

"Or Tish, or Demean." I giggled. "They all speak very, very funny..." I then stopped laughing and turned serious. "I'm worried about them. Especially about Tish. I mean, I know she's strong and all, but she just seems so... delicate."

"I understand what you mean." Hyoga said. "Though I must admit that I'm more worried about Shun." He turned to me and added: "I sort of have the same feeling that you have with Tish. Shun isn't weak. But he's just too... childish, too innocent... I hope that he and the other two are doing all right on their own."

"I'm sure that he's fine." Ryoga said. "The one I'm really worried about, though, is Sora."

"How come?" I asked.

"Because if he falls, we're all screwed."

"I hadn't thought of that." I muttered. Those had been the gloomiest words I've ever heard. "But..." I realized. "If he had already died, do you think that we would be having this conversation?"

"No. But the twelve hours aren't over, aren't they?" Ryoga argued.

"No... I guess not." I answered with a sigh, as I glanced at the clock tower.

My good mood eventually came to an end. Both Ryoga and Hyoga returned inside the house and kept guard there. I refused to go in again. I wouldn't enter that damn place unless the ice wouldn't be there anymore, or the dark golden had arrived. I kept watch by myself, sitting on the stairs, while hugging my legs and blowing my warm breath into my hands. The wind wasn't blowing as fiercely anymore. Thus, it wasn't as cold as before. Thank the Lord, because otherwise, I could've lost my legs... And even though that may sound like an exaggeration, believe me, it isn't.

I sat there, by myself, staring at the horizon, hoping to see a ray of sunlight at any moment, for an hour and, um, give or take fifteen minutes. No other Heartless had come to the house of Aquarius. Actually, we had hardly battled any monsters. It was obvious that all of them were getting killed in the temples below ours. I could only imagine what the guys guarding the first houses were experimenting. I don't have the slightest idea of how they had survived for such a long time. I know they were still alive, because if even one of the armors in the temples fell, then the Sanctuary would collapse... I sighed and prayed silently for the night to come to an end.

"Hey, Sakura... Are you better?" Ryoga suddenly asked, as he went out of the temple and sat beside me. "Warmed up yet?"

"Not really, but at least I'm not dying anymore." I answered, dryly.

"What's wrong? Are you mad at me, or something?"

"Duh, you jackass. I've been here, freezing my butt for an hour and neither of you two had the decency to come here earlier and ask me how I was doing. Where's Hyoga, by the way?" I demanded.

"He..." Ryoga replied, in a tiny, shy voice. "He said that he wanted to stay there. He said that someone needed to stay in the house and guard the golden armor. You know, in case the Heartless use the backdoor to get inside."

"Uh – huh. Whatever." I grumbled. "And what about you? Were you too busy in there? Did you fight a lot of enemies? Didn't you at least have five minutes to step out and stay with me for a while?"

"But... I'm here now, right?"

"Gee, how comforting."

"Co-Come on, Sakura. What do you want me to say? We're all supposed to be guarding the golden armor. I had to stay inside..."

"That's a pretty poor excuse to give to your girlfriend, stupid."

"Huh... What??" Ryoga asked, and his pupils shrunk.

I said nothing more. I merely looked away and waited for him to say something else... hoping that it wouldn't turn out to be something completely idiotic.

As a matter of fact, I had been thinking a lot about us during that time. Sure, I had worried about all of our friends. And I had been also worrying about the damn chill. But in the end, I decided that I had to get my mind away from those thoughts, and focused mainly on Ryoga and myself. Because, let's face it: I didn't have much of a future if I would go after Ryu. Not only would a relationship with him would be nearly impossible to accomplish; it would also be illegal. I still admired him a lot... I still wanted him to be my sensei. But he would undoubtedly be better off with a woman... his age. Like Morrigan... well, perhaps not Morrigan. But maybe that other woman warrior he had met a couple of times. I think she's called Chun-Li. Well, whatever the case would be I had taken quite affection toward the good, naïve Ryoga. He also had no chance with Akane, and he already knew that. Not that I was the second prize or anything of the sort... Nevertheless, I sensed that Ryoga like me.

That had been on my mind during all that time. So I had decided to speed things up. Me being mad at Ryoga was just a charade so I could just tell him about our situation.

"Girl-girl-girlfriend??" Ryoga stammered. "Wha-wha-what do you mean?"

"What do you mean by 'what do you mean'? Specifically, what part of the word 'girlfriend' you don't understand?"

"No, no... I understand the word, but... why?"

"Why?" I asked. All of a sudden, I felt that my plan wasn't working and I lost all confidence. My fake anger vanished as I said, with a weak voice: "You mean you don't feel the same?"

"Feel what...?" the idiot muttered. I was about to get mad for real when he exclaimed: "Oh! You mean... Well, um..." he kept silent for a little while, while we both looked at each other in the eyes. And at long last, a shy smile spread on his lips. "Well... yeah... It's just too... sudden, you know."

"Well, yeah, but who cares?" I giggled. "Okay... I forgive you for being such a jerk. Just try to do something nice, alright?"

"Um... like what? My point is... what's a boyfriend supposed to do? I've never been one before."

"Yeah, I've never been someone's girlfriend, either." I chuckled. "But just for starters, put your arm around me, and shield me from the cold, will ya?"

"Really?" he murmured, as he gently put his arm around my neck. "Like this...?"

"Around the torso, dummy." I said. "Though you weren't technically wrong a moment ago." And so I rested my neck on his shoulder and let out a happy sigh. Finally, something good had come out of all that mess in the Sanctuary.

We stayed there for a long while, and during that time, it was as if all of the evil things in the world, all the darkness, the fear, and the cold, vanished. We were alone in the universe, in an empty paradise. There was nothing to be afraid of, nothing to expect. There was no future. We were the present. And despite the echo of the freezing wind, I had never felt as warm as I was in Ryoga's arms.

"Warmer yet?" he asked.

"Yeah. Much warmer." I replied. I looked at him and put my lips together... I just wanted a little, quick kiss; that was all. I knew that this wasn't the moment to be kissing, but I just wanted to get a quick experience... He looked surprised at first, yet after a few moments, he too put his lips together and got closer. And all of a sudden, he stopped and his eyes turned to the clock tower. His face lost all happiness and became serious. He had been dragged out of our little world, into real life.

"What is it?" I asked. I quickly glanced at the clock tower and saw what was wrong... The fire on Aquarius, the temple we were guarding, was about to go out. So much for romance.

"We've got to go and help Hyoga." He said.

"Let's hurry." I added. We got to our feet and entered the house as fast as our feet could take us. In there, we met with Hyoga, still surrounded by the ice he had created with his hands, as he stared at the center of the temple, where a black shadow had sprouted from the ground...

The dark saint came out of the floor as if he had climbed away from hell itself. Vapor surrounded his body as he set his right foot on the ground and the rocks below him froze instantly. I gulped and shivered as I looked at his red eyes. He stared at Hyoga, who stood still and had a melancholic expression on his face that was soon replaced by anger and hate. Ryoga put his body in front of mine and raised his fists. The black warrior dressed in a dark armor turned to us. Not one of us dared to move. Ryoga and I didn't know what this man was capable of, and the fact that Hyoga seemed worried was freaking me out. Before long, Ryoga didn't stand it any longer and cried:

"Don't you dare come near her, demon!!" he gathered his energy on his hands and then shot it out with rage. "SHISHI HOKOUDAN!!"

He had thrown out quite a Ki blast. But the dark golden saint simply caught it with his hand as if it were a soft ball and actually frozen. I was paralyzed by fear. I had never heard of someone so powerful that he could actually freeze energy. Ryoga took a step back and gritted his teeth. I suppose that he too was very frightened. And so the enemy lifted his finger and pointed it at us...

"Oh, crap...!" Ryoga muttered. "Sakura, watch out!!" he then grabbed me by the waist and jumped out of the way of that deadly, invisible projectile that covered the ground we had been standing with ice. It spread just as if it were fire and touched my leg. I felt as if I had been stabbed by something and yelped in pain. Ryoga dragged me away from the ice and quickly destroyed the chilling block that numbed my leg. I swear that if he had taken a couple of seconds longer to do that, the blood in my limp would've turned into a bunch of rocks.

Hyoga waited no longer and launched an attack at the monster.

"DIAMOND DUST!!"

The freezing ray our friend shot merely succeeded in turning the floor under the saint into ice. I guess that he was expecting just that, for afterwards, he jumped at the fiend and kicked his chest as hard as he could. The enemy skillfully blocked the blow, but he tripped with the sheet of ice and crashed against a wall. Hyoga charged at him, throwing punches and kicks as quickly as he could. His attacks were so fast that I could hardly see them. Yet the dark golden saint counterattacked, and his fist were just as fast...

"Come on, we can't let him fight by himself!" Ryoga exclaimed. "Let's go, Sakura!"

"Y-Yeah!"

The two of us ran at the warriors and threw ourselves against the enemy. He was actually faster than I thought... unfortunately. 'Cause when Ryoga and I began to attack him, he showed us the true meaning of speed. He parried all of our blows, plus the ones coming from Hyoga. However, we were not ready to give up. The fight had just started. I decided to change the strategy and went for the legs. But even though I kicked like a professional football player (no, I'm not bluffing), the guy's feet didn't even move. I had only one thing in my head: I wished Ryu were there.

Suddenly, the dark golden saint extended his arms to the sides, creating a burst of freezing energy that threw Ryoga and I away from him. I fell to the ground and it took a moment to get back to my feet. The room seemed to be spinning. When I finally came back from 'dazenyland', I realized that I had ice all over my chest and stomach. It wasn't solidified, though. It was more like snow. Still, it was cold as hell. I shook off the ice and my head only to see that Hyoga was the only one still standing against the dark golden saint. And the only reason he was still standing was because the enemy had, I have no idea how he did it, frozen his legs. He was practically nailed to the ground and the fiend was beating him like a piñata.

"Hyoga..." I muttered. "I'm coming...! Hang on!"

But before I could reach him, Ryoga appeared out of the nothing and attacked our opponent once again. The fiend leapt aside and began to block Ryoga's attacks. Meanwhile, I quickly raced at Hyoga and tried to break the ice trapping his legs, yet failed in the attempted. I hit it with my fist and felt as if I had broken my hand. It was as hard as a diamond. I shook my fingers and got ready to try again, but the bronze saint stopped me.

"It's no use." He said. "The ice created by the saint of Aquarius is the hardest of them all. We have to work together if you want me to get out of here."

"Let's hurry! Ryoga's in danger!!" I cried.

"On the count of three, hit my right leg." He said. "One... two... three!!"

Both of our fists succeeded in breaking the ice. He then had no major problems to free his other leg. Afterwards, we ran to Ryoga's aid, who was getting pummeled by the enemy.

"Take on someone your own size, you creep!!" I yelled at him and kicked him on the back of the head. (I know that that was a stupid thing to yell, but I couldn't think of some fancy remark at the moment, as you may understand.)

I think that this was the second solid blow that we had successfully scored on this guy, with Hyoga's kick at the beginning of the fight being the first. With that said, I guess that you can assume that none of us were too excited. This wasn't entirely bad, however, 'cause we were all fighting as fiercely as possible, knowing that our lives were hanging by a thread. Ryoga was hurt, but that didn't affect his ability to fight at all. He still had a lot of stamina. And it was a good thing that he did, because the worst had yet to come...

The fiend got ready to expel another burst of energy. This time, we were as fast as him and managed to counter his attack with Ki bursts of our own. The three of us together made him lose his balance. We did not lose one second and we all stroke at once.

"SHISHI HOKOUDAN!!"

"DIAMOND DUST!!"

"HADOKEN!!"

Though we did not make it in breaking the dark golden saint's armor (it was a little too much to ask), we did give him quite a blow. When he received our attack, his head snapped back and vapor came out of his mouth. I assume that, if he had been the real saint, that vapor would've been blood. He then fell to his knees and gasped for air. Hyoga gave him a brutal kick in the head and he flew to the other side of the house. Ryoga ran after him as fast as he could, and before he even touched the ground, he managed to grab him by the arm, beat him with a combination to the head (I know we attacked the head a lot, but, duh, that was his only vulnerable spot), and then threw him at me, so I could polish off our attack. I rushed at him and hit him a couple of times before I gave him an uppercut, while shouting:

"SHO-KEN!!"

I catapulted him into the air and he fell flat on his back. Hyoga leapt after him and attempted to finish him with a fatal kick to the stomach. But it was right then when things began to get nasty. The fiend stood with the speed of lightning and landed a roundhouse on Hyoga's face, followed by a straight kick to his abdomen. Before he could recover, before Ryoga and I could do anything, the dark golden saint fired a terrible blast at our friend. He didn't even scream. He just flew to the other side of the house and hit the wall with the force of a cannonball. The stone came down on top of him, and just before the rubble covered him, I noticed that most of his armor had been destroyed.

"HYOGA!!" we both cried. With terrible rage, Ryoga charged at the enemy, while I stood still, petrified by the sight of Hyoga's hand clenching to the ground, trying to pull out the rest of his body from the stones. I didn't know what to do: I didn't know whether I should have helped the bronze saint out of the rubble or if I should have helped my boyfriend in his battle.

Yet a sudden haze of golden light caught my eye. The golden armor – the true golden armor of Aquarius – was shinning. I didn't know what that could mean, but I felt a strange warmth coming from it. The light caressed my face with the same gentleness as a spring breeze, and for a brief moment, I felt my strength restored.

"ARGHH!!" Ryoga screamed, bringing my feet back down to Earth. The dark golden saint had caught his arm and was twisting it as if it were made out of rubber.

"NO!! LET HIM GO!!" I yelled and raced at them. The fiend saw me coming and threw Ryoga at me. I managed to catch him, but that didn't prevent us from hitting the wall behind us. I was so dizzy that I could hardly move. I shook my head and tried to stand up, but froze in terror as I saw that the fiend was getting ready to fire his most powerful attack...

"Sakura...! GET AWAY!!" Ryoga cried and threw me aside just as the enemy let loose his freezing beam.

"AURORA'S EXECUTION!!" he cried in an evil voice.

The black light consumed it all and hurt my skin. The blast had been so cold that even my clothes had become hard, as if the had just been ironed. The chilling wind drove me back and away from Ryoga... And when all was clear again, I saw him and gasped in horror. He was trapped inside what seemed to be a coffin. His eyes were open and so was his mouth, as if he were trying to scream... but no sound could go through that wall of ice.

"NO!! RYOGA!!" I wailed. I began to run to him with no other plan in my head than to pound on the glass... But the enemy turned to me and stopped me in my tracks with his mere stare. I could do nothing more than to murmur in a fear-filled, enraged voice: "You son of a bitch..."

The dark golden saint got ready to answer my insult with another deadly ray. I closed my eyes, knowing that nothing I did would save me from the icy coffin in which that monster wanted to trap me... Yet a sound opened my eyes. It had been the sound that someone makes when he or she falls to the ground. I then held my breath as I saw the dark golden saint getting back on his feet so that he could face Hyoga, who was wearing the golden clothes of Aquarius and shone as brightly as the sun as his golden hair waved with the breeze that his own body created.

"My master favors me." He said. "Camus has granted me an opportunity... And I am not going to waste it! Get ready, dark golden saint! Now you'll know the strength of the master of Aquarius!!" He raised his arms, as did the fiend and focused all of his energy on his fists. His eyes then shone like sapphires and a golden aura engulfed him as his cry echoed on the walls of the temple: "AURORA'S THUNDER RAY!!"

"AURORA'S EXECUTION!!" yelled the other one, and a battle of energy blasts began.

The floor under their feet turned into ice, and the pillars around them began to crack because of the insanely cold bursts those two were firing. My legs, arms and feet became numb, while the rest of my body began to hurt pretty badly. I nearly fell to me knees so that I could hug my legs and try to keep warm. I knew however, that I couldn't do that. I had to get away from them... but I also had to free Ryoga from his prison. Yet I was aware that no normal blast would suffice to break the wall of ice that trapped him. I ran to his side and decided that there was only one thing that I could do: only one Ki burst would be strong enough to destroy the wall of ice. But I had to be careful, for if I used too much energy, I could kill him as well. And besides, I wasn't sure if my body would be able to withstand so much energy...

I didn't care. Ryoga had saved my life. And I didn't care if losing it would be a consequence of saving him. I forced myself to think of nothing else than Ryoga. I made Hyoga and the dark golden saint vanish from the face of the Earth as they continued to duel and to freeze everything around them. I began to focus all of my Ki in the palms of my hand. When I had enough energy to fire a Hadoken, I kept on building my Ki. I would raise it to the very limit. And when I couldn't take it anymore, I would still force myself to keep on gathering energy. My legs began to shake, but the thought of Ryoga trapped inside the ice kept me going. I had to stop from time to time to take a breath, but I didn't allow myself to let the energy I already had in my hands go. I struggled on and on, until the ice under my feet began to melt. I gritted my teeth and didn't feel cold anymore. I was about to faint, but I just needed a bit more of energy...

My sight grew weary and my legs began to fail. Though I didn't feel the chill of the battle of the saints, that didn't mean that it wasn't there. The temperature was still dropping at an alarming rate. Yet I wasn't willing to give up. I was going to free Ryoga from that prison, even at the cost of my life.

I then felt ready. I held a humongous ball of energy between my hands. It was burning my palms. I had to let it go. I got ready to fire it and the world came back before my eyes. Hyoga was about to emerge victorious from the chilling duel. His blast was far fiercer than the one of the dark golden saint, and was about to reach him. I decided to wait until Hyoga used all of his strength to defeat the enemy. Perhaps both energies combined, though not aimed at the same target, would suffice to free Ryoga...

"Help me, God..." I grunted. "I... need your help...! Please let this blast free... Ryoga!" I then raised my head and cried: "I'll make you proud of me, Ryu!!"

"This is it, fiend!!" Hyoga roared. "AURORA'S THUNDER RAY!! ABSOLUTE ZERO!!"

The place became colder than the ninth pit of hell as Hyoga's blast won the fight and erased the dark golden saint from existence. Everything became covered by ice. And before the chill of it reached me, I fired the energy wave.

"SHINKU HADOKEN!!"

I never thought that I would be capable of letting so much power loose. I had raised my Ki to a level high enough to fire a blast comparable to one of Ryu on his best day. The ice coffin crumbled as my energy wave hit it with great might. It didn't last more than a couple of seconds. I fell to the ground, sick as a dog, and nearly fell unconscious, yet I forced myself to remain awake so that I could see if Ryoga had survived...

The bronze – now a golden warrior – saint quickly raced to my side and held my head. His hands were surprisingly warm, and I felt the blood rushing inside my body again as he held me.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Ryoga..." I whispered.

He didn't need to answer. Just as I spoke his name, Ryoga began to cuff and sneeze. I smiled triumphantly as he crawled out of the ice and to Hyoga's side. He used his energy to warm him up a bit. I noticed that his skin was blue and he was chattering his teeth... of course, I wasn't surprised.

"It's over, Ryoga. It's okay." Hyoga said.

"L-let's go o-outside..." Ryoga stammered. "I-it's freezing in here..."

"Okay." The saint said, and carried both of us out the temple of Aquarius. And this time, I did feel as if we had traveled to the Caribbean as he stepped out of the house.

"Oh, that's much b-better..." Ryoga muttered. He turned to me and placed his hand upon mine... He was much colder than I was. But I didn't care. "You saved me..."

"You did the same for me." I said, with a smile. "I... I'm tired, Ryoga... But I'm glad you're alive."

"Thanks... that's a n-nice thing for a g-girlfriend to s-say..."

"Girlfriend?" Hyoga asked. He then smiled and added: "About time. We were kind of wondering how much more time you guys would take to get together."

Ryoga and I chuckled and squeezed our hands. But then we all fell quiet at the sight of the clock tower... The fire on Pisces was beginning to fade. The battle had lasted a long time. Mainly the duel of the blasts and me charging up my energy... The fight for the Sanctuary was about to come to an end. From the mountains, far, far away from where we sat, a golden ray of the sun began to emerge... The day was coming.


	28. Chapter TwentySeven: The Final Struggle

Hey, guys... Quite a miracle, eh? Yeah, I'd say so. Actually, it's quite a miracle that I got to post this before next week. I know I say it all the time, but hey, one more time won't hurt: I'm sorry for taking so long. 

My excuse is the same: the University. This semester was actually pretty hard, but it's about to end, which means that I'll be able to write much more often, thank God. I'll try to post at least two big chapters before I go back to studying. Yet even then, I'll try to write more often, even if the chapters turn out to be 10 pages each.

This chapter itself is pretty short, but don't worry, the next few ones will be pretty big, I hope. Plus, I've got a surprise coming for you in about five chapters... :)

Sorry about the short length of this chapter, but I had to finish the part of the Sanctuary in order to go on with the more important parts of the story. It might take me a bit long, but don't worry: I'll be working day and night.

Well, that's about it. Take care of yourselves. Until next time, wish me luck in my finals. :)

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Final Struggle Pisces: Shun 

There have been only a few times in which I've been really scared. This was one of them. I didn't fret for my life, no, but I was concerned about my friends'. To fight against a golden saint for less than an hour had been one of the worst punishments I had ever endured... Only that this time, they were aided by an army of enemies with nothing more in their minds than destruction and death. I wasn't too sure if all of our friends would survive such an onslaught.

There were only three fires still burning on the clock tower: Capricorn's, Aquarius', and Pisces'. I was on charge of defending this last temple, and had been aided by both Donald and Goofy for as long as any of us could remember. I say this in such way because we had felt as if we had been waiting for years for the fires of the rest of the houses to vanish. Naturally, we had fought, but not too much. Most of the Heartless that came out of the keyhole, which we could see just on the horizon – right beside the coliseum – were decimated by the rest of our buddies guarding the houses below ours. We were in one of the highest spots of the Sanctuary – the temple of Pisces. And we could see the rest of the houses below us as dark and golden flashes of light repeatedly came out of them... We could do nothing more than to sigh and hope for the best. Though we all wanted to go and help our friends, our mission was to protect the golden clothes of Pisces. My chains were restless, but I couldn't let them go after any other evil that wasn't threatening the temple... I guess you could say that I had never been so eager to see the sunrise.

At the moment however, I wasn't giving myself the luxury to think about all those things: I was ready to battle at the first sight of aggressiveness. Somehow, I doubted that the words Shaka had spoken at the very beginning of the battle would apply to our case: he had said that the dark golden saints would appear in each house once its fire had gone out. If that was the case, then we had the battle won, for all we had to do was to wait until the final flame of clock tower died, and then sunrise would come. But the Heartless were merciless creatures: I doubted that they would give us such an opportunity. And, as you'll see later, I wasn't at all wrong.

The three of us were restless, but the one who seemed most worried was, surprisingly, Donald. He strolled back and forth with a concerned expression on his face. It almost seemed to me as if he were actually expecting news from somebody...

"What's wrong, Donald?" Goofy suddenly asked, seeing that there was no way that the duck would calm down.

"We shouldn't be here!" he complained. "We should be with Sora! Remember, Goofy: King's orders! It's our duty to protect the Keyblade bearer! And here we are, doing practically nothing instead of fighting alongside him!"

"Are you worried about him?" I asked.

"Of course I am! He won't make it on his own!" the duck replied.

"Try not to worry too much." I said. "I'm sure that he'll do just fine with Shaka and Dante's help. Besides, there's not much use in worrying."

"Whatever, but that still doesn't mean that I think I shouldn't be there."

"Think positively, Donald." Goofy intervened. "Check out the clock tower. It'll be sunrise in less than three hours. And we have had it pretty easy up till now, don't you think?"

"Of course we have, you big palooka! That means that the ones below us are fighting the fight of their lives!"

There was a brief silence afterwards. I could do nothing but to sigh and glance at the rest of the Sanctuary's houses. Donald was right...

"Gwarsh... I hadn't thought of that." Goofy confessed.

"I say we should go down there and help the guys that are actually doing something!" Donald said, determined to step out of the house.

"No way!" I said and blocked his path. "We are staying. As much as we want to go to our friends' aid against the dark golden saints, we still have our own battle to wage. Besides, they don't expect that we go help them. We have to stay, Donald, as much as that grieves me."

"So, when you expect nothing, you get nothing." Donald grumbled. "I guess we should also think the same way, huh?"

"That's right." I said, nodding my head. "After all, the three of us alone are responsible for protecting this house and the armor that it keeps." I paused to let out another sigh and added: "The dark golden saint can appear at any moment. We have to be wary. Somehow, I don't think that this specific saint will stick to Shaka's rule."

"How do you know that?" Goofy asked.

"Just trust me on this one." I said. "Some hours ago, I felt a terrible energy that I had already felt before... Back when we fought against the golden saints. I don't know how, but I'm pretty sure that Deathmask of Cancer returned from the rows of the dead. He wasn't worthy of the title of a saint... And the golden saint of Pisces wasn't that different at all."

"So, you're saying that we're going to fight against the real golden saint?"

"That's exactly what I'm guessing. And let me tell you, it won't be an easy fight. I fought against that fiend during that time, and nearly died... All because I showed some mercy at the beginning of our match."

"Well, you'd better don't do that again." Donald said and walked away from me, into the center of the temple.

I shook my head and tried to say: 'It won't happen again'. Yet, somehow, the words couldn't come out of my mouth. So I kept silent and gazed at the houses below us, wondering if there was, perhaps, another golden saint come back from the death fighting against our friends. I stayed there for some more minutes before turning around and heading to the temple's exit. Then I looked up. There was the temple of the Patriarch, empty no doubt, a building which had once housed one of our greatest enemies. And beyond that place, was Athena's statue, standing tall and proudly over all the houses of the Sanctuary; in her left hand stood the goddess of victory and her right hand held her immense shield. Those two items were supposed to lead her over any obstacle that might stand in her way. But they had failed her. And we had failed her. I felt as if I could almost start crying at any moment. But that was not the time for tears. I had to be alert.

"Shun?" Goofy suddenly asked. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." I replied. "I was just thinking... How do the rest of the temples look?"

"They look the same." Donald said. "What did you expect?"

"Shattered pillars and broken walls. You know... nothing out of the ordinary."

"Gwarsh, let's hope that that doesn't happen here." Goofy said.

"I know all about Aphrodite's techniques. I doubt that the house will stay intact after our fight."

"Aphrodite?" Donald asked. "I didn't know that there was a woman saint."

"He isn't a woman." I said. "Though he certainly looks like one. He's too feminine. It's said that he's the most beautiful saint of all." I paused and then added: "I'll tell you all about his attacks so that he won't catch you off guard. He only has three special techniques, as far as I'm concerned. Most likely, he'll try to attack us with red roses at the beginning: don't let any of these hit you, and try not to smell their fragrance; they're quite poisonous. After that, I'm almost sure that he'll dish out his black roses. Think of them as if they were hungry piranhas swimming in a sea of air: they'll gnaw through anything... even through my armor, so I'll have to be careful, too. Not even my chains can stop those damn things. And lastly, the white rose. We all have to be extra careful about this one. He'll try to throw it at our hearts... and if he succeeds, then we're dead for sure. The white rose will absorb all of our blood like a hellish leech to become red."

There was silence for a few seconds, and then Donald broke it by saying:

"He'll attack us with roses? What a loser!"

"It may sound ridiculous, but I advice you against being overconfident, Donald." I said. "That could very well mean your death."

"Okay, okay, calm down." The duck said. "We won't be overconfident. I just want this night to be over so I can get some rest and so we can meet our friends. I hope that they're all okay."

"As long as Sora's alive, there's always hope." Goofy added. "But either way, things aren't looking too bright now..."

He walked to the house's entrance and stared at the rest of the temples. The first three, Virgo, and Sagittarius were being invaded by a flood of monsters. Intense flashes of energy illuminated the dark night for a few seconds again and again, like the fire of a lighthouse. It was its way of telling the ships about that it still stood, that the men and women in their walls still fought a fierce battle. I sighed and looked at the clock tower. The fire on Capricorn had already faded and Aquarius's flame was beginning to wane. I blinked and almost let out a surprised gasp. Time had sure flown by in a very quick, unexpected way. That only meant that our turn to fight was drawing near.

"Shun?" Goofy suddenly asked, bringing my feed back to Earth.

"Huh? What is it?" I said.

"You think we're going to fight against a live golden saint, right? So, um... Is that a good thing? I mean, do you think that we're better off against a real golden saint than against a Heartless?"

"Of course not. Most of the Heartless are the same, Goofy: mindless creatures with no other thing in mind than death and destruction. They can only attack, but they can't think." (I'm sure that by now you've guessed that I was completely wrong in this statement). "Aphrodite will most likely learn from our techniques as we fight. The longer we take to destroy him, the harder it will be to actually beat him. That's why we have to be swift in our attacks."

"You worry too much." Donald said. "I can almost bet that he's not as tough as you say. After all, the one who beat him was you."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean, duck?" I asked, somewhat angered by those last words.

"It means that you are a weakling." Replied a voice that came from behind us. I knew it too well. My anger quickly vanished as my chains began to rattle in my hands, and urged me to release them against the peril that had just arrived. I didn't allow them to go after the evil golden saint, though. They wouldn't do any good... because I was sure that Aphrodite was ready for them.

We all turned around and put ourselves on guard as we saw him. There he was, just as I remembered him. His face was white as porcelain and his clear eyes were still devilish. A mole adorned one of his cheeks as his long hair waved with the gentle wind that blew behind him. He held a rose between his lips, and his hands formed tight fists. He hadn't aged a day. I knew that he still remembered our last battle; I could see much anger in his eyes. But I didn't let that intimidate me. I was far from being scared or impressed at his return.

"I knew it'd be you." I said. "How did you manage to return from the death, Aphrodite?"

"Let's just say that I'm with a better crowd now." He answered. "Those creatures – the Heartless – have great power. And power is what I desire, Andromeda. And as you may guess, you are but an obstacle that keeps me from reaching the ultimate power. I must destroy you. And if I may say so, it'll please me very much to do so."

"Yeah, right! I'd like to see you try, palooka!" Donald challenged. "Just try to come and get us!"

"Are these the people you're getting along with now, Andromeda?" the saint asked, with a cackle. "I find them most annoying. But don't worry. I make sure that they'll die alongside you."

"You're way too overconfident, Pisces saint." I said. "That's what cost you your life the last time we met."

"Perhaps, but that won't happen again." He replied. "Because, you see, I have been bestowed with more power. Enough to defeat you in a blink... Enough to defeat all of you. Face it, Andromeda. You're lost. You cannot win against me. Not as I am now."

"We don't have to beat you." Goofy intervened. "We just have to hold our ground a bit of time, and when the sun comes up, you'll be dust!"

"If you all last one minute against me, it'll be a miracle." Aphrodite jeered. "But I've spoken enough. It's time to die!"

He quickly grabbed the rose between his lips and threw it at us. I was aware of the danger that a single rose could represent to all of us, and wasn't going to let it get to where we stood. With lightning speed I swung my chains and let them loose. With furious rattling, they slashed the rose into pieces, so not a single petal would remain. I took a few steps back and held my breath for a couple of seconds: I knew the poisonous fragrance of those roses... to smell it even once would be fatal.

"Scared because of one little rose, Andromeda?" the fiend asked. "Don't worry too much. That rose wasn't poisonous. The next one, however, will be quite different."

"We're ready for you, so stop your blabbering and fight already!" Donald challenged.

"My pleasure!"

He spread his arms and let loose a storm of roses. Donald yelled in rage as he cast an aerial spell about us, while Goofy quickly hid behind his shield. I let my chains thrash angrily once again and destroy every single rose that got in their way. I was calm, because I knew that Donald's aerial spell would repel the roses' venom... but then I noticed that the storm of Aphrodite was lasting too long. He had indeed been bestowed with more power.

"Not bad." The evil saint said. "I didn't think you'd be armed with this buffoon of a sorcerer. If it weren't for him, you would probably already be dead by the rose's poison."

"Wake up, Aphrodite! You'll never win this battle!" I screamed, and let my chains charge at him with the fury of a thousands snakes. Yet he rejected all of them with just the palms of his hands. Donald and Goofy however, weren't willing to let me stand alone against the abominable saint. The duck raised his staff high above his head and conjured a fire spell, which he launched at Aphrodite in the form of a flaming ball. Goofy ran at him at full speed, aiming his shield at the foe's head. But Aphrodite rejected both of them just like he did with my chains. Donald's fireball bounced back at him – he was lucky and quick enough to evade it, though – and Goofy was thrown like a beach ball.

"WOW!" Goofy wailed as he hit the wall. "That hurt!"

"Oh, did it?" snickered Aphrodite. "Don't worry. That's just the beginning..."

I knew what was coming right away: phase two – the black roses. He wasn't wasting any time. He immediately threw at us a swarm of flowers, which came at us as swiftly as mad bees. The air about them turned poisonous as their black petals interfered with our sight. We couldn't see anything but the black roses. Without a second thought, I raised my Cosmo-energy as high as I could and transferred my Ki to the chains, hoping that they would be able to survive the onslaught that awaited them. Donald created yet another wall of wind, even stronger than the last one, and Goofy covered us from the few roses that escaped through the barrier that the sorcerer and I created. Yet I still wasn't sure that my chains would remain intact...

The storm faded and my chains came back to my arms. They were still in one piece! I wager that if it hadn't been for both Donald and Goofy, my chains would be no more at that moment.

"My, my..." Pisces said. "Not bad at all. But that's not even half of my power."

"Nor ours." I replied. "It's time for you to have a taste of our true strength!" My chains flew at him with blistering speed and trapped his arms. I pulled as hard as I could and managed to get him off balance. He fell to the ground hard. Next, we all ran at him as fast as our legs could take us. I was the first to get to his side, and hence, the first to attack. I kicked him as if he were a football and made him fly across the temple. Goofy's turn came right afterwards. As Aphrodite got up from his fall, our knight charged at him like a battering ram and pushed him against a wall. The hit was so hard that the saint actually spat blood from his mouth. Donald was the one who finished our offense. He quickly froze the saint's legs so that he could then attack with a lightning spell. Stuck as he was to the floor, he couldn't escape the bolts. The ice on his legs broke because of the fury of the lightning after a while. Aphrodite finally fell on his knees, out of breath, and very angry.

"You fools!" he growled. "Don't you think that you defeated me with that petty attack! The nightmare has only begun!"

"Heh... we're winning!" Donald taunted. But suddenly, we all heard a sound that came from outside the house of Pisces. I spun my head and saw with horror that Aphrodite wasn't going to fight this battle all by himself... A horde of Heartless entered the temple with great fury, smashing down two columns and tearing through a wall. And the worst part was that Aphrodite, indeed, hadn't shown us his full power.

But despite all of this, we couldn't just give up. Not while we were so close to the end. All of our friends were fighting the fight of their lives... It was our turn to join them in such battle and defeat the evil that threatened our Sanctuary. I gathered all of my courage and strength as I charged at the heartless while screaming at the top of my lungs:

"FOR ATHENA!"

Donald and Goofy ran behind me against the foul beasts and let loose all of their fury. The sorcerer fired tenths of quick, flaming balls of energy that burnt many of our enemies to a crisp. Goofy rammed a group of fat Heartless with his sturdy shield and knocked them against one of the walls. I threw my chains at the wyverns and beheaded a couple of them. Next, I pounced on a magician and commanded my right chain go through him. He died instantly.

My two friends and I kept on battling against the Heartless as fiercely as we could. We didn't yield any ground, even though more Heartless came inside the house with every passing second. And if you think that we had forgotten about Aphrodite, then you would be insulting our intelligence. Of course we hadn't taken our sight off the evil golden saint, mainly because he wouldn't let us fight the Heartless without giving us a lot of trouble. Again, he fired his black roses against us, but this time, we all managed to deflect in different ways. Donald scorched them as they flew at him; Goofy fended them off with his shield (of course, Donald lent him a hand by casting a protective spell on it), and I used the Nebula Torrent to take them out.

Seeing that his attacks did not succeed, he raced at me and threw a kick at my head. I blocked it just in time and he only managed to injure my arms a bit. He followed this surprised attack with another of his rose techniques: this time they were the red ones. I used my chains to get rid of them. It was a big mistake, though. He merely did this to distract me... A group of wyverns quickly swooped down from the ceiling of the house and slashed me with their sharp claws. I couldn't get my chains to react in time and became terribly injured. I fell to my knees and shook my head, trying to recover from the cuts. Yet Aphrodite wasn't willing to take any chances this time, apparently. He kicked me once more, and this time I wasn't able to block his blow. The attack was so fierce that he actually managed to destroy my tiara...

"Shun!" Donald cried as he saw me crash against the wall. He tried to heal me with a spell, but was attacked by three gigantic soldiers with living shields on their arms. Goofy also tried to aid me, yet five magicians blocked his path. Seeing that I was in this mess all by myself, I rose to my feet and threw my chains at the evil golden saint once again. Pisces countered with his attack of black roses. And this time, with no spell from Donald to help them withstand the onslaught brought upon them, they broke into a million pieces. The black roses then surrounded me and gnawed through the rest of my armor with little difficulty. Thankfully, it took all of the roses to destroy my sacred clothing. Even if one had continued to live, I would've had a real bad time.

To tell the truth, I was somewhat expecting something of the sort to happen. I had kissed my armor good – bye since the beginning of the battle. It didn't matter that it had been destroyed: all that mattered was that I was still alive and I had still strength within me. And without my chains to aid me, I would need all the help that I could get.

"It's over, girlie." The fiend mocked. "Just give up already, and I promise that I'll give you a clean, quick death. Not that you deserve it, though..."

"Athena's saints never give up!" I exclaimed, getting up from the ground once again. "You should already know that, Aphrodite. Like I did once before, I'll now show you and your foul creatures my true power! And I think that it's safe to say that I'll be more of a challenge this time!"

Yet, there was still one problem... In order to unleash my most powerful Nebula Storm, I had to focus all of my energy, and that would take some time. I had to be quick...

"And I think that it's also safe to say that you haven't forgotten about the danger of the white rose." He chuckled as he held up his deadliest weapon. "I'll bury it deep in your heart again, and drain the life out of you!"

"Shun!" I heard both of my friends shout, who were still fighting against the rest of the critters. I knew that I needed their help in order to win this fight.

I ducked just in time to evade the white rose that Aphrodite threw at me. Next, I jumped as high as I could and bounced off a wall. The only chance that I had was to get away from the evil golden saint as far as I could. Hopefully, Donald and Goofy would cover my back in the mean time.

I was lucky that there was no other Heartless blocking my path and reached Goofy's side in one move.

"Goofy, I need your help!" I said. "I need you and Donald to keep the Heartless off me for a while! I have to gather all of my energy to execute a Nebula Storm!"

"A Nebula Storm? Do you think that we'll be enough to get rid of all of these guys?" he asked.

"Just trust me!" I replied. "Please, I need time!"

"Okay, I'll do what I can!" he answered. We retreated to a corner and from there, Goofy battled hard to keep the monsters away. Donald noticed us and cried:

"I'll help too!"

He cast a protective spell of wind about us just in time to save us from an attack by Aphrodite: he had once again launched an offensive with red roses... I thank God that he didn't have that many attacks at his disposal. Yet the fact that they were few didn't mean that they weren't deadly.

"I've had enough of you!" Aphrodite cried, quite pissed off, I might add. "I'll let you have the honor to taste all of my white roses: you've earned it!"

And with that said, he let fly a dozen of deadly roses. There was no time left... I had to unleash the Nebula Storm right away. But I'm still too weak! I thought.

All of a sudden, Goofy cried in horror as something blocked the white roses... It had been Donald. I watched horrified as our friend fell to the ground while all of the roses, buried deeply in his body, began to turn red. Aphrodite laughed as he and his army advanced forth.

"How... how dare you...!" I muttered. "You... you son of a... son... of.." I had never felt so much anger in me before. Tears of rage began to flow from my eyes as my power began to grow at an alarming rate... "I'll never forgive you for this...!"

"Donald!" Goofy cried while he tried to shake Donald back to consciousness, not to avail.

"Get out of the way, Goofy!" I growled. "It's time to finish this fight once and for all!"

"Say your good – byes, Andromeda!" Pisces cried as he launched another wave of white roses. "I'll kill you now for sure!" The projectiles of doom flow at us quickly, but Goofy was able to get out of the way just in time.

"THIS IS THE END! NEBULA STORM!" I cried with incredible rage and attacked with the most powerful move I had ever performed.

"What's this...?" Aphrodite muttered as he and the other monsters began to melt because of the storm's power. His white roses turned to dust as soon as they felt my power on their petals. "How... how?" those were his last words before the Cosmo energy of Andromeda vanished him and the Heartless into oblivion.

The Nebula Storm had come out of me with more rage than I thought it would. As the winds faded, some of the house's pillars crumbled to the ground and clouds of dust went out of the temple. As the floor shook under our feet, I felt how all the strength in my body left me in an instant. I fell to my knees and gasped for air, thanking God that the battle was finally over. Yet, I hadn't forgotten about Donald. Goofy quickly ran to his side and tried to shake him back to consciousness. I crawled next to them as fast as I could...

"Donald..." I said in a harsh, tired voice. "...Wake up, Donald...!"

"Come on, buddy!" Goofy said. "It's me, your old pal! Goofy!" As he spoke these words, the roses on the duck's chest turned redder by the second. All of his blood was being absorbed by those horrendous things... "Shun, the roses are killing him! We have to get them out!"

"It's not that simple..." I muttered, still gasping for air. "We can't get them out just like that. One wrong move, and they will bite his heart out..."

"But we can't just leave him here like this...!"

Before any of us could speak another word, something coming from outside the house caught our attention and silenced us. Our tired faces looked at the horizon as we struggled to keep ourselves awake, so that we could do something about our brave, fallen friend... It had been the sun's first glimmer. Morning had finally come.

Blue flames covered all of the mountains and the temples. Foul, dark vapor rose from the soil as countless evil hisses filled the air. No doubt they were the Heartless, exhaling their last breath. Their hour had come, and they had lost the battle for the Sanctuary. Finally, we had reached victory.

The sun's rays slowly crawled up to the entrance of the temple and came into the house majestically, as if they knew how much we had longed for them to arrive. They struggled across the ruined floor and climbed up the broken pillars, filling the entire stance with their warmth and glory. We could only watch as they slowly engulfed Donald... As they illuminated the sorcerer's body, he shook as if a goose bump had run down his spine. Finally, the holy light reached the roses... and began to whither them. Their petals turned black as the sun burned them away. They turned into mere dust and were shortly after blown away by a gentle breeze... Aphrodite's curse had ended at last.

"Hmm..." Donald murmured in a low voice. It seemed to me as if he had just woken from a deep sleep. "...Where am I?" he asked.

"Donald, buddy, you're okay!" Goofy chuckled, as he let out a relieved sigh.

"Thank goodness you're still alive, my good friend!" I added, with a laugh, and meant those words, for no mere creature would've jumped in front of us to stop those projectiles – knowing that a certain death awaited him – in order to save our lives.

"Yeah... Oh, I remember." Donald said. "The white roses... I suppose that it takes much more to beat me, huh?"

"You betcha, Donald!" Goofy replied.

"Yeah, I'm still better than him..." the duck laughed weakly. "So... is it over?"

"Yes... it's over now, Donald." I said as I looked at the horizon, still marveled to see the sun shinning brightly over the mountains. I shaded my eyes and added: "At least, Athena's home remains here. We did not fail her this time... Thanks to all of you guys. We wouldn't have been able to do this without your help."

"Hey, what are friends for?" both of them said.

I couldn't help but to let out another merry chuckle and stare at the morning sky for a bit longer...

We made our way to the house of Virgo, where all of our friends were waiting for us. Though I wasn't expecting to see that every single one of our good companions had lived through this horrific experience, I was very happy to learn everyone was still alive and well, although there had been very close calls. Akane was the one that had been closest to death, yet she survived thanks to the little fairy's help. Tish had been the most valuable warrior in this battle, according to the words of my friends. She had saved Morrigan, the group in Sagittarius, and the girl from defeat. I was left without words... Even all of the golden saints were amazed by her powers.

"Feel the warm rays of the sun, my friends..." Demean said, with a big smile plastered on his face. "For its rays symbolize our victory, and what a victory it was."

"Yes, though I felt the cold arm of Death crawling to my neck during our fight, the battle we have won here will make the Heartless armies shake in terror before our might." Wilheim added.

"Yeah... we did very good, didn't we?" Sora asked.

"Well, you did beat a golden saint, man. That's gotta mean something." Dante said.

"Yeah, but you were a big help back there, Dante. Thanks a lot, by the way."

"You've thanked me enough, Sora."

"Though we have saved the Sanctuary from the likes of the Heartless, I don't feel very happy at all." Seyia suddenly intervened. All of us hushed as he looked up at Athena's statue, which seemed to be staring at us in silence. "We still weren't able to save Saori from those monsters. We may have won, but I don't think that I deserve to be called a saint."

Before any of us could say anything, Shaka walked to the exit of the house of Virgo and called to us:

"Come, saints of Athena, and knights of truth and justice. I have something to show you all."

"Huh? Where are you taking us?" asked Seyia.

"I shall take you to the statue of Athena, the last place where she stood." Shaka said, turning to us. "Seyia, she is a goddess, and as such, she has powers that even we cannot begin to comprehend. Before she was taken... she said you would come. And she left you something that you will find most useful for your quest, for you must continue it."

"She left us something! Why didn't you say so before?"

"Because we had to make sure that we won the battle for the Sanctuary. For if we failed, the gift of Athena would surely be stolen by the Heartless, and a gift so mighty cannot, by all means, fall on the hands of evil."

We all looked at each other and then we eyed the rest of the golden saints. Solemnly, they nodded their heads and followed Shaka. Surely, they all knew about this. I was surprised that none of us had told us about this... Yet I knew why they hadn't done so. With I sigh, my friends and I followed our companions up the remaining houses.

After a long while, a time in which no one spoke a word, we reached the temple of the Patriarch. As we crossed through the rest of the houses of the golden saints, Mu instructed us to pick up our broken armors. He said that we would need them again. The golden saint of Aries has always been quite helpful when it comes to fixing armors. But little did we know that Saori's gift had something to do with his skills as a blacksmith...

We reached it at last. And as we came closer to it, a great feeling of sadness and shame overtook us... I could see that Shiryu, Ikki, Seyia, and Hyoga had all lowered their heads, just like me. We didn't want to see the statue of Athena. We all felt lost and ashamed of ourselves. Some of our friends asked us what was wrong, while others merely sighed and shook their heads, already knowing why we felt so desperate, so helpless...

"Raise your heads, saints of Athena. Feel not ashamed." Mu said in a loud, clear voice.

Even though none of us wanted to do so, we obeyed and looked at the giant, proud statue of our divine goddess. I felt the urge to turn my head away from it once more, but Mu's command kept me from doing so. I had never felt so ashamed of myself...

"Behold the gift of the goddess..." Mu said, as he knelt down and grabbed something from the ground. "This is Athena's blood."

There was an uneasy silence for a few moments, as you might have already guessed. Of course, none of us was expecting to hear something of the sort.

"Is this why you have brought us here?" Seyia asked, as he began to loose his temper. "To show us... her blood? To make us feel even more miserable for our failure!"

"Stay your wrath, Seyia!" Mu ordered.

"Listen to him, Seyia." Aioria added. "He'll give you all a fine gift, which Saori wanted you to have."

"What sort of gift could be left for our sake in the form of blood?" Shiryu asked.

"You should know best, Dragon saint, that in order to fix armors, blood is needed. Only by spilling blood on an armor can it come back to life. And Athena's blood is the most pure, powerful of all... Awaken, bronze saints, and behold the power of Athena!"

And with that said, he waved his hand and Saori's blood fell on our armors. A light, a golden, pure light, engulfed us as we felt it touch our bodies. Our armors came back to life and shone as they had never done before. In an instant, their power returned and they became whole once more. Only that there were some slight differences this time: they were still more beautiful than before and protected our bodies even more than our old bronze clothes. A great power flowed through us... I had never felt stronger in my whole life. My chains revived and shook wildly as this new force ran through them... The armors that we had once worn had no comparison to these new ones.

"The clothes that you now wear are no longer bronze armors." Mu said. "Athena left this gift to you before she was taken. These armors are the ones of Athena, forged by her blood. They are the most powerful armors of all. Even the golden clothes that we wear pale in comparison to those that now rest upon your shoulders."

"She left this gift hoping that you would go find her wearing them." Shaka added. "You must travel to the place where she is being held and rescue her... and the rest of the princesses of heart."

"I... I don't know what to say..." Seyia stuttered. Neither Shiryu, Hyoga, my brother, nor I spoke a word. We simply couldn't find anything to say... "Thank you..."

"Don't thank me." Mu said. "Thank Athena. But you must rescue her in order to do so. You must leave now. But before you do, there is still a bit of her sacred blood left. She instructed me to give the remaining drops to the boy who can destroy the Heartless." He walked toward Sora and smiled at him. "Will you lend me the Keyblade, Sora? I promise I'll return it."

"Huh...? She wanted me to have it, too?" the boy asked. He gave the sword to the golden saint of Aries as he rubbed the last drops of Saori's blood on the blade... It began to shine with a golden light, much like our armors, as the essence of the goddess filled it. It blinded us for a moment and then, it left as if blown away by the wind. As the light receded, we saw that the Keyblade had changed its form: it now looked very much like Excalibur itself, the holy sword that the statue of the golden saint of Capricorn held... They keychain had also changed: they had turned into some sort of a pendant that symbolized none other than the goddess Nike, the goddess of victory... Indeed it had been a mighty gift. "Whoa..." Sora muttered. "I... I'm out of words..." his face was then filled by resolve and he declared: "I will save her. I promise you that I'll save her."

"I'm sure you will." Mu said. "We all know you will."

"That's a good gift, Sora." Ukyo said, as she walked near the boy and patted his shoulder. "Use it well."

"Sure I will..." he replied.

"Are you not coming with us, friends? Your goddess needs you, after all..." Wilheim added.

"She also needs somebody to stay behind and watch over her Sanctuary." Milo said. "Don't worry about us. Besides, you've go the elite saints covering your backs. You will be alright."

"We're also counting on you to save Athena, friends." Aldebaran said. "Your powers are as great as ours. I know that you won't let us down."

"By Aioros, we won't!" Seyia shouted, enthusiastically. "Let's get on the ships right away! We've got to find Saori and destroy the Heartless! I swear that I'll get her back here safely!"

"Let's go, then!" Cid said. "There are still many worlds to search, and many butts to kick! On our way!"

"Farewell, then, golden saints of Athena." Octavius said. "May Nike watch over you and lead you to victory on every battle."

"And you too, friends." Aioria replied. "Good – bye, and good luck."

"Thanks, Mu, Aldebaran, Aioria, Milo, and Shaka. We'll return with Athena! You have my word!" I exclaimed as we all ran back to the rest of the houses, where our ships lay. Cid fixed them right away and then we were off to space. The war had to continue... and even though none of my good, old friends, or my brother, said anything, I knew that they all felt rejuvenated and happy to be wearing the incredible armors... For, I'm sure; they could all feel, just as I did, the goodness, love, and power of Saori flowing through their bodies.


	29. Chapter TwentyEight: Heroes Die Alone

Hi, everybody. 

I knew I'd promised I'd be quick about this chapter. Well, to make up from my delay, for which I have no excuse this time, this chapter is quite long. And the next chapter is on its way; I've already got a part written down.

Most importantly, the main storyline and characters appearing here aren't my idea. Mr. Kiosce thought about it all, even the title of the chapter. This chapter and the next come entirely from his head. He told me the ideas: I just wrote them down with my writing style, so to speak. Well, I did add a couple of things, but anyway... you get the idea.

Anyway, have fun. Hope you like it. :)

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Heroes Die Alone

Narrator: Ken

Usually, people say that I have quite a large ego. Well, perhaps that might be true, but at that time, I had every reason to feel like the king of all Creation. The battle we had recently waged had been the most terrible fight I had ever been in, and we were still alive, still whole, and by God, we had never been so victorious. And, well, I also had had an extra bonus... it's not everyday you get kissed by a beautiful woman such as Morrigan. Of course, I must argue that it all ended with that kiss right there... Even though I'm aware that I'm quite the ladies man, I'm engaged to lovely girl... Man, I sure missed her.

Anyhow, I did feel that it had been a crushing victory, however, I was sure that not all my companions felt that way. Though Seyia, Shiryu, Hyoga, Shun, and Ikki had all received new powers, they felt kind of sad. They didn't say so, but I could feel it. We all could. Especially Seyia. I take it that you all know already what a kind of man Seyia is... very devote to his work, which was to protect his goddess. It was a shame that they didn't succeed in saving her from the Heartless at that time. Yet we kept telling him and the others not to worry, that we would get her back, along with the rest of the princesses of heart. And you have no idea how much we needed to do that as quickly as possible...

Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. Besides, I want to keep you all pinned, you know. It's not good for me and my... high self-esteem, as some would say, if I lose my audience.

You'll learn all about it later. At that time, we had already departed from Athena's Sanctuary and were on our way to the old God-knows-where. I was traveling in the ship that Wilheim and his buddies got at the beginning of their adventure, along with my good pal Ryu, the aforementioned ex-vampire, his hot, young girlfriend, the quiet Vincent, the Keyblade master, the elf and the fairy, and last, but not least, our pilot: Dante. He had volunteered to pilot the ship, since he was better at it than most of us, and besides, his small ship had already been taken by Cloud and Tifa (God knows what those two were up to), and those guys' ship had been taken by the five saints, who wished to travel by themselves (I don't know how the five of them managed to fit in there, nor I want to). All we could talk about at that time was about our battle in the twelve houses of the Sanctuary. Like I've said, it had been a hell of an experience, and I really wanted to know what the rest of my companions had to say. In a few words, they too, had it way rough. Dante was the one who spoke the least: he only said:

"It was pretty dangerous, but Sora managed to handle it." And then he kept silent for the most part of the trip... Until we all started to talk about our homes.

I spoke about my life in Seattle, and about my baby, Eliza. I know what you're thinking: he's surely going to say: "God, I was really worried about her." But to be honest, I wasn't worried about Eliza. I was sure that, wherever she was, she was okay. She is strong; she can take all sorts of things. But I did miss her, however. I only wished to be by her side once more. Hang out with her, like we did on the docks, doing nothing but to stare at the sea, while drinking something... Then I would take her home and wish her good night... I admit that I sighed many times while telling these to the guys. Ryu spoke about his life as a wanderer, and about the many places he had visited. Demean and Tish were the ones who talked the most. They talked about magical places that I wouldn't even have dreamed of, about cities none of us had ever seen, and about immense forests that only one of us, besides them, knew. Even then, though, Wilheim didn't talk much, amazingly, 'cause he's a freaking parrot. Ukyo was the one who did most of the talking. She spoke about her home, Nerima, and about Ranma's house, and the rest of her friends. Sora told us everything about his little island and his friends. By what I heard, I whish all of us were there, taking a nap in the beach...

As all of us talked and talked, Dante kept piloting the ship in silence. It seemed that he wasn't even listening to us. But I know that he was. And by the look on his eyes, something told me that, in some way, he wished to share a bit of his thoughts with us. Of course, I was shocked when I found out I was right: for once, I had discovered what it felt like to have empathy.

It was Sora who had the courage to ask him if there was anything he wished to say. It happened right after one of us told a joke (I don't quite remember it. What I do remember, though, is that it wasn't worth remembering: I had to force a laugh). Right after each of us stopped laughing, a silence came. Neither of us knew what to say to break it. So, Sora turned to Dante and asked:

"What about you, Dante? What's your world like?"

Dante spun his head and looked at the boy for a moment while frowning. Then, he smiled and said:

"What's the point? I mean, trying to keep it as a secret. You'll find out sooner or later. Besides, I kind of trust you."

"That's a relief." I said. "So, go on. Tell us."

"Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is its size." Dante began. "You all speak about your lands as if they were really big. Believe me, no matter how big they are, they are just little rocks on a pond when compared to my world... These United States that you speak of..." he turned to me as he said this. "Let's say that my world's United States consist of two-hundred-and-seventy-two states. And they're all cities as large as you can imagine. You know that feeling, when you feel that you are reaching the edge of a city, and you're about to look at the outer lands? Well, there's no such feeling on my world, because when you reach the edge of the city, all you can see is more buildings and lights."

"Sounds strange." Sora said.

"Sounds grotesque." I added, with a laugh. "So your world is that big, huh? What do you do to get from one side to the other?"

"It's not like we travel a lot." Dante replied. "Sometimes, you don't get to go to a lot of places when you're in war. Although sometimes you do."

That practically stabbed my joke in the back. There was silence, as you may have expected, and though it only lasted a few seconds, I felt that it had been eternal.

"Your world is in war?" asked Demean. "How is that so? Is it a revolution? A battle for independence? One man's ambition?"

"Not really." Dante replied. "For survival. Let me tell you a bit about the military on my world... we all start our training when we reach age twelve, and..."

"Twelve years old?" Wilheim abruptly interrupted. "What sort of country forces younglings to seize arms at such an age?"

"Hey, easy, Wilheim..." I said. "You know, in the days of old, children used to train at a very young age. Even in some movies they depict small kids learning how to fight. Haven't you seen Star Wars: Episode II?"

"No, I have not, and this is no movie we speak about, Ken." He said, none too pleased about my commentary. "Though you may be right about the days of old, I am strongly against..."

"I understand, man, I really do." Dante intervened, before he could continue. "But if you were the governor of a country of my world, you'd probably say 'yes' to a law of the sort. When your world is practically battlefield where the Heavens and the Abyss are always going at it."

"Come again? The Heavens and what...?" I stuttered.

"Hell, you might call it. Believe me, it's no picnic."

"A battle between Heaven and Hell... Scenery such as that... I thought it would only be possible in one's mind." Vincent said.

"That's why we all train at such a young age. You see, a long time ago, we don't exactly know when, some jackass had the brilliant idea to make a connection between the Heavens and the Abyss. And guess what world he chose to establish as a link..." he stopped for a second while we all looked at each other, wandering what he would tell next. "Some said that Armageddon had come, and that our end was nigh. Yet we weren't willing to give up hope. That's why we chose to fight."

"Against Hell and Heaven?" Ukyo asked.

"Against the creatures of the Abyss, naturally." Dante replied. "Pretty soon, it became our battle... Now, the cities in my world are garrisons. And, like I said, they're all huge. Everyone's ready for war, I mean, everyone has had militia training. You see, we do begin our training at age twelve, and become candidates for joining the militia when we reach age thirteen." He made a pause and then said: "Though we are at constant war, there is one good thing about our world: there is no poverty. Since we all have to join the army, we all get paid, and the money is good: the government supports it."

"What kind of a government do you guys have over there?" Sora asked.

"It's kind of difficult to say." Dante replied. "What I can tell you is that it's one unified government."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, before the war, all of us were separated, and, like it usually happens, sometimes fought amongst ourselves. But when hell broke loose, literally, we all came together."

"Did you ever get to know the peaceful times?" Tish asked.

"No, sadly." Dante answered. "It all began a very long time ago. Since then, we've all been fighting against the creatures of the Abyss, and their leader, Adrian."

"I see... please, continue."

"Anyway, there's more to tell about our training." The kid said. "We are not only thought the ways of war. We're also thought regular school... You know, math, history, and all those things. Guys that are good in math usually don't train as much as the rest of us for battle. Most of the times, they become engineers, or mathematicians, or physics in order to research stuff about warfare. Sadly, as you can see, that's about the only thing we can think." He then got up from his seat and sat next to us. "Don't worry, the ship will continue its course. Unless the other guys tell me we have to change direction, we don't have much to worry about." He then turned to me and said: "What do you think?"

"About your world?" I asked, and he nodded. "Well, it sucks, quite frankly. To be in an eternal war must be no fun."

"I agree." Ryu added. "Yet we all are destined to a place, Ken. For better or worse, Dante was born in that world. And he is doing everything in his power to destroy evil."

"I wish I was doing everything in my power to destroy evil in my world." Dante said, with a sad smile.

"Come on, lighten up, Dante." Sora said. "You might not be fighting against the beasts of hell in your world, but you're helping us against the Heartless... which is good, too. You're fighting evil..." he paused for a moment and then he asked in a low voice, I don't know exactly why: "Do you think that the Heartless have anything to do with the beasts of the Abyss?"

"To be honest, I don't know." Dante replied. "What I can tell you, though, is that if Heartless were to attack my world, they wouldn't last. Their offensive would certainly be the shortest in history. Because of what I've told you, mostly."

"Oh, I see..."

"Well, let me just tell you a bit more about my world." Dante said. We all nodded and kept silent. It was a rare thing: to see him open up to us like that. "Remember what I told you about the governments, that they were unified? Well, in another way, they were also divided. Firstly, the government is divided into several parts. For instance, there are the Holy knights and the fanatic paladins in one group... that's the one of the medieval knights... then just plain medieval on the other. By the way, those guys have the best magicians you could hope to see... Then there's the technocrats... those guys can create lots of wonderful machinery, and stuff, but still, they need magic to do so. Then, there's the barbarians, the Abyss worshipers, the Oceanus lizard people, sorcerers with enchanted castles... over sixty ways of living."

"Hold on, kid." I interrupted. "Why are you telling us all this? What does it have to do with anything?"

"Um... I only wanted you to know what type of government we have." He replied. "If you want, I can shut up."

"No, no, no, that's surely not what he meant... right, Ken?" Ukyo said, giving me one of those looks. Of course, I nodded frantically (also, I hadn't meant that... it just came out wrong). "Come on, Dante, go on."

With a sigh, the kid continued speaking.

"My home garrison was one called Madrigal, but I was transferred to the Capital Garrison of the Silver Garrison. Over there, we have a balance between technology, magic, and medieval, yet we prefer technology to the other ones. Still, you can't be too careful. We all carry swords in case we should have to engage a demon at close range."

"'In case?' You sound as if you were some sort of inventor when you clearly excel at fighting foes, Dante." Ryu said.

"Well, thanks... I guess." The kid said. "Speaking about that, I think I've already mentioned it, but I was an outstanding private. I've killed countless demons, and I've also got lots of unconfirmed kills... You have to report to headquarters about your progress, but sometimes it slips my mind, if you take my meaning. Either way, one of you once asked me, I think it was you, Ken, that if I was such a good soldier, then why didn't I have a higher rank?"

"Yep, that was me." I intervened. "Then you replied that it probably had something to do with your age, or maybe about you not being a very good magician... Then Donald started to piss us off and we all told him to shut his beak."

"Good memory." Ryu said.

"Yeah... well, after thinking about it for a long time, I actually believe that it was because I wasn't such a good magician." Dante confessed. "Yet, though I haven't received any additional training, I have learned a thing or two about Aeris and, as much as I hate to admit it, about Donald. If I'm not mistaken, they'd promote me if I showed them my skills. I could go as high as... colonel."

"Well, if we ever get there, I'm sure they'll promote you, Dante." Sora said, enthusiastically.

"Thanks for the support, man." Dante replied.

"If I may ask one question..." Wilheim intervened. "Are humans the only beings that live in your world? Or perhaps there are others, such as elves, and fairies, and all those sorts of wonderful, fantastic creatures? Or maybe, you have yet to see them, but believe in their existence?"

"No, actually, there are lots of creatures in my world, and we all live together... depending on the race." The kid said. "There are elves, were-cats (such as Felicia), dwarves, draconians, unicorns, gargoyles, griffins, hippogriffs, rock-eating plants, Luciens..."

"Wait a minute." Demean interrupted. "I do not know about the rest of our comrades, but Tish and I are not familiar with the term 'Lucien'. What creature do you speak about?"

"Jeez, I open the door for a little while and you guys think I'm a dictionary." Dante said, with a smile on his face. "Sorry, old habits die hard..." he paused and took a deep breath before going on. "Okay, kids, history lesson. Luciens are sort of like were-wolves... but those guys can't choose between transformations, if you know what I mean. They're in their 'monster' state twenty-four-seven. But they're not exactly were-wolves, since they have reptilian features in certain areas. For instance, the area below the elbow and knees are completely scaled, and the talons are... I don't exactly know how long, but several inches, at least, and they're bright yellow. They could shrink a duck to a pillow if they wanted to."

"Too bad Donald isn't around to hear this." Sora laughed.

"They also have extended jaws, like the ones of a canine, and enough strength to snap a bear's neck in two."

"Too bad Octavius isn't around to hear that." Vincent added, with a grim smile. "He would certainly have a lot to comment."

"What do you mean? Oh, right, he's a were-bear." Dante said. "Anyway, they have a long tail. But it's not like the one of a were-wolf: it's scaly and reptile-like. They can use it to bash away any foe. They also have spikes that come out of their spinal area and out from the shoulders. The rest of their body is covered with fur, and they have a thick mane around their necks, which makes them very proud, that also covers part of their upper chest. It helps to attract the females. They have very interesting traditions and clothing. And though they're sometimes aggressive, they're... well, for lack of a better word, interesting to be around. But actually, they weren't originally from my world."

"Do you mean that they're aliens?" Sora asked.

"Not really..." Dante answered. "Actually, it would've been a lot better if they had actually been aliens. They were once some of the fiercest creatures of the abyss. They were really tough opponents to face. They would do awful things, like kill a child's parents and let him live to see if he or she was up to the challenge of avenging his or her parents' death... Yet they always failed. And... they also performed sadism on people.

"Sadism...?" Sora muttered. "...That's horrible."

"Forgive me if I sound rude, but..." the little fairy intervened. "Your people must have had an extraordinary excuse to house such fowl beings. For such creatures deserve divine punishment."

"That's what we all thought, at first." Dante explained. "You see, it all happened a few centuries ago..."

I couldn't help but to let out a chuckle as I heard him. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing... it's just the way you talk about all that." I said. "It's like if you had actually seen all those things. But don't take it the wrong way. I'm enjoying the story. Come on, go on."

"Okay..." he said. "As I was saying, there was an internal war in the Abyss. Adrian, the leader of the Abyss, was suspicious of the Lucien. He thought that they were going to try to usurp the Abyss's power. They fought for a long time. When their war ended, we already had strengthened up our defenses and feared the worst. Most of the Luciens survived the Abyss's onslaught, but in the end, they lost the war. And so they were vanished from the Abyss, destined to live in a lone continent of our world. Their punishment: to be hunted down by us. Yet our leaders used common sense, even though many of our people wanted to get even with those creatures. After months of debate, we offered them a peace treaty. Well, actually, it was they who did this. That's how they became our greatest allies in the war against the Abyss. They called the continent they had been destined to stay in 'Home'."

"Still, I don't think that the other races lived in peace with the Luciens that easily." Vincent guessed. "Am I correct?"

"Again, common sense." Dante said, nodding his head. "The government only granted them amnesty. The public opinion wasn't, and isn't to this very day, too good about them. We only let them live so that they could help us. But, as you might expect, we don't have much tolerance for them. It isn't easy, you know... to forgive so many deaths, so much butchery. Some people say: 'Don't kill them: that's just an easy way out for them.' But either way, we hurt them in any way we can. And believe me, it isn't as bad as it was some time ago. The verbal abuse, of course, is still there: we call them mutt, hellhound, mongrel, sick dog... you name it... Even though they really try hard to redeem themselves."

"Though it is probably not the same..." Wilheim interrupted. "This story of yours reminds me a bit about the conflict that there is between _Vampyrs _and _Garous_."

"Garous?" Dante asked.

"Were-wolves." Wilheim clarified. I think only Demean, Tish, Ukyo, and perhaps Vincent, knew what he meant, for the first three nodded their heads as he spoke, and the other one didn't look as puzzled as the rest of us... Then again, Vincent has always been very inexpressive. "You see, from the world that I come from, there has been a grudge between these two races as far as anyone can remember. But, unlike in your world, the cause of such conflict is unknown to most of both vampires and were-wolves. Only the elders can remember the true reason, and they do not share it easily. This grudge has only persisted because each race thinks that the other one hates it. It is sad to say, but when it comes to believing in the other race, they only believe in hate, anger, and killing. I had the opportunity to once face a were-wolf, and learnt about this. I am certain that if both races were to sit down and discuss about this problem, the conflict would surely come to an end. Yet no one has the courage to propose this. Though I know and am fond of the vampires, they will never heed me regarding this, and the only were-wolf I met is, as far as I know, the only one aware of this. If he speaks, they will think him a traitor. What they must do is to gather more beings that want the conflict to end. I reckon that you, Dante, want the remorse in your world to come to an end, too. If I am correct, then you should do this. Otherwise..."

"No, it's not like that." Dante interrupted. "Sorry I didn't let you finish, but I think I know where you're going. I don't hate the Lucien." Wilheim nodded his head. We could all see that he was just about to imply that. "I don't. What's more, I really try to make friends with them whenever I get the chance. They're nice, once you get to know them. Heck, my girlfriend is a Lucien, and I think that says it all, and..." he stopped short as all of us looked at him with a surprise glance and while grinning. The great, almighty, cold-as-ice Dante actually had a girlfriend...! "Go ahead, laugh it up."

"Why should we?" Ukyo asked. "I mean, it's strange to be in love with someone who isn't of your own species, so to speak. But I don't think it's that terrible. After all, I am Wilheim's girlfriend."

"'After all'?" Wilheim asked with a smile, while we all burst out in laughter. It had sounded very funny, really. "Why is it that all of a sudden I feel so small?"

"Yeah, Ukyo, you said it as if you were actually doing him a favor!" Sora added, and the laughter grew. Even Vincent let out a chuckle or two.

"That's not what I meant, Sora! Don't you get involved!" Ukyo said.

"Hold on, hold on..." Dante said, trying to calm down his laughter. "Perhaps he might be terrible, or whatever, but at least he's of your own race. I don't see what that has got to do with anything."

"Oh, but I first met Wilheim and became his girlfriend when he was a vampire." Ukyo explained.

"Really?" Dante asked. "You were a vampire?"

"For fifty-one years." Wilheim answered. "Of course, like you may be already thinking, I did not know that the curse of the vampire could be removed, until I met Demean an he told me about Gabrielle's existence. That is why I know the vampires very well and I am friends with them."

"Oh, I get it..." Dante said. "Well, everyday you learn something new, I guess."

"I guess." Ukyo said. "So..."

"So what?"

"So tell us about your girlfriend, Romeo."

"Oh... yeah, that." The kid chuckled. "Well... what's not to tell? She's wily, wild and has the most stunning gray fur and grace. Yet, like all the Lucien, she is a bit aggressive, and ferocious..." he leaned back and a dreamy smile appeared on his face as his eyes wandered up. "But that's what I like about her. She's stunning... smart... sensitive to others..." and then he actually sighed.

"It sounds to me like you're crazy about her." I said, poking his ribs with my elbow. "Eh, Dante? Don Juan? Casanova?"

"Okay, okay..." he said, chuckling again. "I get it... But seriously, you know how much I love her?"

"As much as the sun misses the flower?" I mocked, and we all laughed.

"Come on!" Dante said. "I love her enough to withstand the mockery of my companions." Again, that murdered the joke. Dante was getting real good at assassinating my goofs. "They all bothered me because I was going out with a Lucien. Some even called me 'traitor'. I picked a lot of fights because of those jackasses. But I never fought because of what they said to me. She had it worse than me: she was but a pup back then. I tried to defend her always, but of course, they were more than me and I always ended on the ground... She used to carry me somewhere safe and... licked my wounds. She is very sweet... Yet eventually, they stopped picking on me. I guess they realized that I wasn't going to leave her, and even though I had every bone in my body broken, I would fight for her. In time, some called me 'Bloodhound' as a joke. But later, that nickname changed to 'Doberman', out of respect, I believe. I just wished that everyone learned the lesson, and not just the handful of guys that have come to understand my relationship with Takeesha."

"Takeesha?" Demean asked. "So that is her name?"

"Right." Dante said. "That happened when we were just friends. Well, kissing friends. I mean, not precisely kissing friends. I kissed her. She licked my cheek..."

I just couldn't help it. I let out a little chuckle when he said that. I tried to shut up, but the door was already open, and so I began to laugh. Dante rolled his eyes as he smiled and shook his head.

"Alright, I'll get back to piloting the ship." He said.

"No!" everyone yelled as he got up and headed for the cockpit. Ukyo then stood up and began to kick me. "Ken, you jackass!"

"Really, Ken, you are beyond a doubt the king of smoothness." Ryu added, while shaking his head.

"But I – hey!" I exclaimed. I turned to Dante and said: "Come on, Dante, don't be like that! I promise I wasn't mocking you! It's just that it's very strange to see a young man so much in love with a girl. Come on, you know I was just kidding: I wouldn't want to hurt your feelings."

"It's alright, Ken." Dante replied, while turning around. "Really, I believe you. Don't worry about it." He then paused and after a sigh, added: "By the way if we ever do arrive at my world, then Takeesha will be very happy to see me. She'll probably give me a bear hug... But seriously, one big, bear hug. It's possible that she'll crack some bones under that terribly strong embrace of hers. I'll need someone to heal me..."

"I could do that." Tish said. "Do not worry about a thing, Dante."

The kid smiled and sat at the controls without saying another word. Even though Dante had said it was alright, they all did nothing more than to stare at me in silence... Man, I hated when that happened. I was getting real good at getting my foot caught in my mouth...

"You should try to have a little more... common sense, Ken." Sora whispered.

"Aw, come on!" I said. "You know I didn't mean to offend him."

"Yeah, but..."

"Guys, guys!" cried a voice that came from the radio. It had been Felicia's. "Guys, is anyone there?"

"I still cannot understand how is it that she is piloting a ship yet again." Wilheim murmured. Then he turned to Vincent and added: "To be honest, I am still wondering what method she used to convince you so you could let her handle the controls."

"I don't really know what was on my mind at that moment." Vincent replied.

"What is it Felicia?" Dante asked.

"I've spotted a new planet; one to which I think we hadn't gone to." The were-cat replied. "It's at our two o' clock."

"I don't see anything." Dante replied.

"Trust me: I have better eyesight than you do."

"Okay... since you're a were-cat, I guess I can buy that." Dante said, with a sigh. "Alright... Where did you say it was? Two o' clock?"

"Yep. Come on, follow me!" she said.

We all approached the cockpit and looked into space. There was the Gummy ship Felicia, followed by the rest of our... um, 'fleet'... The planet was pretty big. It was the biggest world I had seen so far, actually. As we approached it, it kind of got me thinking... Hold on, why should I tell you? You probably already guessed it, too. And Dante also thought about it, surely, because as we got closer to the planet, I saw a glitter of excitement on his eyes.

"Whoa!" another of our companions suddenly cried through the radio. It had been Cid. "Look out, guys! Heartless ships, coming right behind us!"

"I can't see them!" cried Seyia. He was piloting the ship where he and the rest of the saints went, I believe.

"I can!" Dante exclaimed, as we all looked at the radar and noticed about... five ships. And those ones were tailing just our ship alone! "But I'm not going to be able to shake them!"

The rest of our companions started to scream over the radio at each other, calling for help. But the Heartless ships were too many. And besides, they seemed to be heavy fighters, not those lightweight pieces of crap that shot spits and exploded with just one hit... And then we heard them begin their attack. They were shooting at us, all five of them at once!

It was impossible to dodge all that crossed fire, even for a good pilot such as Dante. It wasn't long before he cried the dreaded phrase.

"Damn! I'm hit!"

The planet's gravity began to pull us toward it and we began our descent, if you can call it like that. I was, however, surprised that the Heartless hadn't finished us off... But that thought only flashed in my mind for a second, 'cause then all we could think about was to hang on to something tight. Dante struggled to keep the controls in place, using all of his strength to pull the levers... Still, it looks that he needed some help. Before long, he called to me, for I was the one closest to him.

"Ken! Come here and give me a hand! We have to keep the ship stable if we don't want to end as pancakes!" he cried.

"Okay, here goes nothing!" I yelled, as I struggled to get to his side and pull on the levers as hard as I could. We managed to straighten the ship a little bit before it plunged into the planet as fast as a meteorite and hit the ground in a couple of seconds. The ship began to slide on the ground at an alarming speed. But then, it came to a sudden stop. And do you know what happens when you're going really fast and then you just come to a halt? Yep, you guessed it.

"Oh, shoot!" I screamed as suddenly Ryu's body impacted with mine and we both flew outside the ship's cockpit, and crashed against a tree...

"Ow..." I muttered, as I woke up. "Did anyone write down the number of the truck that ran over me?" I slowly got to my feet and cracked my back and neck. Then I looked down and noticed Ryu had just woken up as well, and was just as wounded as I was.

"That wasn't too much fun." He said. He glanced at me and asked: "Are you okay, Ken?"

"Yeah, no thanks to you." I replied, while helping him up to his feet. "At least we're alive."

"Yeah, it looks that way, but what about the rest of our friends?" Ryu said. "Come on, Ken, let's go look for them."

"Right."

We let out a faint cry as we turned around and look at the horrifying scenery set in front of us. All of our friends were scattered on the ground, as if there had been a battle and all of them had been killed under a merciless fire. There were some of them standing up, however. Octavius was on foot. Also, Sora, Ranma, Cid, Ukyo, and Ikki were awake, and seemed to be well. They only had a few scratches on their bodies, but there was apparently no great damage. As we walked to them, we saw that both Donald and Goofy, who were far away from the ships, were starting to regain consciousness.

"Holy..." I muttered. "Is anyone else alive?"

"It does not seem that anyone is dead." Octavius said. "However, I could be unfortunately mistaken. Let us rouse everyone of them and see what damage has been done to the ships."

"I think Wilheim's alright." Ukyo declared, as she pressed her head against Wilheim's chest. "His heart is still beating..." she paused and then added: "He protected me from the crash with his body. It's the second time he's done this. I'm beginning to dislike ships much."

"Don't worry, he'll come to his senses in no time." Ryu said, kneeling by her side and putting his hand on Wilheim's forehead.

"Dante?" Sora said, as he shook the unconscious kid. "Come on, wake up. Are you alright?"

"Hey, Sora." I said, as I approached him. "Are you hurt?"

"A bit, but I'm alright." He replied. "I'm a bit concerned about Dante, though. He was the one who broke the glass of the Gummi ship." He turned to see the Gummi ship and added: "At least it doesn't look in such a bad state. If it hadn't been for Dante, it would've probably be a pile of scrap by now."

"What about our other guys? Have you seen them?" I asked.

"Vincent is right over here..." he answered, pointing at the dark man, who lay just a few feet away from us. "Ukyo and Wilheim are right there. She seems fine, but I don't know about him. And Demean is right over there, by that tree. I don't see Tish, though."

"Don't worry about her, I have a good feeling that Demean is holding her. I'll go check them out. Meanwhile, try to bring Dante back to consciousness, will you?"

"Sure thing. I don't think that he's in such a bad shape." He said, while feeling the pulse on his wrist and examining the wounds on the rest of his body.

As I walked to the elf, I noticed that he too was about to wake up. He shook his head and pressed his hand against it, while he opened up his other hand, revealing that Tish was safely inside of it. She too, had just woken up...

"By God..." Demean muttered. "And I almost thought that we would conclude this trip without any engagements... If that could be called engagement."

"I would not call it like that." Tish added. "The fact of the matter was, however, that we were soundly beaten."

"Yes, but at least it seems that everyone is alive and well."

"I wouldn't be so sure, Demean. Take a look around you." I said.

"I see wounded companions, but the presence of death is unfelt." He replied.

"Indeed." Tish added. "Our friends are unconscious, but not dead. I can feel every heartbeat of each of them."

"I don't know what sort of powers you possess to be so certain." I said. "But I hope you guys are right. Either way let me help you up. Take my hand..."

The elf did as I told him and I helped him to his feet. The little fairy shook her head and after a second or two, she began to fly about the whole place, casting powerful healing spells on all of our friends. Slowly, they all began to shake, waking up from their sleep. Donald too started to help, by also performing his magic on us. When Aeris finally came back to herself, she joined the duck and Tish. Pretty soon, all of our friends had woken up. And I mean, every last one of them. We were all there, and, like Demean had predicted, all of them were alive.

It was not until then that I looked at our surroundings. We were just on the outskirts of a forest, with immense trees, all covered in snow. I didn't realize until then that the weather was cold as hell. To make things worse, I wasn't wearing any shoes (neither were some of the rest of our friends, including Ryu), and my feet were practically turning blue. I had to sit down by a tree and rub them as hard as I could, until I felt blood running through them again. I then looked back and realized that this tree was the same that had stopped Ryu and myself. I examined it and noticed that there were markings on it, other than the one Ryu and me had left on it when we crashed against it. It looked as if they were initials...

"Hey, guys!" I called. "Come and take a look at this."

Only a few of them came. Only Ryu, Octavius, Sora, and a recently wakened Dante answered my call.

"What is it, Ken?" Ryu asked.

"Check this out, Ryu. It looks like someone carved his or her initials on this tree..." I said.

"And, if I may ask, what miracle precisely must we witness?" the were-bear asked.

"Hey, I was just curious about them." I answered. "That means that there must be people around here."

"What initials...?" Dante muttered, as he got closer and inspected the tree. He looked at them in silence for a very long time. None of us said anything else. We just stepped back and stared at him in silence. He was behaving rather strange...

"What's going on in here?" asked Donald as he walked to us. "What's he doing?" he added, pointing at Dante.

"I don't know." I answered. But then, Dante spoke in a low, excited voice:

"I wrote this when I was young..." he paused, while turning around. He had a huge smile drawn on his face. I had never seen him like that. You could almost say that it was scary... But of course, to see anyone so happy isn't frightening. "I'M HOME!" he cried, and then raced to us and hugged the first of us on his way: Donald.

The rest of our companions turned to him in confusion as he laughed and danced around happily. The duck was so shocked that he hardly made any sound as Dante swung him from side to side. He kept on jumping and chuckling joyfully for a very long time, before he actually stared at Donald and realized that he was hugging the neurotic duck. He let go of him and Donald fell on his feathery butt.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "What's the big idea? It's cold!" he quickly got up and rubbed his buttocks. He looked pretty disturbing... but I couldn't blame him.

"Sorry." Dante muttered. He smiled again and looked at all of us, and repeated, softly: "I'm home."

"That's good to hear." Ryu said, after a while of keeping quiet. "Talk about coincidences."

"What do you mean?" Donald asked.

"He was just about talking of this world, before the Heartless attacked us..."

"If this is your home, Dante..." Demean suddenly intervened. "Then I assume that the Garrison that you spoke about must be nearby. If so, then please, take us there, for I am sure that, like myself and my little Tish, my friends are freezing under the cold of this merciless weather."

"Amen to that!" I cried. "Come on Dante, show us the way."

"Yeah, sure!" he replied, enthusiastically. "It isn't far. Come on, follow me! I bet everyone will be happy to see friendly faces!"

He started running to the east, with the rest of us following behind him. Some of us were truly struggling just to keep sight of him. He was really fast... I'm sure that this was because he already knew the terrain. Yet some others were running practically right next to him (for instance, Felicia). But all I could think about at that moment was to get something for my feet. I feel that they could break into a thousand pieces at any given instant.

"Can I ask you something, Dante?" I heard a shivering Felicia ask.

"What?" the boy said.

"Why aren't you cold? You aren't blue or pale, or whatever, and you don't seem to be shivering."

"It must be because it's probably summer, I guess."

"Summer?" all of us exclaimed, in shock.

"Well, yeah!" he laughed, as he ran up a hill. It wasn't long before he got to the top. "You see, it's just that..." he then stopped short and stared at what was in front of him in shock. He said no more as we all caught up with him. As I walked to him, I saw a small area of grass. Without wasting another moment, and while thanking God for his mercy, I put my feet on it and began to rub them again. It was very cold, but not as much as the snow. Again, I rubbed them until I felt blood running through them again. I could do nothing more than to think how hazardous to my health this could be...

"What is it, Dante?" asked Sora as stepped next to him and gazed at the horizon. My feet pinked up again and I looked, too.

"The Silver Garrison..." Dante muttered, at last.

The city was immense. It was all surrounded by a wall that seemed impenetrable at first sight. It reflected the intense glitter of the sun, which had finally graced us with its presence. There were many buildings, and each one taller than the next. It all seem so advanced... I didn't expect to see so much technology in my life. Even though the star of the day had come out, there were still many lights turned on in the big city. It's not like the light of a street, you know... It wasn't to keep the city illuminated. The sun was taking care of that. It was more like, by looking at them, you could notice that something was going on inside the city. Blue lights, red lights, green lights... There were also huge towers standing proudly all over the Garrison. Many of them were connected by long bridges. This was all very impressive. I really don't know what else to say... Oh, yeah. There was one thing that really caught my attention, besides all the other things I have described: the belligerent nature of the city. There were sophisticated cannons all over the place, as well as soldiers on watch. Many of them strolled about the wall, sometimes stopping to take a look to the horizon. I was almost sure that they had already spotted us. There were lots of battle towers too. They weren't as big as the ones I already mentioned, but they were armed to the teeth. Everyone seemed sharp and alert, as if they expected an army to come and attack them in any minute. And, surprisingly, they weren't that wrong...

"Wow..." I murmured. "That thing is huge!"

"And armed!" Sakura added. "I thought things like that could only be constructed in movies... Why are there so many soldiers out there, Dante?"

"I'll explain later, I promise." The boy replied. "Either way, that's the Silver Garrison. It's got one of the best defenses on the world. No army can attack it without suffering heavy losses... Truth to be told, I don't think they've ever suffered a defeat." He then looked at all of us and added: "But the best thing is, all creatures are welcome." I caught a glimpse in his eye and nodded, as I understood what he meant. Even the famous Luciens he had spoken of had a place there... I got up and smiled in relief.

"You suppose they have a pair of socks they can lend me?" I asked.

"I'm sure it'll be no trouble." He replied, with a chuckle... but then, he stopped his laughter and watched in shock as one of the soldiers suddenly cried out to his other companions. An alarm went off and the cannons, towers, and all the other weaponry slowly turned to a single direction and started firing. We all ignored what sort of army was attacking, for it all was happening on the other side of the city... What we did know, however, was that the Garrison had begun a fierce battle. "No..." Dante muttered. And just like that, he jumped high into the air and raced as fast as he could to his Garrison's aid.

"Wait... Dante!" we all called and ran behind him. But before any of us could catch him, a group of foes cut our way. They were Heartless. But they weren't like anything we had seen before...

As we all put ourselves on guard, I noticed that there were at least five different new types of Heartless, unknown until that moment to us all. The first one seemed like punks: they wore ripped shorts, torn jeans, and hoods. Most of them were armed with all sorts of things: axes, chains, pipes, bats... The second kind of Heartless seemed more like a S.W.A.T team than anything else. They had a blue, light armor covering their body and big, glass shields, with the Heartless crest carved on them. Other Heartless appeared to be soldiers, with gas masks and military clothes. And lastly, there were other two types of Heartless, dressed identically, but with different weapons. They wore tuxedos: I didn't think Heartless had a taste for clothing... The first type of enemies carried machine guns, while the others carried sharp swords. In total, there were about a hundred of them. Perhaps a bit more.

But we weren't scared. At the most worried about Dante, for we had now lost sight of him. Yet we were convinced that we would meet with him shortly: as the Heartless raced into battle, we all cried in rage, letting loose our attacks against them.

As we began our attack, we realized that these Heartless were unlike anything we had faced so far... Why, you ask? The other monsters we had fought were mindless creatures, driven by hate and the desire for destruction. Their only goal was to kill us, but there was nothing else in their minds. These new guys were something else. As the punk Heartless raced to meet us, a couple of them leapt behind Shun and threw their chains at him, leaving him immobile (or so it seemed). Next, two Heartless charged at him, with pipe and bat at the ready. It was as if they knew what to do. But their strategy had only one flaw: they had drastically underestimated Shun's power. With no effort at all, the saint broke through the chains and unleashed his own. In a matter of seconds, the four punks had been destroyed.

Seeing that these beasts weren't as stupid as I thought, I decided to put some strategy into my own fighting. I took on a unit on the swat team, with Ryu covering my back. Those guys were a lot more coordinated than the punks and their shields represented a problem, since they were difficult to get around them. Also, the bastards had in stock some sort of gas, which they threw at us at the first chance they got. It wasn't tear-gas, but it did have a strange effect on us. I kind of felt weaker, and I could see that Ryu was in the same situation. Nevertheless, again they had failed to consider all the variables. Because, you see, it's a good thing, to have two sorcerers, a girl with magic potions, and a fairy that can heal as supports. In a blink, Ryu and I were back to full strength and meant business with those nuts. I raced at the Heartless and unleashed a Sho-Ryu-Reppa on their faces. They covered my powerful technique with their shields, but I succeeded in shattering them. Before I got down, Ryu managed to launch a powerful Shinku-Hadoken to finish them all.

The one who was having the roughest time of us was Ariel. I wasn't too surprised... The Heartless soon realized that she wasn't as fast as the rest of us and the mafia Heartless (um... yeah. So you can understand what I talk about, that's the way I'm going to call the tuxedo Heartless from now on... sounds better) were soon emptying their machine guns on her. A few bullets did hit her, yet Aeris soon healed her, while Link stood in front of her and protected her with his shield. While behind the Hylian, Ariel started to throw more potions at the Heartless. She only succeeded in breaking a few of those S.W.A.T. Heartless shields, but nothing else. She did help in healing our companions and ourselves, though.

A platoon of soldier Heartless charged at Octavius, attempting to bury the bayonets on their rifles on his body. It was a large platoon: I guess that they saw him a bit too big. But the were-bear roared and sliced a huge part of them with his katana, with just one swipe. The few that survived tried to surround him and shoot him. Although he did receive a couple of shots, Octavius quickly grabbed the remaining Heartless and smashed their heads into pieces.

Later, four mafia Heartless with swords surrounded Sakura, Ryoga, Ukyo, and Wilheim. They began to attack them in a frenzy of hate, and I realized that they were pretty damn good, too. Even Wilheim had trouble parrying their blows with his big, bad sword. Ukyo struggled to keep the rhythm with her opponent. Even so, she did get slashed a few times, but nothing serious. Ryoga fought with his iron umbrella, while Sakura did her best to stay away from the furious blade of her foe. When Wilheim noticed that Ukyo was hurt, his sword was lit up and flames emerged from the blade: that could only mean that he was mad. With a quick, deadly swipe, he cut through the Heartless's blade and body. In a blink, he had killed his foe. However, when he turned around and got ready to help Ukyo, he noticed that she had already stabbed the Heartless in his chest with a little spatula of hers. Soon, Sakura managed to fire a Hadoken on her foe and killed him. As for Ryoga, he used a similar strategy: a Shi-Shi-Hokoudan directed to his adversary's head. It practically exploded under the blast of energy...

Demean fired lots of arrows at the mafia Heartless, who were the ones that were giving us the most trouble from afar. It wasn't long before Link joined him on the shooting... But those S.W.A.T. Heartless soon realized that their mafia brethren were being slain and quickly covered them with their shields. I couldn't believe how smart they were getting!

However, we weren't a bunch of fools. Camille and Morrigan flew high into the air at great speed and used their nimble, strong tentacles to destroy the Heartless's shields. Once that had been done, the five saints unleashed their powerful techniques to destroy the line of S.W.A.T. Heartless.

And then, something happened. None of us expected to see this... But all of a sudden, the Heartless to a few steps back. All of them stepped back...

"Are they doing what I think they're doing?" I asked Ryu in a low voice.

"I... I think they are..." replied my shocked friend.

And they were. The Heartless were actually running away! I couldn't believe that... They had attacked intelligently by covering their vulnerable comrades, charging in group, and go for back up... and now they were running away?

"What the hell is going on in here?" I asked.

"That's precisely what I'm asking myself right now..." answered Felicia's voice. I turned to her and saw that she wasn't looking at the running Heartless: she was looking at the ground. I looked down and let out a gasp of horror (but it wasn't loud, that I can assure. Ask anyone.) as I noticed that all of the Heartless we had killed were still there. There were even some decapitated foes, and still they remained lying on the ground. They were completely immobile, and didn't seem to be breathing...

"Why are they still there?" asked Yuffie in a whisper.

"I don't know..." Sora mutter. He walked next to one of them and stood still for a while. Then, with a quick move, he buried his Keyblade in one of the monster's body. The creature let out no sound, nor made any move. It lay perfectly still. "It seems that they are dead after all." He said. "But what I can't understand is why they haven't disappeared..."

"They must be a new type of Heartless." Goofy inquired.

"Great job, Einstein." Donald grumbled. "What Sora means is that all the other Heartless we have defeated have all vanished."

"Do you suppose that maybe... they could be turning into a true form of life and not just a mere shadow lurking by the foot of a tree?" Link asked.

"Do you think that that's possible?" Akane added.

"Listen, we'll all worry about it later." Leon suddenly interrupted. "Right now, we've got to find Dante. We don't have a clue of where he is."

"And quite possible we will have to lend our services to the Silver Garrison." Demean added. "Then let us go, there is not much time!"

As we ran to the Silver Garrison, a portion of the huge wall that surrounded the city came crashing down. A swarm of Heartless began to invade the city. Our pace quickened as we cried in rage to get the Heartless's attention. But again, these monsters were unlike anything we had faced during this war. Instead of looking at us and confronting us, like all the rest of the Heartless did, these new enemies didn't pay much attention to us; instead, they kept on entering the city like water pours through the crack of a damn. Seeing that the foes weren't going to play along with us, we had no choice but to attack them from the front.

And again, the Heartless surprised us with an unexpected tactic. A group of approximately thirty enemies riding badass motorcycles raced at us at a fast speed. We all stopped in our tracks and barely got out of their way as they attempted to cut us down with long swords. All of us escaped intact. In fact, Merryck had the brilliant idea to actually throw in his sword at one of the bike's wheels. The motorcycle came to an abrupt stop and the Heartless riding it was sent flying high into the air. The bike exploded all of a sudden... I didn't get a chance to see them clearly, but I was betting that I was about to find out the appearance of those things shortly. The Heartless quickly got up and stared at us for a moment. He was a shadow, like any other, with no clothes or armor of any kind. He was tall, for a Heartless, since all the other ones we had faced were about Donald or Merryck's height. This one was as tall as Sakura, and had a thin, yet muscled body... He stared at us with apparent hatred before turning around, trying to flee. But amazingly, the other Heartless had already turned around and had started their attack again. This time, I got to see what the bikes looked like. They seemed like top-notch vehicles, painted in red, with lizard-like heads. And from the eyes of these last ones, suddenly came out energy bullets as if a machine gun was spitting them out. And since the poor son of a bitch was in the way between us and the rest of his stupid friends, he got shot... I couldn't believe how cold-hearted this new bastards had proven to be. Not that the other Heartless we knew had probably helped each other out, but... you get my meaning, I hope.

I don't know how they did it, but thanks to Aeris and Donald, the bikes' fire didn't blast us to a million pieces. They managed to create a large barrier that deflected all of the foes' shots. But of course, the Heartless did manage to get their motorcycles through the field. Naturally, we were ready for them. We did manage to kill a few ones. Wilheim cut off a few of the foes' swords with his blade (and also a couple of heads); Merryck again pulled the stunt he did earlier; Sora fired some shots to destroy some motorcycles, and Cloud cut through some of the enemies with his gigantic weapon. However, what most of the rest of us succeeded in doing, was to knock them off their motorcycles.

If we knew what was about to happen next, we would've tried much harder to destroy the bikes. As the damn monsters fell of their vehicles, these last ones began to change. Like a stupid "Transformer" or some thing of the sort, the bikes bended and twisted magically, in order to turn into some sort of armor for the fallen pilots. As the Heartless got up, we noticed that the lizard-like heads that I mentioned a while ago that was attached to the motorcycles had turned into helmets. A thick armor covered the chest – it looked like a hard bone to gnaw through. The Heartless's arms and legs were also well protected. On the bottom of their feet, there were small wheels; they looked like some sort of roller-blades – don't ask me how they got them, 'cause I won't know how to answer that. The rubber wheels of their bikes had turned into sharp disks, attached to their arms. It was not before long before the first monster threw one at us in anger. Luckily, the victim of said disk had been Link, and he quickly fended the attack off with his shield. The rest of us managed to evade the attacks somehow, and then began our attack once again. There were only about twenty Heartless left.

Mine threw the disk at my neck, attempting to cut it off. I was fast enough to duck under the thing.

"Whoops!" I cried. "Missed me! Try again, ugly!"

The disk returned to his arm, like a boomerang, and he tried again to hit me. This time, he threw it at mi legs.

"Too bad!" I yelled, while jumping over it. "You'd best try to improve your aim, pal!"

This time, he meant business. As the disk returned to him, he threw with more strength and quickness. I quit my joking for a moment as I ducked underneath the weapon. However, I wasn't quick enough, and I got my arm cut. It wasn't a lethal cut or anything of the sort. Nevertheless, it did hurt a lot.

"Oh, you bastard!" I cried. "Now you've done it!"

I ran to him at full speed and kicked the disk out of his arm. Now that he was unarmed, I thought that he would prove to be easy as pie. I was somewhat mistaken, though. He knew his way around martial arts and gave quite a battle. But hey, no one else had beaten me before (except Ryu, but I'm not in the mood to talk about that) and I wasn't going to start losing now. The instant he dropped his guard, I connected a few jabs to the face and then followed them with a roundhouse. The Heartless fell on his back, and I decided it was time to finish him. I leapt high into the air and buried my knee in his back. He let out a loud yell and then lay still. Seeing that there weren't enough Heartless for me to have fun with, I just stood on one place and looked around to see how my friends were doing.

Though they did have to fight at their best, most of them weren't having much trouble. Yuffie beat his enemy by throwing small shurikens at him; Ariel managed to stab his enemy on the chest and got away with just a few cuts (most impressive, if you ask me); Ryu destroyed the Heartless quite quickly, as the saints. Ryoga and Sakura fought side to side, along with Ranma and Akane. They beat their enemies in no time, as well. Ukyo decapitated the Heartless she was fighting in a brutal way. And, last but not least, by a long shot, there was Wilheim... What happened to him was really interesting, if you ask me, and somewhat... disturbing. With a swift blow, Wilheim shattered the disk. The Heartless, unarmed, wasn't willing to give up. He raced at our guys at full speed. Wilheim patiently waited for him, sword at the ready. He swung it to the monster's head, but the Heartless ducked in time to dodge the blow. Next, he somersaulted and kicked Wilheim in the face, knocking him down, and then stepped back. Our friend got up, spitting blood and wiping the sweat off his forehead. I looked at his face closely... he was mad. I had never seen him that mad (after the battle with Ursula, of course). His sword was set on furious fire. His eyes seemed to shine for a brief moment. He was terrifying and menacing. With a loud yell, he ran at the Heartless as fast as he could. And he was pretty fast, almost as fast as Felicia, if you ask me. He avoided the Heartless attempt of counterattack and buried his job deep in his stomach. With great strength, he pulled it out, by thrusting upwards. The Heartless, nearly split in two, fell to the ground, his life gone, of course. Then, Wilheim turned to the rest of the Heartless in silence and pointed his sword at them. There were about five of them left. They all turned to our enraged friend and fled in terror... We all stared at him in silence as he lowered his blade, walked to the dead body of his enemy and kicked him in anger, sending him flying far away.

"Wilheim!" Ukyo exclaimed, as she saw the strange behavior of our friend.

He didn't turn to see her. He just sheathed the sword and walked away from us... I didn't get it. Why was he so mad, all of a sudden?

"Let us go." He said, dryly. "There are still many enemies out there. We must act quickly, lest we want the Garrison to meet its end at the hands of these fiends."

"Take it easy, Wilheim..." I murmured as he walked past me. He gave me a quick glance with his furious eyes... However, he didn't seem to be mad at me. He only shut his mouth and it looked to me as if he wanted to nod his head. However, he only kept on walking, with Ukyo following him closely.

There wasn't a moment to lose. The warriors inside the Garrison were slowly losing the battle... There were just too many Heartless. But still, I knew that we could beat them if we put our hearts into it. As we approached the huge wall, we got finally see what the Garrison's soldiers looked like. They were lightly armed, but defended themselves bravely. Their helmets were heads of wolves. It almost seemed like their eyes shone. Their skills with their swords were superb, but most of them, however, opted to carry some other long-range weapon. They did have some heavy armor, though, which covered most of their bodies, save for their waists and thighs...

"Don't let any more of them through! Shoot them, shoot them!" One of them yelled and the rampage of war grew in intensity.

"The cavalry is here, fellows..." I whispered, as we arrived at the shattered wall. "It's Ken time! HADOKEN!" my projectile blasted a few lines of Heartless. They didn't experience a heavy loss, but that had been enough to catch their attention. A squadron of Heartless soldiers, along with a few of those S.W.A.T. type warriors raced at us. The last ones led the way, maintaining their shields up. "Ryu, would you be so kind as to join me in this endeavor?"

"I don't mind if I do..." my friend replied. We both stopped short and began to concentrate our energy to unleash our techniques. Soon, the five bronze saints, Morrigan, Sakura, Ranma, and Ryoga followed our example and gathered energy too. At last, all of us together unleashed a wave of energy like you wouldn't believe. It cut through the Heartless like a blade come from the Heavens. Still, there were plenty of foes left for us to fight, and they weren't willing to give up yet, not even as they ran at us, stumbling across the dead bodies of their companions.

As a large group of Heartless ran at us, I noticed that the Garrison's soldiers had reorganized themselves and had started to defend the fortress again. But the remaining Heartless were strategic in their attack. The soldiers fought a long, hard battle that would end in, at that time, whatever God wanted.

All we could do was to keep the other large group of their backs...

"Everyone! This way!" Demean suddenly yelled, drawing our attention. He was waving his arms high in the air, signaling us to go beside him. In less than two seconds, we were all there, ready to hear whatever he had to say. "I have an idea. It will be best if we attack the Heartless from the side, for they have formed their shield-bearers to protect themselves. They have no defense from the sides, however. For this, we need to be swift, in order to destroy the shield-bearers. Felicia, Link, Sakura, Akane, Vincent, Camille, Merryck, Morrigan, and myself will attack from the sides. When the shield-bearers have been eradicated, you shall attack from the front..."

"I understand your strategy, elf." Octavius interrupted. "I shall lead the attack from the front, then. Wilheim, Goofy, Cloud, and Leon will follow me in this offensive."

"I get it." Ryu intervened. "That means that the rest of us should clean the mess, right?"

"What do you mean by that?" Seyia asked. "Could you be more specific?"

"There is no time!" Demean yelled, as we all noticed that the wave of Heartless was nearly upon us. "Let us go!"

"Watch carefully, Seyia. You'll get our meaning in no time." I said.

The elf, the fairy, and the other swift guys quickly ran to the sides and penetrated the Heartless' defense from the sides. Demean used his knives, while Link slaughtered the S.W.A.T. foes with his sword; Felicia tore the troops apart with her claws; Akane and Sakura used quick punches to get rid of the foes; the two succubus attacked from a distance with their tentacles; Merryck slipped almost unseen by the Heartless and swiftly killed a couple of them, and Vincent used his gun to shoot down some enemies.

Once the defense had been broken, Octavius, and the other monsters wrecked havoc on the Heartless forces. There were some mafia Heartless in the group, and they didn't get a chance to use their machine guns against them: they had charged at the bunch of foes like a stampede. And so finally, our turn came.

"This is it, guys!" I cried, and started to gather energy. Ryu and the rest of my friends quickly caught on and called power to their fists. And so, another beam of energy come from all of us supermen crashed against the wave of Heartless, practically annihilating them. Those who couldn't use Ki, such as Ukyo and Ariel, relied on other sources. Wilheim's chick used her tiny-shuriken-like spatulas to do the job, while the ex-mermaid helped us with some of her potions.

Only a few Heartless remained after our onslaught. One of them, a new type of enemy I had never seen before, quickly leapt at me with blinding speed and knocked me down. I got up and got ready to fight him, but he was already on the run.

"HEY!" I shouted at him. "You running away? Goddamn chicken! Get back here!" It's a shame to admit this, but that stupid acrobat-like Heartless was a lot faster than me

He didn't get far, though. A swift arrow come from Link's bow pierced his chest and stopped him in his tracks for good.

"Shoot!" I cried. "That's one you owe me, Robin."

"How curious." He replied, with a smile. "I was about to say the same thing to you."

"You don't go around killing other people's enemies, William Tell. It's just not very sport-like."

"I shall keep that in mind the next time some other minion tries to kill you."

"Hey, hold it right there!" a soldier suddenly yelled. We all looked up at him, for he had called at us from the upper part of the wall, and noticed that there was a very big group of fighters pointing their weapons at us. Some of my friends raised their hands, but I didn't quite do that...

"What's with you, morons?" I cried. "Didn't you see us just save your butts from that pile of monsters?"

"Ken, you're not being very helpful..." whispered Aeris, who was standing close to me and had her arms high in the air.

"Soldiers of the Silver Garrison!" cried Tish. "We are not here to fight you. We have come to aid you in this battle! Now, please! Lower your weapons and let us fight this evil together!"

"See? That's the way you speak to a person who's pointing at your head with a gun." Aeris added. I only rolled my eyes and sighed.

The Garrison's soldiers looked at each other with questioning glances, not knowing what to do. Even then, they wouldn't lower their guns. Man, truly felt like kicking their butt. We had saved them from those jerks and they were pointing their guns at us? What's up with that?

Either way, we had no time to chat. All of a sudden, a faint cry coming from another part of the Garrison was heard.

"We're about to lose the wall! We need more men, now!"

The soldiers again looked at each other. Some of them left and ran at full speed at their comrades in need. Some others stayed behind, watching over us...

"Please!" Tish said. "You will not win this battle unless you fight alongside with friends!"

Again the quick glances. I really wanted to tape their head to their necks so that they would stop doing that.

"All right!" they finally said. "If what you say is true, then follow us to the northern wall!" and so they took off.

Felicia and the two succubus jumped to the upper part of the wall and followed the soldiers closely as the rest of us struggled not to lose sight of the swift were-cat and the other two girls.

We got to where the battle was in a minute or two. The perimeter of the Garrison was huge. Either way, as we arrived at the spot, we finally saw Dante. He was fighting alongside two other fellows: one of them had blue hair (it seemed like it had dyed it. It wasn't a natural blue, like Ikki's hair color don't ask anything regarding that, 'cause I declare myself ignorant on the matter) and wore a loose shirt and baggy pants. He was a pretty good fighter and knew his way around the sword well. The other one was a weird creature, that appeared to be some sort of a were-wolf. It wasn't long before I guessed that it had to be Takeesha, Dante's girlfriend.

On the spot, there was another guy, a soldier on a bike, that was cutting down the Heartless like grass. He was also very good at defeating the Heartless on motorcycles, which were quite a pain, as I've already told you. All I could see is that he had blonde hair. As he fought his way through the rows of enemies, he insulted them and mocked them, telling them that he was too much for any of them: we would either get along just fine or we'd hate each other, I thought.

"Dante!" Sora cried and slashed some Heartless in order to get to him, and blasted some foes off his back. Not much, though, because the Lucien was Dante's main shield, as he was hers. Each helped the other out of tidy situations quite a few times, and fought shoulder-by-shoulder. No doubt the Lucien was Takeesha, for only girlfriend and boyfriend fight so closely to each other, caring only about the safety of the other, much like Link and Aeris, or Wilheim and Ukyo.

Speaking about the latter two, they had already teamed up and were cutting down several units of Heartless. It was then that I noticed a new type of foe: knights. They were covered in hard, full plate armor and had a lizard-like helmet covering their heads, much like the head on the Heartless' motorcycles... They were quite strong and skilled with the sword, but both fellows managed to cut through them: Ukyo used her nimble feet and agility to slay them, while Wilheim unleashed his behemoth strength on them, destroying not only the Heartless, but also shattering their armors as if they were made out of glass.

We all joined them and made our best to reach Dante and the others before they would be overrun. Actually, some of my friends decided to go help at the foot of the broken wall, which was overrun by Heartless. The Garrison's soldiers were barely able to defend themselves from the attack.

Dante had begun to use magic spells, and was killing a lot of Heartless with his fire incantations. He was getting good at it. The biker had created a perimeter around us, impeding large numbers of Heartless to enter the ring we were in. The other warrior, the blue-haired one, leapt high from one place to the other, slashing Heartless as quickly as he could, while the Lucien swiped at her foes with her fierce claws...

Sora was fighting bravely and fiercely, especially that he now was by Dante's side, and that Goofy and Donald, their personal escort so to speak, had reached him. His skill with the sword had grown a lot: I take it he had watched all of our friends fight and had learned a little bit from each one. He was almost as agile as Demean, as tricky as Link, as strategic as Cloud, and as powerful as Wilheim. He still needed to perfect his fighting style, but he was doing very good. He parried the blows of the knight-Heartless and counterattacked without delay.

Donald and Goofy opened the way for the rest of us to help them. The duck fried some Heartless with his fire spells, while Goofy smashed lots of them with his trusty shield. He also covered us from the mafia-Heartless' bullets, for they had opened fire on us with their mean machineguns. They even gunned down some of their Heartless companions, and still they kept on firing...

Though we all got a bit injured during the fight, it wasn't long before we won through. And as I turned my head around to search for the rest of the guys that were fighting against the Heartless along with the Garrison soldiers, I saw that the foes had almost been eradicated. Seeing that they had lost, the Heartless began to flee. In a matter of seconds, there was not a living Heartless to be seen on the battlefield.

"That was harder than I thought." Sora muttered, as he sheathed the Keyblade. "Damn... I thought they'd never go. I'm glad these Heartless are running away."

"I'm not too thrilled about that, to be honest." Ukyo intervened. "You know what Sun Tzu said: a well-planned retreat can mean victory another day."

"Come on, don't be such a party pooper." I said. "We won today. If they come back, we'll give them another beating. Right, Sora?"

"Yeah!" the boy replied, enthusiastically.

"Jeez... I'm so glad that you're okay, Takeesha." Dante suddenly said. We all turned to him and saw that the Lucien was hugging him and licking his cheeks, as he struggled to get free. "But you're about to break my ribs again...!"

"I'm sorry, Dante!" Takeesha replied. "It's just that I'm so happy to see you! I thought you were dead! And when things are at their worst, you come and rescue me!"

"Oh, you know me." the kid said. "I like to make an entrance." He smiled at her and hugged her tenderly. She also hugged him, but this time, it was not a bear hug: it was something that he could tolerate.

"Hey, Dante, if you went to the circus while you were away, you should've brought some souvenir, other than the clowns." said the boy with blonde hair. I took a better look at him, and noticed that he was a bit taller than Dante. He also looked older. He had a tough build, yet a delicate face. But that wasn't too important. The important thing was that he had been looking at us when he had said those words.

As you might expect, I was the last person that was going to stay quiet.

"Clowns?" I exclaimed. "Listen, Conan, why don't you come here and say that to my face?"

"Are you talking to me?" he asked. Our other companions merely stared at the two of us... we were making a scene, no doubt.

"You got that right, mini-He-man. You'd best quit insulting us, if you don't want us to get mad and open a can of whoop-ass on your face."

"What did you just say?" the kid asked, looking at me defiantly.

"Knock it off, you two!" Dante yelled, and quickly came between us. "Cameron, they're my friends. Stop calling them names, will you? They're not a bunch of clowns, they're great fighters. Ken here is quite strong..." as he said this, I smiled innocently at the boy, whereas he stared at me with fire in his eyes. "...and could probably pound you to bits. So why don't you be nice and just shake hands?"

"Shake?" I said, offering my hand.

Cameron said nothing for a couple of seconds. He just stayed there, mumbling angrily to himself.

But all of a sudden, I heard the cocking of a lot of guns. I turned my head and noticed that our friends – the ones that had entered the wall to help the Garrison's soldiers – were walking to us with their hands on the back of their head, as all of the soldiers pointed at them...

"Oh, crap." I muttered.

"Wait!" Dante exclaimed. "Lower your weapons! These men helped us out! They're our friends! Don't hurt them!"

The soldiers hesitated for a moment before lowering their arms. And during that instant, Cameron smiled innocently at me and offered me his hand...

"Friends?"

I couldn't help it. As soon as the soldiers lowered their strange guns, I let out a chuckle and shook his hand.

"You got me, kid. But don't be too proud. Next time, I'll show you what I'm made of."

"Right, I bet you will." he replied, walking away from me.

"Okay, then..." Dante said, as he rounded up his friends and introduced them to us. "Everyone, this is Kane. He's a soldier, like myself, and is very skillful. He's also a very good friend of mine."

"Hi, y'all." the blue-haired kid replied. "Nice to meet you."

"And this here is Takeesha... She's my girlfriend." Dante added, as she took her by the hand.

"Hey." she answered, shyly.

Dante then introduced all of us (took him about twenty minutes) and then he suggested that we all went inside the Garrison to rest up. By that time, the soldiers were all fixing the broken wall as fast as they cold, as well as the cannons they had lost, curing the men that had been injured, and throwing out the Heartless' bodies. As we walked inside the city, Kane began to ask a lot of questions to most of us. He seemed very curious about us...

"Where do you guys come from? Are you all warriors? Exactly what race do you come from?" and all sorts of other questions. Naturally, it was the most talkative of my friends who answered. I wasn't in the mood for talking with anyone, right now. All I wanted was a pair of socks and a bed. My feet were colder than ice and my legs hurt like hell. I bet the rest of my friends felt this last sensation too. We had done a lot of effort just trying to stay on foot. Oh, you don't remember? Well, it wasn't until after that I did: Dante's world had twice the gravity than ours...

"Oh, that was such a nice nap!" I said, while yawning loudly. Someone had just knocked on the door that lead to the room I was in. It had been Dante. He asked me if I was ready to go to the main Headquarters, I think. I was still half asleep, and didn't quite understand his words. Even so, I nodded my head and shouted back: "Yeah, I'll be there in a few minutes!"

After the battle, Dante and the Garrison soldiers had provided us with a room (and socks, pretty warm ones at that, by the way), so we could rest a while. It had been a very demanding fight, and we all needed to get some sleep. As for me, I reckon that I slept about two, maybe two-and-a-half hours. Pretty good rest, if you ask me.

The room was quite small. It had only two doors; one of them lead outside and the other one was the door to the bathroom. There were only two beds on the room; I was, naturally, on top of one, and Wilheim was occupying the other. I know what you're thinking: 'What the hell was Wilheim doing there, with you? I thought Ryu was your best friend.' Well, yeah, but we all nabbed the first room that we saw. Wilheim had the fortune to share rooms with me. Still, I wondered what had been of Ukyo...

Curiosity overcame me as he started to wake up. I decided to ask him about it, but I first started with a light question, and its answer would say it all, to my surprise.

"Wilheim, what's up with you?" I asked. "I don't think that I've ever seen you so mad. It's not like I've known you forever, but it's quite a shock to see you as angry as you were when you kicked that Heartless' dead body. Is there anything that you want to share with me? Or would you rather that I just shut up?"

The young man sighed as he put on his shoes and stretched himself. I take it that he had a nice, long nap, too.

"I suppose that I can tell you." he said. "Are you that surprised? We have been fighting against these fiends for the longest of times. It appears as if we have spent our lives hunting them down. The memories that I had before this odyssey began have almost escaped my mind. For it seems that I have dedicated my entire live to the purpose of their eradication. I am wondering if this will ever end. And to see them sprout from the floor like worms makes me feel that I will never be able to go home. Perhaps we are doomed to fight until we cannot raise even a fist, to go on battling until life itself escapes on a breath come from our mouths. That is why I am so angry at the Heartless. I just want this to end, Ken. As, no doubt, you do."

"Yeah, I understand, Wilheim, but kicking a dead body out of anger?"

"Perhaps I am more hot-tempered than you might have imagined at the beginning." he replied. "Either way, that is enough idle chatter. We have to be going already. I reckon that the Garrison's general is waiting for us."

"All right, if you want to leave it like that, fine." I said. As we exited the room, I whispered to myself: "I thought that some talking would do you some good..."

We walked through a long corridor and finally got to the HQ of the Silver Garrison. It was riddled with soldiers and technicians locked in their computers. There were many screens depicting the damage done on the Garrison, the troops that were cleaning the mess up, and there were also radars, which showed us, thankfully, nothing out of the ordinary. Right to our left, there was a great hall, with lots of chairs. Anyway, that's not important. In that hall, all of our friends stood, along with Dante's buddies, some other soldiers (which were asking Dante a lot of questions), and a tall man that wore a fancy uniform. He had lots of medals on it and he also wore a cap that had four stars in it. I supposed that he had to be the general we had been looking for. And so, without saying a word, we approached the group.

"Ah, you're finally here, guys." Dante replied, as he turned to us. It looked as if we had been the ones that had slept the most... "General, these two are Wilheim and Ken, two fine warriors. Guys, this is General Gisla: he's the one in charge of the Garrison and its defenses."

"How'zit going?" I asked, waving my hand at him. I really wasn't good at behaving like a soldier. Wilheim on the other hand, was much more civilized. He shook hands with the general and then stood firm, with both arms behind his back...

"I thank all of you for helping us a while ago." he said, with a smooth and, undeniably, charming voice. Well, I guess that most generals must have one of the sort. "I must admit that without your help, it would probably not have been a victory... Dante tells me that this boy is capable of sealing away this curse from our world. Is that correct?" he asked, as he glanced at Sora.

"This boy possesses the Keyblade, sir." Demean replied. "It is the only weapon strong enough to break the Heartless' main weapons: the keyholes that they utilize to invade a world."

"We've already sealed some world's keyholes." Sora added. "We'll also have to look for this one if we want to get rid of the Heartless for good. If we do that, they'll all be gone in the blink of an eye, General."

"Perhaps you could help us with a bit of your army?" Shun asked.

"Most certainly." Gisla replied. "I will send out a platoon with you immediately, if you feel like it. However, I am concerned about these Heartless foes. You say you have fought them in the past?"

"Why, of course, sir." Merryck answered. "Well, although, to be perfectly honest, we have not exactly fought against this sort of Heartless, if you take my meaning. You see, we have noticed that the Heartless are quite tricky fellows, normally adapting themselves to the world they are invading. It is likely that the same is happening here, yet they are acting like intelligent individuals, you see. It is not a simple as it was before. Well, to tell the truth, it has never been simple: this only makes matters more difficult."

"I see." the General said. "In that case, than I think that it would be best if we dispatched you and the recognizance platoon after we learn the behavior of these creatures. Otherwise, we would send you to your doom. We cannot risk to have you overwhelmed by those monsters." he then turned to Dante and asked: "Dante, would you like to lead the team?"

"Me?" the kid asked, enthusiastically. "Yeah! I mean... yes, sir!"

"I can't believe that you already got your own mission!" Takeesha exclaimed happily, and licked Dante's cheek.

There was silence for a couple of seconds, which was suddenly broken by the General. He spoke to Dante, yet he did so in German...

"_Machen man wissen?_"

"_Nein._" the boy replied, shaking his head.

I had no idea what they had just said. I knew what language they were speaking on, but I didn't know what the hell they were saying. However, I knew that there was one than more person in the hall that knew. And I had one of them right beside me...

"Hey, Wilheim... what did they just say?"

"What they said is between them." Wilheim replied, much to my disappointment. "It is none of our business."

"But you did understand, didn't you?"

"Ken, if I would not have understood that, it would have been quite shameful, for remember that I am German."

"The only thing that disturbs me, General..." Dante said. His voice interrupted the delicious chat that Wilheim and I were having... "Is the fact that the Heartless could try to form an alliance with the creatures of the Abyss. What if that were to happen?"

"Um... Dante..." Takeesha muttered. But the General quickly raised his hand, asking for her to be silent, and so he explained.

"Dante, we have not been receiving any signals of the creatures of the Abyss. It has been several battles since we last saw one. That's why, not too long ago, I sent some scouts to investigate what had been happening with the Abyss."

"And? What did they find?"

"Something quite disturbing. I was shocked to hear this..." he paused for a few seconds (adding a bit of drama to the moment), and then replied: "It seems that the Abyss has been destroyed by the Heartless."

"WHAT?"

Before he could continue, an alarm went off, and many of the screens that the soldiers were constantly watching turned red. The soldiers that were taking a break quickly returned to their positions and checked their screens carefully. Like ourselves, I bet they were wondering what the hell was about to happen next. As Gisla approached one of the computers and stared at it silently, Takeesha said to Dante in a low voice:

"I'm going out to help. You stay here."

"What? How can you...?" Dante began, but Takeesha put her hand on his mouth to silence him.

"You've had it rough. Stay here for a while, okay? It's probably nothing too terrible. The worst is over, I think."

"You think?"

"Stay here, Dante. I promise I'll be right back." and with that being said, she bolted off. Dante stuttered some words, hardly anything understandable, and then stood still. He sighed and walked next to General Gisla, taking a look at the monitors in silence.

"What is going on?" asked Gisla.

"I don't know, sir." answered a young soldier. "It appears that something set the alarm system off, but I don't have a clear image on the mo—" before he finished, the image on the screen went black. "What?" he hit a few keys on his board, but nothing happened. "I lost the image, sir."

"Tell us something we don't know." Leon said, peeking over my shoulder.

"General! I have a clean image, over here!" another soldier called. We all raced to the computer, nearly killing each other to get a better view. "General... he's back. It's him."

"Oh, no..." the General muttered. He removed his cap and wiped some sweat off of his forehead. "This is not good..."

"Not good?" Dante exclaimed. "No... Takeesha!" and as expected, he ran as quickly as he could to find his girlfriend. The rest of us stayed behind... I don't really know why. I guess we all wanted to know what we were going to go up against. That's why we kept our eyes pinned to the soldier's screen...

The camera focused a strange figure, garbed in a long, leather coat. He wore black pants and shirt. His coat was open, revealing a shirt that had the phrase "Discover the night". The camera turned to his back... there it was: the Heartless' crest carved on him. Then it zoomed to his face. He had long, white hair, tied up in a ponytail. We couldn't see his face. His eyes were behind a pair of goggles and the rest of his face hid behind a metallic mask. He wore stylish leather gloves and boots on his hands and feet. A chain connected the two sides of his collar, and there, I spotted a black cross. He also held two evil-looking swords. Finally, the camera turned up and we all gasped in awe and fright as we saw a floating city, not too far from the Garrison...

All the turrets that were near the man turned around and began to shoot at him with full power. But the man didn't even get scratched... After the turrets stopped firing, he pointed at them with his finger, as if it were a pistol. "Bang", he said... and the turrets exploded into a thousand pieces as a bright light come from the man's finger blew them up. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I had never seen so much power. Neither of my friends said anything... They all just stared at the monitors in stupefied silence.

The man then lowered his head and began to get shot by hundreds of soldiers. He began to run like a demon come out of hell on the walls, and not a bullet managed to wound him. Some soldiers were shooting at him from the walls, while others were down in the city. He ran to the ones on the walls first. With nimble movements and a technique that only one person had (but not as developed as his), he slashed at the Garrison's men, cutting them down like grass. The youngest of us, who hadn't seen that much killing, Ariel, gasped in horror. Before she could start crying or anything, Aeris, who was the closest to her, covered her eyes and hugged her tightly. The rest of us kept watching the butchery in silent horror.

The man began to work on some spells, as he saw that the Garrison's soldiers had begun to attack him with magic. They were mainly fireballs that bounced off the warrior's body like rubber balls hitting an iron armor. The man raised his hand and brought it down quickly. As he did this, all of the soldiers were engulfed in a black bubble. We saw nothing for a couple of seconds. We merely heard agonizing screaming through the bubble and horrid sounds, as if something was being broken. As the bubble vanished, we gasped in terror as we realized that that which was being broken were the bones of the soldiers. Somehow, the man had cast a powerful gravity spell that had completely destroyed an entire platoon. Now I was really worried... I didn't know if we were strong enough to face this demon.

The man shot at another turret with the same, shiny blast. This time, we didn't hear the explosion from the soldier's radio, but we heard it as if we were there. It was clear that he was getting closer. The camera then turned to the ground, to another platoon of soldiers... Dante's friends were in there, and were marching at a fast pace to meet this new enemy. He was nowhere to be seen, though.

"We have wasted enough time here." Suddenly Octavius said. "It is time that we go aid the soldiers. More will die if we do not hurry."

"Didn't you see what that thing just did?" Yuffie answered. "If we go down there, we'll be the ones that are going to be killed!"

"Then so be it!" the were-bear replied and stormed off to the battle. We all looked at each other for a few moments, realizing that not only we didn't have any other choice: it was our job.

We quickly ran out of the main headquarters, hoping that there would still be a Garrison left to defend. We heard nothing but screaming and explosions coming from everywhere. It was as if there were a hundred of those monsters surrounding the Garrison, and closing in on us. But it was only one...

There were many monitors through the city. As we looked at them, we ran faster and faster. The man had already worked up Kane, and was a few seconds away from finishing Cameron. With the boy at his feet, all he had to do was cut him up. He quickly broke through his armor with his fist and threw him beside the unconscious Kane. Cameron had been knocked out...

We were almost there. And now Takeesha was facing the monster. The Lucien tried her best to injure the demon by swiping at him with her claws and biting him down as hard as he could. But even those sharp teeth of hers didn't sink down the man's skin. He then punched and kicked as if she were a training bag full of sand. The warrior's body bent horrible, as if it were the one of a rag doll. Then, he began to cut her with his sword. We all gasped in fear and anger and ran faster. He didn't cut any limbs, thankfully, for it seemed that he wanted her to live. But he did bruise her terribly. And still the Lucien struggled to fight back. The man finally kicked her hard enough to send her flying against a news van. Takeesha fell down hard. She struggled to get up, but as she did, the man walked to her and put his foot on her chest. He then kicked her while she was down... I think it's safe to say that he broke a couple of ribs. As we turned right on a corner, we heard his voice as he spoke to her.

"There are people who say they'll rip your heart out with bare hands. Still, none of them ever do it. Let me show you what it feels like..."

At last we got there. But Dante had beaten us to the scene. He had shot a furious fireball from his hand, which had succeeded in knocking the man down, and away from Takeesha. We all ran up to her as Dante gently shook her head.

"Takeesha... please, don't go dying on me." he whispered.

"Dante... I..." she murmured and then closed her eyes. She didn't die, but wouldn't wake up for a long time.

The boy stood up and glanced at us. He then nodded his head, as did we, understanding that he was ready for the battle, as were we. He then called out to the evil man.

"Get up, you coward! Face me like a man!"

The monster got up from the ground, and shook some snow off his coat. He walked to us and stared at Dante (I think. With those goggles and mask, only God knew where that guy was looking). He then sheathed his blade and spoke.

"I didn't think you magic would grow so much, Dante. Congratulations: you've outdone yourself." he said.

"What the...? How the heck do you know my name?" Dante demanded.

"What? You don't remember me? Come on, Dante, I thought you'd have a better memory. Oh, well. I suppose it would be rude of me not to show myself." he took off his mask and goggles... and we all stared at him in awe, without saying a word.

He was Dante. Well, almost. Only the color of his hair and eyes were different. These last ones were purple and gold... and they were evil. It even seemed that there was lightning in them. He began to laugh maliciously, as if he had just pulled out a prank on us... "Mhmh... hehe. Heh... HAHAHA!" believe it or not, he sent down a chill through my spine.

"What...?" Dante muttered. "How... what the... YOU?"

"Dante? Gwarsh... Why didn't you tell us about your brother?" Goofy asked. Some of us stared at him in silence. For my part, I was about to say something nasty to him. But that wasn't the time.

"He's not my brother, Goofy." Dante answered, somewhat vexed at the dog's words. He turned back to the foe and added: "...You've changed. I remember you. You were my shadow. You appeared just before the planet disappeared. You were nothing but a black body back then, bastard."

"Oh, you like? You see, this is what they call evolution..." the man replied, but was interrupted by a bullet come from a soldier up the wall. He managed to stop it with his hand and then looked up. There were now plenty of men ready to empty their guns on him. But they wouldn't get the chance to do so. 'Cause the monster flicked his wrist and another of those lightning bolts hit the wall, demolishing it and killing the people on top of it. Ariel screamed and turned back, covering her face in horror. We all turned to the man, muted by his evil powers, and so he spoke again. "I apologize. But people nowadays are quite rude. I just came down from the Sky Castle to say 'hi'. But what greeting do I get? Turrets shoot at me and soldiers try to shred me to pieces. Sadly, my reflexes have improved since last time, Dante. That's why they didn't stand a chance against me. Oh, I beg your pardon! I've forgotten to introduce myself. How clumsy of me. Anyway..." he bowed. "My name is Digaia. A pleasure to meet you all, make no mistake about it."

"Digaia..." Ukyo muttered. "You sick son of a bitch."

"Quite feisty, aren't we?" Digaia replied. "Anyway, the correct term would be perverted. Please don't call me that."

"Pervert—What the hell are talking about, bastard!" Ukyo snapped, but Wilheim stopped her from going up against Digaia.

"How rude. I'm surprised at your poor hospitality."

"Shut the hell up, damn it!" demanded Dante, furiously.

"If you do not hush your putrid mouth, I will go after you myself and cut you down with fire, boy!" Wilheim roared, menacingly.

"What? And here I thought that improvisation was a lost art. Only renaissance characters speak like that. What's with you?" Digaia asked.

Wilheim didn't say anything. He merely glanced at Dante, as did we all. It had sounded like something he would say.

"It's not my fault that this jackass speaks like me." he declared.

"Either way, I want all of you to know that Maleficent had ordered me to blow up all of your ships, but one." Digaia continued.

"What? What are you trying to pull, idiot?" Seyia interrupted. Shiryu had to hold him, as usual, so that he wouldn't go off fighting by himself.

"You'll see in a moment, but let me finish. And please, stop calling me names. I don't like that much." the monster replied. "Anyway, the Heartless ships that shot you down were under my command. I told them that I wanted to face all of you alive. That's why you weren't blown up. Because I want to have the honor of killing every last one of you."

"An honorable Heartless." Octavius chuckled dryly. "I never thought I would live to see a brave creature among rats."

"Strange indeed. But that's why you're all here. Oh, and Dante: I'll be especially glad to kill you. And don't think that I'm a pushover, like last time. I'm the real deal."

"You know, I so much wish you didn't have a mouth. Why don't you quit your yapping?" Dante challenged.

"I'm sorry. It's not everyday that you meet old friends."

"I'm not your friend!"

"Oh, come on, Dante. It's hard to see you and be silent. I just want to pop like a weasel."

"Are you done? Or is it just one of your best kept secrets? To bore people to death?"

"You're so stubborn, Dante. Just like your mother." This time, Dante didn't reply right away. None of us knew what to say. I think I don't lie when I tell you that none of us saw that one coming... "Oops. I'm sorry. Did I touch a sensitive spot?"

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Dante roared, throwing himself into battle. He tried to cut down Digaia with his sword, but failed. The Heartless leapt high into the air and landed far from us. Dante just stared at him with fire in his eyes, holding his weapon tightly. Some of us attempted to join him. But suddenly, he and turned to us and raised his hand. "NO!" he shouted. "It's personal, now! He's mine!"

"Come on, Dante, give it your best shot, sport!" Digaia cackled, as one of his swords disappeared, whereas the other one grew in size. "I think I should cut you some slack. Two swords against one is unfair." Enraged, Dante charged at him at full speed, aiming his sword at Digaia's head. The monster blocked the blow and countered with a swipe to Dante's feet. But our friend jumped over the sword and brought down his weapon upon Digaia's face. The fiend moved quickly to evade the hit, yet he still ended up with a small cut. He touched it and when he saw blood on his fingers, he smiled at Dante. "Very good, Dante, very good, indeed. Only your mother has been good enough to cut me, until now."

"SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" the boy wailed, furiously, swinging his sword from one side to another. They kept on fighting fiercely. Dante used some of his magic spells against Digaia. The Heartless only evaded the shots: at that point, he wasn't trying to stop them. They battled on and on, Dante with rage on his eyes, Digaia with confidence and evil on his. We all knew what was going on, as they swords crashed together and sparks came from their steels. Digaia was just toying with our friend...

"Why don't you ask your dear General what happened in Madrigal, Dante? He'll surely fill you in on what happened to your mom." Digaia taunted.

"I'LL SHRED YOU TO PIECES!" Dante replied.

"I'd like to see you try." the Heartless sneered... and stopped playing with him.

He punched Dante, and every time he did, black bubbles came out of his fists. Yep, you guessed it: gravity spells. Each time one hit Dante, he cried loudly in pain as his body bent down. Either way, he always found the strength to get back to his feet and keep on battling. Later on, Digaia used another fierce attack...

"Thunjira!" he cried, but not too loudly. A sphere of blue lightning engulfed Dante and not only electrocuted him; it also sent that nasty shockwave through his body that bent his bones and muscles. It was a combination of lightning and gravity...

But Dante still wasn't willing to give up. Even then, I knew that he wasn't going to win this battle. I ran at his aid, but Ryu stopped me.

"Ryu, let me go!" I demanded.

"Stop, Ken! It's Dante's fight! He said so!" my friend answered.

"I don't give a damn about what he said! I'm going to help him, goddamn it!"

"Let him keep his honor, Ken!" Ryu shouted.

I knew that he wasn't going to let me go. I stopped thrashing and stood still, worried about our friend... I had to let him do his own fighting. But I couldn't stand to see him get beaten up like that.

Digaia had already cut a lot of Dante's body. The boy was bleeding from almost everywhere. And yet he kept on battling. I suppose that the memory of his mother and the rage he felt kept him afoot. Nevertheless, it wasn't making much a difference...

Suddenly, Dante managed to disarm Digaia. Their swords twisted fiercely, cutting the air about them, and finally, the Heartless' blade flew far away from him.

"FINISH HIM OFF, DANTE!" I screamed.

But Dante had already lost the battle. As he tried to slice Digaia into two, the fiend moved out of his enemy's blade's way and then pummeled him with his fists and feet. Dante couldn't even move as the Heartless' punches broke his body. Our friend managed to block one of the punches and tried to kick Digaia on the stomach. However, the fiend quickly got out of the blow's way. He leapt into a lamp post and stayed there. Dante conjured a fire spell and threw it at the Heartless. But the enemy was too quick: he kept on jumping from lamp post to lamp post, tiring Dante with every leap. The boy finally couldn't take it anymore. He fell to his knees, gasping for air. Then, his opponent charged at him and began to beat him up again. And every time that it seemed that Dante was about to fall to the ground, Digaia held him and attacked him mercilessly. At long last, he kicked him in the stomach and sent him flying against a news van, the same one that had stopped Takeesha... Digaia wiped Dante's blood off his hands and suddenly noticed that Dante had managed to cut his shoulder, somehow. However, it was an insignificant cut.

"You know, I know forty-two martial arts." the monster said. "I've mastered the use of all sorts of weapons, thank you very much. You don't need to ask what you're thinking, I'll answer right away: I'm much better than you." all of a sudden, his sword came flying back to his hand. He walked toward Dante and got ready to finish him off. I tried to leap back into action, but Ryu didn't let me.

"Ryu, he's going to kill him!" I exclaimed.

"Not yet, Ken... not yet." he answered.

Dante slowly got up. He looked in pretty bad shape, bleeding from everywhere. Digaia ran at him and evaded Dante's clumsy attempt of a stab. The fiend sidestepped and buried his sword slightly on Dante's side. The boy collapsed, letting out a weak cry of pain. Digaia swung his sword at Dante's neck. He barely managed to parry it, but his own weapon broke. Digaia smiled wickedly and said:

"Bye-bye."

"Now can I help him?" I asked Ryu, as my heart leapt out of my chest.

"Now!" Ryu exclaimed.

"HADOKEN!" I cried, and shot a weak, but fast wave of energy at Digaia. He managed to leap out of its way just in time. Either way, that was my plan. I wasn't meaning to kill him, of course. I just wanted to keep Dante alive.

"You people have never heard of manners, have you?" he said, as he summoned his other blade. "You can't interrupt a duel. Just face that Dante is as good as dead." We didn't reply. We just put ourselves on guard and waited for him to make his move. "Is that how it's going to be?" he asked. "Oh, well..." he was ready to attack us, when he suddenly noticed something on his forehead. He raised his hand and touched it. "Sweat..." he murmured. "Amazing. I salute you, Dante." he added, turning to our fallen friend, who still struggled to get up from the ground. "Too bad your mother didn't last that long..."

The boy couldn't get up. Yet that didn't stop him. He began to crawl to Digaia, still yearning for a piece of him.

"You still think you can beat me?" Digaia asked. "Tsk-tsk-tsk. That is so sad."

With that being said, he leaned back and let out a shout. It was so loud that we had to cover our ears. The windows on the city and its cars couldn't stand it and exploded. Every glass on the area broke down. Still, I thought that was the best chance we would ever get to take him down. And all of my friends thought this as well. We all began running at him at full speed, trying our best not to let the damn scream finish us. This time, we meant business...

Or at least we think we did. For out of the blue, four beams of massive energy came crashing down on the snowy floor nearby. None of us received a direct impact, but the amount of energy used in those projectiles had been so huge that when it exploded, their shockwaves knocked us out of our feet. The energy had almost destroyed our bodies... We were lucky to be alive.

That was it. I'm ashamed to admit it, but that was it. We survived because of a miracle. But none of us were in condition to fight. Not even one. Out of us, thirty-and-something fools, not even one had the strength to get up. We heard nothing but that strange sound that you hear after a loud concert for a few moments. And when it faded, we noticed that Digaia was laughing, along with other enemies...

I struggled to look up and saw, indeed, saw four individuals. Two men, one Lucien, and some other thing. When Digaia stopped laughing, he glanced at them and said to us:

"I'm sorry, really, so sorry! I forgot to introduce you to my friends! But that's okay. I'll let you meet them now." He walked past by each of them and named them. "This is Jace." he said. The boy wore a red jean jacket that reached to his runners, and blue jeans. The jacket was a bit open to show a white shirt with a flaming skull, and underneath it, it said "BURN BABY!". If I would've been able to speak, mark my words: I would've surely commented on that shirt. Anyway, he was also carrying two separate tanks which connected to a lot of guns around his arm. He wore a bright red bandanna around his neck, and a cowboy hat over his brown hair (later on, I don't know how many remarks went through my head about that hat). He also had a scanner over his eye. It was clipped to one ear and had a red screen.

"This is Tamora Leslin. She doesn't talk much, but is essential on the battle field." Digaia added, as he walked past another team member. It had been the Lucien. He had brown fur and was the only one wearing a gold loincloth. "This here is Josie." he said, as he walked past another boy. This one was a bit skinny. He wore a brown coat over his buttoned, blue shirt, and jeans. Despite his appearance, I could tell, from his eyes, that he had great power. Oh, and he was also holding a big chain around him with the blade of a scythe attached to it. That also sort of gave him away. His hair was bright golden; not just an ordinary blond (And I'm not an ordinary blond, if that's what you were thinking).

"And last, but not least, this is Fiona." he concluded, as he stopped next to what seemed to be a human at first glance. A mask covered the lower half of her face, so I can't exactly tell you what she looked like. She had long, dark hair and wore black clothes. Her arms covered in bandages were long and she only had three fingers, with three great talons protruding from them. She held a long, grim-looking scythe behind her back, just between her wings. Yep, she had wings. Long and leathery that ones, at that, too... "She is mute." Digaia said. "But you'll know what she means to say." he then kissed her forehead. Never thought I'd see a Heartless do that. "Well, long story short, they're all pretty powerful, almost as powerful as myself. Not a bit weak, I'll tell you that. Together, they're unstoppable. They call themselves the Four Horsemen; a suiting name, don't you think? Just so that you know how powerful we truly are, let me tell you something: the five of us alone destroyed the Abyss."

I really can't think of anything to say to that even now. What would you answer to that? What I did do, though, was to let out a chuckle of desperation.

At that moment, Jace lifted his arm up and pointed at us with his finger as if it were the cannon of a gun. I was almost sure what was going to come next. Luckily, I was wrong. Digaia quickly twisted his finger and said:

"Not yet, Jace. The bet would be off if you did that."

"Oh. Sorry about that, boss." the boy answered.

"...Bet?" Sora managed to ask. "What bet...?"

"Jeez, I'm so clumsy, I'm forgetting everything!" Digaia chuckled. "Um... I got it. Josie, you won last time... why don't you fill them up."

"Sure, why not?" the other kid said. "It's like this. The one who kills the most of you wins. And the prize is to have fun while we look for the princess of Heart."

"Which should be somewhere near here." Digaia intervened. "There's only left. So, if we win the battle, we'll win it all. She's the last one that's needed to open the ultimate door."

"And you guys can't beat us." said Josie. "Not when we put our heads together."

"Huh? How do we do that?" asked Jace... not the brightest monster, I might say.

"When we worked together." Josie said.

"Oh, got it."

"Stupid..."

"That's unimportant." Digaia said. "The kicker is that we'll bet on your lives. But now is not the time."

"What the... hell do you mean...?" Wilheim struggled to say.

"Chump, it'd be no fun to kill you like that. We want a real challenge." Jace said. He walked to him and then something caught his eye... "Wow! What a great sword! Mind if I keep it, boss?"

"Suit yourself." Digaia replied.

"Get your hands off it...!" Wilheim muttered, holding on to his sword as hardly as he could. But then, Jace kicked his face, leaving him unconscious.

"Don't be such a sore loser." he said. "You'll have a chance to win it back, if you beat me. Heh... what a joke."

"I really don't care if Maleficent gets mad at me for not finishing you now." Digaia said, glancing at Sora. "I know you're the Keyblade bearer, and all. But what the heck. You're all beaten, anyway. Here's the deal: I'll give you eight days. That's a week. No Heartless will attack you during that time. Prepare yourselves. Train if you like. You won't win. No sir. But you still have got to give it a try. And don't think about running away. If you do, the Heartless ships on orbit will blast you to pieces on my command." he paused as he walked to Dante and threw him his sword, covered in blood. "By the way, this is yours." Then he looked at all of us and concluded: "Eight days. We'll attack with our whole army then. It'll be like setting fire on a stack of hay to find a needle."

"Huh? What are you talking about? I thought we were going to run the whole city down." Jace declared, proving once again, that he was the stupidest one of the bunch... and was the one with the most powerful weapon.

"I mean the princess, Jace, the princess." Digaia answered, and for the first time, he seemed exasperated. "The stack of hay is the Garrison, and the needle is the princess of Heart. Please! You're killing the analogy!"

"Oh..."

"Hey, Dante..." Digaia said. "Tell me something: _Machen man wissen?_"

"_...N-Nein..._" Dante answered, faintly.

"I won't tell them." Digaia said, with a smile. "But if you want to give a bit of battle, it'll be your only choice."

We all then heard sirens. I supposed they were the medical vans. I just hope they wouldn't take too long... My eyesight was starting to get all blurry.

"Eight days, people. See you then." Digaia repeated. He turned to his team and said: "Meet me up at the Sky Castle." They all nodded in response. That's the last thing I saw before I fell unconscious.

When I woke up, there was a paramedic studying my injuries. I turned to him, but he kept me still with his hand.

"Try not to move. You're not in a very good shape."

"My friends... where...?" I mumbled.

"They're all alive. Somewhat injured, but they're alive. As for Dante, he's lucky to be breathing." he gave me room to sit up and said: "Off you go. You can walk back to the headquarters on your own. I think it was only the shock of those energy waves that left you so weak."

"How... how is everybody else?" I asked.

"Your friends?" he asked. "You're the only one that's woken up."

"No... the soldiers."

"Oh... we suffered many casualties. But at least Cameron, Kane, Takeesha, and Dante are alive."

"Where's Dante?"

"He's over there." the paramedic replied, pointing at two paramedics. They were busy working on someone. Dante, I guessed. "He's not doing to well. It seems that he has... Oh, wait!" he exclaimed, as one of his colleagues signaled something. "It seems that he's wakening up!"

"Dante...? Dante!" I exclaimed. I got to my feet and ran at his side. He had barely opened his eyes and was struggling to sit down. One of the paramedics helped him. I suppose that he had no injuries on his spine... "Are you okay, Dante?"

"Umm... no." he replied.

"Be careful." one of the paramedics said. "You're still pretty weak. We'll get you to the hospital in a minute."

"Alright." Dante mumbled.

"What happened?" I asked.

"They left... didn't you see?"

"No... I fainted right when Digaia said to the others to meet him at Sky Castle..." I paused for a second and then added: "I can't believe we got our butts kicked by a bunch of brats. Look how they left us!" I looked at the rest of my friends. All of them were still out. There was a paramedic per person... I could only hope that they were all in good hands.

"Now you see what brats are capable of." Dante said. "Either way, that wasn't the last thing he said... he said 'thank you for the two gifts'. Then he left."

"Two gifts? I can understand one... Wilheim's sword, no doubt. What could the other one have been."

"I don't know... an easy victory?" Dante suggested, angrily.

"No, I..."

It then hit me. And as I gave a quick glance at Dante, I knew, in his face, that he had found out for himself. Something had gone terribly wrong.

While the paramedics were still busy trying to cure his wounds, Dante and I scanned the entire battlefield. We looked at each and every one of our friends. And then, my heart leapt. I felt it pressing against my lungs as I held my breath. I had the same sensation that someone has when he's about to receive news about someone's death...

"Dante..." I muttered, as we looked at each other and asked at the same time: "Where's Ukyo?"


	30. Chapter TwentyNine: Blood and Hatred

Hey, y'all.

Well, what a surprise, right? Not only did I didn't take that long to upload this chapter, but it's one of the longest I've written, too! Yeah: I've had much free time on my hands. Either way, I'm going to go back to the University in about two weeks... Oh, well. The good news is that I'm just going to have one class on Friday, so probably I'll find bit of time to write.

Again, the story of this chapter isn't my idea. It was Mr. Kiosce's. Characters appearing in it are his design (except the one Wilheim mentions in the story, of course). I know I said that this would be the final chapter of his 'saga', but it turned out to be so long that I had to divide it yet again. The next chapter will be the last. That one will be shorter, but not that much. Anyways, I leave you now with the story.

Oh! Sorry about the grammar mistakes in the last chapter, but I worked a bit too fast in it to upload it as soon as possible. Hopefully, this chapter will be better in that area. I'll see what I can do about the other one when I have the time.

Okay, that's all. No more commentaries, I promise. Enjoy:)

_Chapter Twenty-Nine: Blood and Hatred: the Assault on the Silver Garrison_

_Narrator: Wilheim_

I slowly opened my eyes to find myself lying on a bed. I was in the very same room where I had slept alongside Ken earlier. I rubbed the back of my head and moaned in pain. It hurt a lot. But the pain that shot through it was not because of the shockwave that those Heartless had shot at us. No, this was because something else had happened before I had opened my eyes to that little room inside the Silver Garrison's headquarters...

I had wakened up while still lying on the snow, only to find a paramedic right beside me. He told me that I was only a little bit weak because of the impact I had recently suffered. I looked around and saw the rest of my friends, defeated. Some of them, the minority, still had their heads buried in the snow. Most of them had already wakened up, and were looking at the sky with dread, as if they were waiting for a demon to come crashing down in another wave of death and suffering...

I felt humiliated and unworthy. I could still not believe that a punk, a retched, insolent, abominable Heartless had taken Renamark from me. I felt as if I had failed my vampire brethren. Yet things were worse than I imagined at first.

I did not see Ukyo by my side. I looked for her everywhere with my eyes. I moved some of the soldiers' dead bodies, screaming her name in desperation. My heart pumped fiercely against my ribs, nearly cracking them with its pulsations. I had never felt so much fright. I could do nothing but to remember the time that Siegfried and I had stood side by side, in front of or creator, Magnus. The very same night he had driven a halberd through Siegfried's stomach. The night he had taken my brother from me. I felt the very same way that day as the sun slowly sunk under the mountains and the sky became as black as the deepest abyss. I raised my hands and grasped my head. I did not know whether to scream in rage or cry in terror. She was nowhere to be seen. It was not until he had gathered enough courage, I guess, that Ken came near me, and said that Ukyo was nowhere to be seen: he and Dante suspected that the Heartless had taken her.

My fright and despair suddenly vanished, as they were replaced with the deepest and most intense hatred I had ever known. I bit down so hard that I even cut my tongue. Yet I was not worried about myself, or my health. With furious rage I cried out at the Sky Castle, which was still floating over our heads, to give her back. I shouted at Digaia, calling him a coward, challenging him to come down and face me alone. Yet the others tried to shush me, telling me I was not strong enough to take o him by myself. I turned to them and replied that I did not care. Ukyo was all that mattered to me at that moment. Hatred blinded me, and at that very instant, all who stood in my way between me and her were enemies that needed to be eradicated. Ryoga held me by the arms, trying to talk some sense into me. I responded like a cornered beast would. I seized him by the neck and began to choke him. I saw in his eyes' reflection that I had somehow changed... My eyes were again filled with despair and sorrow. But that was not all. I was neither human, nor vampire. I had turned into a creature that only cared about revenge. One could almost say that I had become the very same thing that I was trying to destroy... My friends' cries filled the air while I slowly squeezed the life from Ryoga. He tried to fight back, but I was too strong for him at that moment. I do not know if it had been either Cloud or Octavius (my guess is that it was Octavius, for his strength is unmatched and recognizable), but one of them quickly hit the back of my head with great force, leaving my unconscious.

So there I was, back on my feet. I was still filled by despair, hatred, and sadness. I knew now, however, where I stood. Once again, I could tell friend from foe. Darkness had touched me, and I had barely escaped its grasp. While still groaning, I stepped out of the room, and looked around.

There was the hall. It was empty. But not very far away from where I stood, I could hear soldiers' moans and agonizing screams. I walked to them steadily, hoping not to find any of my friends. I was, obviously, not in the mood to talk to either of them. Especially Demean, Tish, Camille, and Ryoga.

I walked into what seemed to be the emergency room. I felt sick as I smelled the blood and saw it staining the floor. There were some soldiers that were not gravely hurt and had only a few broken bones, but there were others that had lost an arm, an eye, a leg... and some others were speaking to priests, praying silently. They sighed, knowing that they had fought well and they would be forgiven, and closed their eyes, not to open them again. There were easily two-hundred men in the big room. And everywhere I went, I could see the blood, I could smell the alcohol being poured on the wounds, and I could hear the screams, moans, and prayers.

It was not long before I saw Dante's friends, Cameron and Kane. Luckily, they were in the group of soldiers that were not gravely injured. Hoping that they had not witnessed my rampage, I walked to their side and greeted them.

"Are you both alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, thank God." Kane replied. "I can't believe we all got so lucky. I can't tell you how lucky we are to actually be alive."

"Zip it, Kane." Cameron snapped, gloomily. "If that creep comes back, I'll show him. I'll kill him and his other henchmen."

"I do not mean to sound offensive, Cameron, but..." I said to him. "You should best stay away from him."

"Really? Why? Because I can't take him on my own? Is that what you're going to say, big boy?"

"No." I said, sternly. And then I added, and my voice turned dark as again hatred began to take over me: "Because I want to know where he is holding my beloved. I want to know where she is before I cut him to pieces and scatter him to the winds."

"Umm... Dante's there, you know." Kane intervened, while Cameron stared at me with a puzzled face. I understood that neither wanted me near for the moment. "Perhaps you should go check on him. Takeesha isn't doing so great."

"Right. Excuse me." I said, and went to Dante's side.

"What's his problem?" I heard Kane whisper to Cameron, to which he replied, after a few moments:

"Dude, if the Heartless would've taken my girlfriend or if they had killed my mother, I'd be pretty much in the same mood."

That was when I remembered Dante. I recalled what Digaia had said about his mother... Undoubtedly, we would later have a fight as to which one of us was going to kill Digaia and his band of thugs. I decided that, even though I did not want to, I could be a little flexible: I would let Dante have Digaia. But I was not going to let Jace get away alive. He would die by my fist. No, he would die by my sword, by Renamark, for I was going to get it back, no matter what.

There he was. Takeesha was lying on a bed, unconscious and wounded, while Dante grasped his hand and caressed it gently, and while a doctor treated her. I walked quietly to their side and stood still. Dante had not noticed me. He was speaking to Takeesha very gently. I was not sure if she could hear him... Yet I knew, that if that had been Ukyo, I would have been doing the very same thing. I listened to him in silence as his soft voice attempted to fuse with the very medicines going inside the poor creature's body.

"It's okay, Takeesha. It's alright. They're gone now, and you're going to be just fine." he leaned forward, kissing her forehead. All of a sudden, Takeesha opened her eyes. But she was still to weak to even say his name. She stared at Dante, and I noticed that in her eyes, there was sadness and disappointment. Not to Dante, I reckon, but to herself. The boy ignored the look and went on. "You're going to be okay, Takeesha. Trust me. Do you... do you remember that it was usually me lying on the hospital beds, because of you? You squeezed me so hard with your hugs that sometimes you broke a rib or two. Not that I minded, of course. You don't really know how to control your strength, Takeesha. And know this: that's why you'll make it through this, because you're so strong..." he reached her head and scratched her behind the ear, but the Lucien whimpered in pain and a tear ran down her cheek. The doctor leaned to Dante and said:

"She's been hurt there, too. Don't try to touch her there, or she'll feel pain. Why don't you go someplace else, lad?"

Takeesha tried to shake her head, but could not do so, for it was taped to the bed.

"It's alright." Dante murmured, gently. "I'll be around. I won't go too far, Takeesha. I promise I'll be here." he slowly stood up, his hand slipping from Takeesha's weak grasp. "Take care of her, doc."

It was not until then that he noticed me. I hoped that he would not bring up the incident with Ryoga. He walked next to me. He then crossed his arms and muttered: "She used to like it when I scratched her behind the ear. That's her favorite spot, you know."

"I would have imagined." I replied.

"I hope they cure her soon." he added, with a sigh.

Before either of us could speak again, another soldier of higher rank than Dante entered the emergency room and walked to us. He stood and spoke firmly.

"Dante, General Gisla wants to have a word with you. Please follow me."

"I'll go there in a minute." Dante answered, and the soldier stopped short. "Thanks... I promise I won't take long."

"Very well." the soldier said and left us at once.

There was silence between us for a few moments. I thought that Dante was about to tell me something regarding my little rampage. He did want to speak to me. But it was not about Ryoga. To tell you the truth, no one ever mentioned that incident to me. In fact, I do not even think that they spoke about it while I was away.

"I want to ask General Gisla some questions..." Dante said, at last. "And, well... I'm kind of ashamed, but... could you?"

"Do you want me to go with you?" I asked, as I had an idea of what those questions were going to be.

"I... yeah." he said. He had always struggled to be brave and independent... but something inside him was failing.

"Then let us go. The general must be waiting eagerly." I said, nodding my head. For a brief moment, I knew that there was nothing I could do about Ukyo at the moment. I could only hope that, wherever she was, she was not hurt. I could only pray to God for her safety. As we walked down the corridor to the main headquarters and into General Gisla's chambers, I could only think of her. I really had no idea what would I do, what would happen to me if I lost her...

"Sir? You called for me?" Dante asked politely, standing firm, both arms behind his back.

"Yes, yes... Dante I want to be quick about this." the General replied. He did not seem to care that I was in the room. "But do not get the wrong idea. This is very important. Remember, though, that we have eight days, and we must act at full speed."

"Yes, sir." the boy said.

"Dante, I was wrong to just have given you command over one expedition, an expedition that will not happen, obviously." the general said. I could see disappointment in Dante's eyes, but the general still had to tell him more. "You proved yourself earlier in the battle field. No one had lasted that long against Digaia. No one, but you. Soldiers look up to you now. You are their hope, Dante."

"Sir...?" Dante muttered, not knowing what the general was up to.

"I have no further doubt that your skills will mean everything in battle. That is why I'm assigning you the rank of Lieutenant Commander. But be aware of this: though you have progressed in your magical skills, you still need to train them some more."

"...Yes, sir." my friend replied. He did not seem too pleased with his promotion, however. I could not blame him. Meanwhile, the general went to his desk and from a drawer, pulled out a bottle of champagne and three cups. He began to fill them, while speaking to Dante.

"You're a fine soldier, Dante. I have no doubt that you will be a great leader in the battlefield. However, let me tell you something. The higher the rank of a soldier, the more responsibilities he has. In time, I know you'll make it to Brigadier General. I am sure about that. Yet be warned: don't accept the job of a General. It's all paperwork, now." he handed one cup to Dante and another to me. "I miss the old days, when I was in the field of battle. I knew that if I died, I could keep my honor intact. I would've died nobly. Now, I am almost afraid that I will not be able to defend myself if the Heartless attack me in here. It's a horrible feeling, Dante, a horrible feeling. You must keep on battling; keep on fighting until the end. Until we find peace..." he raised his cup and added: "Cheers." and he drank up. We did the same. Dante seemed that he did not like the taste of the champagne much, but he did his best not to show disgust when General Gisla looked at him. "What's wrong, Dante? Is there something you want to ask me?" clearly, he had seen my friend was quite disturbed.

"Um... yes, sir." Dante replied. "I wanted to ask you about the Garrison of Madrigal. I wanted to know if you could tell me what happened there... sir."

"Madrigal, eh?" Gisla replied, stepping away from us. He immediately turned around, and said in a false voice: "I have heard nothing about Madrigal, Dante. I suppose that the city is doing fine."

"General... with all due respect, sir, you and I know that that isn't true. I'm not stupid, begging your pardon, sir."

Gisla stopped walking and sighed. He then turned around and looked at Dante with a sad face. Doom lay in his tongue, nearly turning it into a knot. At last, he found the words.

"All right, Dante. I'm sorry I said that. But it's just that..." he paused and shook his head, deciding that it was better to go to the point. "Madrigal was attacked, not too long ago, by the four horsemen. It didn't stand a chance... Madrigal was completely wiped out of existence. All that remains where it once stood proudly are broken walls, ruined houses, and death."

"...Were there... survivors?" Dante asked, struggling to keep his voice firm, yet the question had come out in the form of a frightened whisper.

"Yes." the general replied. "Many of them managed to flee. They are now here, inside this very Garrison. You see, it is as if our world crumbled into pieces. It is now only large enough to hold our Garrison and the ruins of what was once Madrigal... There is nothing more. I don't..."

"It's because of the Heartless, sir." Dante quickly interrupted. "It's their doing... but, please, tell me: is my mother here? Did she make it?"

Gisla lowered his head and sighed once more.

"I am sorry, Dante." he managed to say, at last.

"I... I see..." Dante muttered. He too, lowered his face for a long time. His breathing sped up. He managed to stand firm and not to let himself fall to the ground somehow. At long last, her raised his head and looked at the general. I could see a sea of tears in his eyes, but he was fighting fiercely to keep them back. "I'll take my leave now, sir."

"Yes, boy. Good luck. Get some rest." the general said, patting him on the shoulder.

Dante walked out of the room quickly. I followed closely as he began to run as soon as we were out of the general's sight. He ran past the emergency room, with me behind him, and out of the Garrison's headquarters. There was no one on the street. He struggled to keep on running. However, after a few seconds, he stumbled over the snow and fell. He did not try to get up.

"Why...?" he muttered, both furiously and desperately. "Why didn't she make it...? Why?" he repeated over and over again, each time louder. "Why? Why? WHY? WHY?" he began to pound on the snow. "IT'S NOT TRUE! IT'S NOT TRUE!" He got to his knees and held his head with both hands. It looked as if he wanted to squeeze his cranium into the very same snow he had punched. Tears of bitterness finally made their way out of his eyes and through his cheeks. They fell on the cold snow and joined it, never to be seen again.

I knew what Dante felt. It is a stab to the heart, with an invisible knife colder than ice. Then it goes down to your belly and slashes through your stomach. You know not what to think. The brain is consumed by the horrible feelings coming from your heart. They go up your spine and cloud your vision, taking over the mind. I knew, because I too, had lost my parents. Not my real parents, but the people that had taken care of Siegfried and me when we were very young. Though we only spend two years with them, I remember the night I saw them dead... Magnus, the vampire who had turned me into one, had killed them, also.

But that was not the time to remember this. Dante was in extraordinary pain, I knew. And I was there. Though still tormented by the thought of Ukyo, it was my duty to forget about myself. Self-pity was a luxury I could not afford at the moment. Before he could harm himself, I embraced him tightly, using all what little strength I had to keep him still. He finally stopped struggling and screaming. It was then that he began to moan miserably.

"Mom... Mom..." he sobbed. "I'm sorry, mom... I wasn't there to help you... I..." I felt his tears on my chest. Still, I said no word. "I'm so sorry, mom. I'm so sorry..."

I finally spoke.

"It was not your fault, Dante." I said, firmly. "I am sure that your mother, wherever she is, does not hold you responsible. Do not blame yourself."

Dante said nothing else. He kept on sobbing for a long time. I did not let go of him. I wished that there was more that I could do, but I knew that there was nothing else. I could only hold him firmly; I could only wait for him to stop crying. In the biting, cold wind, I waited for him to cease crying. For a moment, I too felt like bursting in a sea of tears. Yet I had to be strong. For the first time since we had met him, he needed someone...

It took less time than I imagined for him to stop. He pulled away from me and got up, drying his tears. I stood up and sighed as he forced himself to look at me in the eyes.

"I'll go back inside, and... rest a bit." he declared in a low voice. After a small pause, in which he struggled to keep back a sob, he added: "Thanks, Wilheim."

"Do not mention it." I replied.

He nodded and slowly made his way back to the emergency room. Back to his beloved Takeesha, I supposed. For my part, I stayed in the snow for a little while longer before going back to my room; at that moment, I thought that there was nothing else I could do. To tell the truth, I did not want to do anything. All that I could think of was Ukyo. If someone, anyone had come near me and told me that the time had come, that the moment to strike the Heartless was now, I would have gladly picked up a weapon and thrown myself into battle. Ukyo was not with me, and I felt terrible anger boiling inside my body. Only, I knew, two things could ease it: the return of my Ukyo or the dead bodies of Digaia and the four horsemen.

I forced myself to get inside the Garrison's headquarters. I was convinced that all I needed to rid myself from the burning hatred for the Heartless inside me was some sleep. Oh, how wrong I was...

Either way, I could not reach my room. As I walked through the corridor that led to it, Demean exited his own room. It was simply amazing... the person that I wanted to see the least and there was no way to avoid him. It was clear to me that I was about to get scolded for what had happened earlier.

But again, I was mistaken. It was as if I did not know the elf.

"Are you alright, Wilheim?" he asked, sincerely worried.

"Physically, yes." I answered, also sincerely. "Emotionally... I suppose that I need not tell you."

"I know." he said, patting my shoulder. I saw in his eyes that he did not wished to discuss with me. He only wanted to comfort me. I only wanted to sleep, however: I was not really in the mood for a conversation with my old friend. Still, there was something that I wished to know.

"How is Tish? Is she alright?" I asked.

"Yes. The impact of the shockwave was too strong, however, and she is still unconscious. Merryck is no different."

"What about Camille?"

"She was awake, last I heard. I suppose that she is in her room."

"Good. I assume that the rest of our companions are well."

"Thankfully, yes. Yet we suffered a tremendous defeat... I know what Seyia speaks about when he says that he has lost his honor as a knight of Athena. I too feel humiliated. I cannot believe that a single blast of energy knocked us out in such a way."

"It was four blasts, Demean."

"That fused together and formed one. Did you not see?" he was about to go into detail when he realized by the look on my face that I was not too pleased about our defeat and did not want to know much about it at the moment. "I understand. Either way, Wilheim, we have eight days. We need to be prepared for the upcoming battle. We must begin to plan our defense as soon as possible."

"Dante may help with that. He has been promoted to Lieutenant Commander."

"That is good to hear... and his mother?" Demean asked, fear in his eyes as the words came out of his mouth. I shook my head, without uttering a word. The elf sighed unhappily. "I can only hope that he will find the strength to overcome his grief and to aid us in the difficult battle that lies ahead. It will be most difficult without another warrior."

I interrupted him before he could say another word.

"Are you implying that I will not fight?"

"Are you?" he asked. His tone had not been a surprised one, but he was practically telling me to think about it. That was the only scolding I got from him. "If that is where you stand, I am glad. Meet me tomorrow in the snow. I shall teach you some more things..."

"No." I said, quickly. "I have learned all that I have to learn from you, Demean. You were a good teacher, and I thank you. But I must look up to unarmed combat. I know who to go to."

"Very well." he said, smiling. He had been sincere once more, for he did not care if he was the one to teach me: he only wanted me to keep my spirits up and give battle. I was sure that it would be no problem for me to put up a very good fight to my enemies, but... "I will leave you now. I must go to see how Tish and Merryck are doing."

"Then I will go to get some sleep. Pray for the sake of our coming battle, my friend, but most of all... pray for the safety of my darling."

"We will get her back, Wilheim. This, I promise."

"No. I promise."

I did not visit the person I had spoken about with Demean that day. It was getting dark and I was still very tired and depressed. All I wanted to do was to rest. I wished that it all would go away when I would wake up again. Of course, I was in no mood to delude myself and quickly suppressed said wish.

I did not sleep all night long. For in the middle of the night, something woke me up. It had been footsteps, coming out of my room, from the corridor. No one had walked through it for a long time, save a few medics that went to the main headquarters for supplies. The one who was walking through the corridor did so with a slow, cautious pace. It almost seemed to me that he did not want to be found by anyone. As you may imagine, this disturbed me.

Ken was fast asleep in the other bed. He was snoring loudly, and I was thankful for this, for the snores would surely cover my steps. I stood by the door and listened how the footsteps went away. It appeared that they were going away from the main headquarters... Suddenly, they turned into another room and a door slammed. I suppose that this man or woman or creature did not mean for this to happen, as there was a moment of silence after the noise, and then the footsteps slowly made their way away from me. It was then that I exited the room and quickly, but quietly, went to the other room and opened the door.

The window on the wall was open, letting the chilling snow come inside. There was no one in the room. As I glanced out of the window, I noticed that the man who had been walking through the corridor had been Dante. He turned around and I ducked in time to avoid his eyes. He was making sure that no one was following him. I thought that perhaps, he wished to do what I had tried to do when I had lost my mind. I realized that now it was my job to stop him from doing anything stupid. It was my responsibility to keep him from entering the wolf's den by himself. And so, I climbed out the window, falling quietly onto the snow.

The boy had already taken a motorcycle out of the Silver Garrison. I saw the light that came from it piercing through the night for a few seconds, and then it was gone. I lost it as it entered the woods. I knew that I had to hurry if I wanted to catch Dante. Luckily, there was another motorcycle near, just like the one Dante had taken. It was the same model, the same state-of-the-art technology embedded on it. Unluckily, I had never even touched the wheel of a car. Well, perhaps only once or twice, when I was a young human. But those cars were quite old and slow compared to the mechanical monstrosity that stood before me.

"Dante... why a motorcycle?" I said in a slow, vexed voice. "I could not manage a bicycle when I was a young lad... How am I expected to handle a motorcycle?" I approached the machine and looked for a way to turn it on and ride it. I hoped that I would find a set of instructions somewhere, but I was not that lucky. And all the time, I did not stop complaining... "Why not... a horse? I never learned to ride a horse, but I reckon it must be easier than this. No doubt, I would fall off my seat and the horse would drag me from my foot, but at least I would be going somewhere..."

At last, I found the ignition key. I turned it and the thing rumbled as I took a seat.

"Well... I hope I make it alive."

I twisted the handle as they did in the movies and my 'horse' reeled back before starting a furious run. I let out a high-pitched scream that, aside from being easily confused with the yell of a frightened little girl, surely woke up the entire Garrison. I was really lucky not to lose sight of the tracks Dante's motorcycle had left behind...

God was with me that night. I could have easily crashed a thousand times while speeding through the forest. Every time I saw a tree in front of me, I let out a whimper and steered the motorcycle hard to my left or right. Never did I lose track of Dante's trail, but I came close to doing so three times. And those three times I felt as if the motorcycle would escape my grasp and go running along by itself.

By pure luck and divine intervention, I reached Dante's motorcycle. I came to a sudden stop and the machine sent me flying high into the air. I did not even have time to scream (and it was a fortune that I did not yell, for I could have caught Dante's attention, wherever he was, and I did not want that at the moment). The snow broke my fall. I did get a bit hurt, though. I raised my head and shook off the cold snow, and then gasped in surprise as what was in front of my slowly came into focus.

There was a sign in front of me, which said "Welcome to Madrigal". It had been chopped off the post that stood not to far away from me. 'Welcome to Madrigal', indeed...

I got up and stayed still and silent for a few moments as I looked around. The place in which I was had not been a city for some time. It had turned into a graveyard. There were hundreds of shattered buildings practically scattered throughout the snow, as well as a great number of weapons. Swords, rifles, spears, and even arrows lay as lifeless as the garrison itself. May of the buildings had been burned to their very foundations. I could tell, for I perceived a faint smell of carbon filling my nostrils. As I walked forward, following Dante's footprints, I became both terribly frightened and terribly mad... for I had seen bodies on the ground. Human, Heartless, elves, were-wolves, Luciens, wizards... all of them lay still, most of them had their arms stretched to a weapon. Even in death they tried to grasp it. It seemed that they were trying to fight against Death itself, although they had already lost that battle. Like the lonely shadow of a ghost, I walked across the city in silence, my eyes struggling to see only the footprints which my feet followed, and not the rest of the gloomy scenery.

Dante's footprints lead into a small house. It was in such a bad shape that it seemed that it was about to fall to the ground. Realizing that Dante was not about to face the Heartless alone at the moment, I guessed that this house had to be his mother's. With a sigh of relief, I looked at the house a little longer, before deciding that I had already come all this way and I was not going to risk another episode with the 'horse'. I opened the door without making a sound and got in.

The place was a complete mess. There were all sorts of broken things on the floor. The walls looked as if they were about to fall on my head at any moment. Every sound that I heard frightened me and I quickly raised my hands up. But nothing fell, fortunately. I began to study the house carefully, doing my best to keep absolute silence as I stumbled across the broken wood and scattered bricks. I then accidentally stepped on something. I made some noise, but it had been so faint that I did not think Dante had heard me. Either way, there was nothing either of us could do about it. I slowly got to my knees and realized that I had stepped on a photograph. It was not very old. Dante was in it and did not seem very different at all. I let out a sigh as I noticed he was not alone in the photograph... his mother was with him, hugging him tenderly...

She was clearly oriental and was breathtakingly beautiful. Her glance was tender and innocent, and her skin seemed to be as delicate as silk. Her face seemed to be the one of a porcelain doll... She was unquestionably lovely. I put the picture in my pocket, deciding that it would be good if Dante were to have it. As I finished putting the photograph away, I heard a noise that came from below me. Dante was in the house's basement.

I quietly went down the stairs. As I approached the basement, I began to detect a faint scent of dust and burnt wood. I quickly hid behind a wall as I caught a glimpse of Dante. He was standing in front of another wall, opposite to where I stood, and stared at it without moving. Suddenly, he raised his hand and conjured a gravity spell that brought it down. He seemed to be a bit weak after summoning that magic. He still needed a bit of training on the art of magic. And I reckoned that he should best look for it soon, if he wished to be helpful in the coming battle...

Behind the crumbled wall was a closed chest. Dante walked to it and opened it. He stared at its content for a long while, as if his mind had somehow been possessed by what was inside the chest. After a long while, he reached for the chest's interior and, with a sigh, pulled out a sword. Again, he looked at it. He did not stare at it for too long this time, however. He quickly looked around the room and so did I. It was not until then that I noticed that the basement was filled with all sorts of swords. Some of them were hanging by the walls and some others were lying on the ground. It did not seem to me that any of them was broken. I supposed that Dante had been looking at each and every one of them. Nevertheless, he had found what he was looking for. His eyes were once more caught by the weapon in his hand. He sighed yet again and murmured in a low voice, as he read an inscription carved on the blade: "Faith."

I watched the sword carefully. It looked magnificent and powerful, even more than his former blade. Its blade was very odd, yet very beautiful. Its edge, white as snow, was contrasted by the middle section of the sword, which was black. I then noticed the inscription Dante had read. The letters were golden and as bright as fire...

Dante began to swing it from side to side, cutting the air about him. I could even feel the power of the blade...

"So you did finish it... Didn't you?" he said, mostly to himself, as he held the sword closely to his face. He smiled tenderly and caressed it carefully... "Hey, you can come out now."

I realized that he had spoken to me. Perhaps I had not been as quiet as I had thought. With a sigh, I stepped out of my hiding place and met with Dante.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"I could be better." he replied. He showed me his sword and explained. "My mother was a Brigadier General. She was the best soldier in madrigal... Not only that, she was an excellent smithsma."

"A what?"

"Oh, a smiths woman. She knew all that there was to know about making weapons; swords were, as you can see, her specialty. And this one right here..." he lowered his glance to the blade he held. "Is her finest work. She said she would forge a blade of great power... she would hide it in the house if the world were to come in great peril. Well, now is the time, isn't it."

"I am relieved to hear this." I said. "I am glad that you came to this house to retrieve a sword, and that you did not go to face Digaia and the Heartless by yourself."

"I hate Digaia as much as you do." Dante said. "But I'm not stupid. I know I can't take him out by myself."

"Why did you not wake anybody up? Do you realize that you could have been in danger, were there any Heartless surrounding the city?"

"I can take care of myself."

"But you are hurt. You are still in no condition to wander out of the city."

"So are you."

"Fine. I get your point." I looked at the stairs and suggested: "Let us get out of here. It is time we headed back to the Silver Garrison."

"Yeah, perhaps you're right." Dante agreed.

"Besides, you are going to take me with you on your motorcycle. I refuse to climb aboard that thing by myself again."

"I see you didn't have a good time..." he said, with a weak chuckle as we went up the stairs. I suddenly stopped and faced him.

"This is yours." I murmured, taking out the photograph from my pocket. He looked at it and nearly broke into tears. Yet he merely let out a sad sigh and put the picture away.

"I was looking for this, too." he said. "Thanks, Wilheim."

"Dante, I want to ask you something." I said. "Why is it that you do not want anyone else to know?"

"About what?" he asked, looking confused.

"About you." I answered, looking at him in a way that he quickly understood what I was speaking about.

"Oh..." he muttered, with a voice nearly inaudible. "That... Damn. I forgot that you speak German."

"And I am not the only one. Demean and Tish speak German, as well as Camille. And I would not be surprised if Octavius understood the language as well."

"Jeez... I really messed it up, didn't I?"

"What do you mean?"

"Probably by now everyone knows."

I was rather shocked and somewhat offended by that remark. With a stern voice, I replied: "Do you honestly think that I would tell somebody else?"

"Well..." he said, shamefully. At last, he looked at me and said: "You surely told Ukyo about it, didn't you?"

"What difference does it make? She is not here now." I answered, dryly. "And she was the only soul that knew about it by my mouth. I trust Ukyo enough to tell her anything. Moreover, I know that if she were here, she would not have said a word. If I ask her to, she can be as silent as a grave. Your secret is safe with her... As it is with us."

"Oh... I'm sorry." Dante said. He expected me to say something, yet I kept silence. Finally, he looked at me in the eyes and said: "As far as I can tell, that's the only way I can give Digaia some fight... Yet..." at last, he muttered, between pauses: "If I did it, you'd have to kill me as soon as the fight was over."

"Why?" I asked, no longer mad, but concerned.

"Don't ask why." he said. "Not now. When the time comes, if it comes, you'll know. Now..." he slowly walked to a closet and added: "Before we go, I've got to change clothes."

"...Alright."

In a few minutes, he stepped out of the closet with new clothes on. These ones were in perfect condition, unlike his old uniform, which was nearly torn apart. However, these clothes seemed to be a little to big for him.

"Are you going to be able to fight with that on?" I asked.

"Sure." he said. "Besides, I need something to grow into, if I'm going with you guys after this."

"I thought you were going to stay here. By the way you talked in the Gummy ship, I supposed that returning to your home was that which you wanted more of all things."

"If we win, peace will come, so I won't do any good here." Dante said. "I want to help you end all of this, so you too can go back to your worlds. Besides, I've got the coordinates written down. It's no big deal."

When I woke up, the next morning, there was a lot of noise outside my room. I rubbed my eyes and noticed Ken was no longer in his bed. I stepped out and saw that the soldiers were running to and fro.

This must be a drill, I suppose. I thought. Indeed, the soldiers were rehearsing. They ran quickly to their battle stations on command, shot at specific targets, and hurried to other specified locations.

I shook my head, thinking that I was not going to be a good soldier. I had never been in a battle with so many comrades. I would not listen to orders, nor would I go to so many places so quickly. I would merely stay on the battlefield, challenging all foes that approached me. And I knew that when the day of the fight came, I would not heed any commands, for I would be driven by a powerful force: anger. I tried to shake this feeling off, forcing myself to think different, to adopt a more cooperative behavior. Yet every time I thought about my dear Ukyo, my heart leapt in rage, commanding me to tighten my fists...

I found every single one of my friends in a tech room, staring at a large monitor. Some of them took a quick glance at me and then quickly looked at the monitor again. I could not blame then. I walked to the group and stood close to Camille. Her hand reached for mine and I looked into her eyes. I could feel compassion and love in them. A tear escaped my eyes, but I quickly wiped it off before anyone else could see. She squeezed my hand tenderly, while caressing my cheek. I sighed and leaned my head on her shoulder...

"So... could you please tell us what are we looking at, Dante?" Ranma asked the boy, who was sitting in front of a keyboard, along with some other soldiers (technocrats).

"It seems that some soldiers managed to scan the battle of the four horsemen against the Abyss." Dante answered. "Digaia fought with them, too. I'm just analyzing their strengths and weaknesses. Also, I'm going to show you the video, to see if we can find any other weaknesses."

"Go right ahead, kid." Cid said, puffing his cigarette nervously.

As the images were brought up on the monitor, I can guess that there was more than one of us that moaned in terror. A whole army of demons was being pummeled by Digaia and the four horsemen alone. None of them had even a scratch. And after a while, the leader of the creatures of the Abyss, Adrian, came into battle. I cannot describe how he looked like, for as quickly as he came out of the gigantic hole that was the Abyss, he was slaughtered by the monsters...

"Only five of them did all that...?" Tifa asked, with fright in her voice. "What the hell are we supposed to do against those bastards, then?"

"Calm down, Tifa." Cloud said, holding her gently.

"We'll now run a simulation." one of the technocrats said. "The percentage that will come up screen will represent what chance of winning we have if we were to fight against the army of Heartless by itself."

"Do you know how many Heartless are there in the army?" Octavius quickly asked.

"Not really, but we know how strong we are." the soldier said. "Here goes..."

It took the computer a couple of minutes to gather all of the information and bring the results onto the screen... fifty percent.

"That isn't very good." Ranma said, covering his mouth.

"Are you sure this possibilities are correct?" Octavius asked.

"Pretty sure." the soldier answered. "The information put together here is your power, combined with the Garrison's army power, against the Heartless' army power alone."

"Alone?" the were-bear insisted, not wanting to believe the results. Neither of us wanted to believe it, I suppose.

"Alone." the technocrat confirmed.

"What would happen if Digaia were leading the army?" Demean asked.

"Hang on..." the soldier began to punch on the keyboard as Dante leaned back, covering his mouth. He seemed to be just as worried as us.

The results came up. Thirty-two percent.

"Remarkable..." Demean murmured.

"What about the four horsemen?" Tish inquired.

Without answering a word, the technocrat quickly uploaded the information to the simulation. The results were promptly displayed: Eighteen percent chance of survival.

"You got to be kidding me!" Ken shouted, laughing frantically.

"Calm down, Ken." Leon, who was still calm, said.

"Calm down? Dude, we're going to get our butts wiped off the face of the universe! We might as well as lean down and take our pants off so they can kick us clean and good!"

"That's not going to happen!" Leon exclaimed. Ken was getting him nervous.

"Yeah, right! Who's going to stop them? You and your eighteen percent chance of survival?"

"I bet that thing's so low because of your dumb ass!"

"Shut up, Leon!" Ranma intervened. "You weren't a big help back there!"

"Kid, you'd best shut your hole!" Cid jumped in, backing Leon up. "Why don't you go and play in the sandlot?"

"Shut up, you compulsive smoker!" Sakura shouted. "Maybe if you spent more time fighting and less time filling your lungs with poison...!"

"Yeah, I've never smelled something that bad!" Ariel said harshly, pointing at Cid's clothes.

"Who invited you to the party, fish-girl?" Cid replied, angrily.

"Leave her alone, Cid!" Cloud said. "Shut your hole!"

"Quit your yapping, Cloud!" Tifa scolded. "This isn't your fight!"

"Did I call you?"

"Like I care if you did!"

Very soon, most of them were fighting. Those that were not participating in that verbal war were Sora, Goofy, Aeris, Link, Demean, Tish, Ryu, Camille, Vincent, Octavius, Dante, and myself. Though I did certainly feel like saying a lot of things to many of them (mostly because of the depression that possessed me, not that they were bad companions), I decided to keep quiet. I knew that I would only make matters worse.

It was not long before Camille and Tish had enough. The succubus stepped forward and yelled loudly: "SHUT UP!"

Everyone fell silent at her command. Not even Morrigan had the nerve to reply.

"Look at yourselves!" Tish said. "Rambling amongst yourselves when there is a fight at hand! Do you think that you will be able to stop the Heartless with that spirit? We will be torn apart because of your stupidity! So it is best if you be quiet and listen carefully! We might just get out of this alive! And when we do, you will be able to insult one another as much as you please!"

"Really, it appears as if we had brought a zoo with us." Camille added with an exasperated breath. Octavius almost seemed to smile at the remark, but his face remained serious, while Demean struggled hard not to laugh. Tish turned to him in anger and he immediately fell silent.

"Dante, keep studying the information if you please." the fairy said. She did not take her eyes off the elf. "Tell us if there is anything we can do to get a better result in the simulation and in the battle itself."

"Yeah, sure." Dante said, noticeably too afraid to argue with the fairy. He looked at the video of Digaia and the four horsemen against the creatures of the Abyss for a long while, not knowing what to do or say. But suddenly, he paused the video. "Hold on a second..." he muttered suspiciously.

The video began to show Digaia's bones. Dante was using X-rays to scan him. He then used thermal vision, but there was not anything we could see. Later, he used another video: it was the video of the battle that he and the demon had waged. The screen was divided in two parts, the right showing the battle against the creatures of the Abyss, and the left showing the duel between the two warriors. As I looked closely, I noticed something, and I supposed that Dante had noticed the same thing: on the right screen, Digaia's body was engulfed in black flames...

"Son of a..." the boy suddenly said, with a chuckle. "The bastard... he cheated!" he let out a loud laugh and began to punch the keyboard's keys with great speed. "That's it! That's why he beat the crap out of me last time! He cheated!"

"What do you mean, he cheated?" Sora asked.

"He's in oblivion mode." Dante replied.

"Huh?" Sora muttered, as confused as the rest of us.

"That's what we call it." Dante explained. "The oblivion mode boosts up the user's speed, strength, resistance... Long story short, it makes him or her nearly invincible. That's why I couldn't beat him last time; that's why he took out the creatures of the Abyss so easily."

"But he isn't in oblivion mode on the left screen..." Akane muttered.

"I bet he is, but he's not using the full power of the oblivion mode." Dante said. "That's why I couldn't see the flames. I couldn't feel them, either, because they don't emit any heat." he paused and began to work on the computer once again. "I'm going to see what chance we have against Digaia if he doesn't use his oblivion mode."

"By ourselves? Or with the entire army?"

"By ourselves. Then I'll see how it goes with everything."

The computer began to calculate results. After a little while, the number was shown. It read: 49.8237.

"...Much better than last time." Vincent said.

"He is still a very powerful Heartless." Morrigan added. "It'll be a battle to remember."

"Okay, now punch in the other stuff." Cid said.

Dante quickly uploaded the data to the computer. Our survival probabilities were still a little bit low, but they were not as terrible as the former ones... Thirty-eight percent.

"See, Ken? That's much better, isn't it? It isn't so bad." Ryu said, optimistically, perhaps a bit too much. Ken eyed him with anger and quickly replied:

"Fifty percent wouldn't be so bad. Thirty-eight percent still sucks. It's not that horrible, granted, but it's still pretty awful."

"Everything's there, right?" Leon asked Dante. "I mean, you took into consideration Digaia, the four horsemen, both armies..."

"Yeah, yeah, I uploaded all those things." the boy answered. "Those five abominations, each and every one of us..."

"Question?" Shun intervened. "You said that all of this happens when Digaia is not using his oblivion mode, right? How are you so sure that he won't use it again?"

The boy looked at the saint with a confident smile.

"Pride." suddenly said Octavius. "You shall attack his pride."

"I'll trick him into not using it." Dante added. "Actually, we're lucky to be facing an honorable foe, in a way..."

"Um, Dante?" Felicia muttered in a low voice. The soldier next to Dante had to quiet him so he could listen to her, for she had spoken so softly, so shyly, that only few of us had heard her. When he turned to her, she sighed and said: "I think that there's something wrong with the data... I think that you uploaded more information..."

"You think?" the boy asked. "I'm listening."

"Um, well..." the _Bastet_ said. She paused for a long time. It did not take me long to guess what was on her mind. "You see, you said that you uploaded each and every one of us to the simulation... and I think that you might have uploaded Ukyo's information too."

Dante replied no word. He merely lowered his head and sighed. But he was the only one who did this, for everyone else turned to face me. To see their eyes like that, a mixture of fright and pity, did not make me happy. Before any of them could say anything, I decided to end with the awkward moment.

"Erase her data." I said, dryly. The more I spoke about her, the more I felt my heart sink into hatred and desperation. Slowly and quietly, I was beginning to go mad.

"...Okay." Dante muttered after yet another moment of silence. The results were then displayed on the computer. It read: 36.5.

"...I liked thirty-eight better." Ken murmured.

"Ukyo means a lot as a warrior." Sora said. He then looked at all of us and spoke firmly; his tone of voice for a moment brought peace to my heart. "And she means much to us as a friend. We'll get her back. Even if I have to go into the Sky Castle, I'll get her back. And when that's done, I'll seal the keyhole. No other Heartless will ever come to this world. They'll pay for what they've done."

"That's the spirit, Sora!" Goofy cheered. Sora turned to him and smiled bravely and confidently.

"We'll beat the Heartless." Donald added, banging his chest with his fist. "Thirty-six percent... Whatever. We'll show them! Numbers mean nothing!"

"Yeah, we'll kick their butt!" Felicia exclaimed.

Soon, all of my companions were cheering, claiming that we would surely emerge victorious from the vicious battle that lay ahead. I did not say a word, however. Even though Sora's words had been heroic and comforting, my heart was not strong enough to hold them for a long time. After a few seconds, the warm feeling in it was gone.

But I was still convinced of what I had promised earlier. Though my heart would be shattered, my resolve was as great as ever: I would recover my dear Ukyo, even if it meant giving up my life.

"We have seven days." Demean said, once the entire racket had ended. "We have to ready ourselves. We have to train to get stronger and we must plan a strategy." he turned to Dante and added: "I have fought many battles. I know that you are Lieutenant Commander... perhaps I could be of some help."

"I shall lend you a hand as well." Octavius said. "I too have been scarred by countless fights."

"Then let's go and talk to General Gisla." Dante said. "Either way, I already have a plan. I'll tell you about it and you'll then tell me what you think. Of course, you could help me polish it..."

"You can be sure about that." the elf said.

With that, the boy, the elf, the fairy, and the were-bear were off. The rest of my companions began to leave little by little. Some of them went back to their rooms to get some more rest before training before the fight. Some others started practicing right away. I was the only one left on the computer room in the end. Even the technocrats had gone. All I could do was to stare at the number on screen. 36.5. Our survival depended on that number. Yet I was not worried about myself... or even about my companions. I only thought about Ukyo. She depended on that number as well. I would make it count. In my solitude, I lowered my head and promised in silence to my darling that I would not fail her. I would venture myself into the pits of hell to get her back if necessary. I was not going to die. At least not in that battle...

Moments later, I left the room. I then looked for the man I wished to become my master in the short time we had left.

"...You want me to train you?"

"Yes: I need you to train me."

"...It's only seven days, Wilheim. What good do you think seven days will do? You need years to learn a martial art to perfection."

"I am a quick learner. I learned how to use the rapier in a month; I learned how to fight with the double-handed blade in three; how to shoot swift arrows with a bow in a matter of days, and how to handle the katana in two weeks. I confess that it took me a year to learn the ways of the martial arts, but I am a good fighter now. I only ask that you teach me how to use the 'Ki' force."

Ryu sighed and looked away. He did seem quite impressed with my... 'Curriculum vitae', so to speak, but I could see that he still had his doubts. Well, after the way I had behaved with Ryoga, I could not blame him at all. Yet I refused to take a 'no' for an answer.

"Have you asked Ken?" he said. "You seem to get along with him. Maybe..."

"I am asking you, Ryu." I interrupted firmly. "Although I do not for a moment doubt Ken's abilities as I fighter, I notice that you are more serious, more disciplined. This is what I need. This is why I did not go to Ken."

"Wilheim, I didn't train Sakura. Why should I train you?"

"Because we are together in this and I need to know. I need to save Ukyo. Besides, you can train Sakura too. A classmate would suit me very well."

Ryu sighed again as he lowered his head. I stared at him silently, pressuring him with my gaze. I suppose that it was not before long that he realized that there was no way to talk me out of this.

"The Ki force is not to be taken lightly." he said. "If you lose your mind, if your heart fails..." he touched both his forehead and his chest. "Then it will take over you. Lust for power can be a very dangerous thing. I tell you this because it happened to my master's brother, Akuma. The Ki force he possessed turned evil and he is no longer in control of his body..." he paused for a moment and then said, nearly commanding me: "Promise you'll keep a steady nerve, and that you won't lose your mind."

"I promise." I replied, but Ryu shook his head.

"You have to let go of her if you want to save her. The more you think of her, the more concentration you'll lose and the more you'll lose yourself. You have to be careful about this, Wilheim. Now, promise me, and mean it."

I kept silent for a minute. I forced my heart to forget the memory of my darling being abducted. For a moment, I managed to do this, and I said: "I promise, on the name of the one I love and I am trying to save, that I will not fail. My heart is in one place. I will not fail my friends, the mission, or you. This, Ryu, I do not promise: I swear."

We both stayed immobile for a few more instants. At long last, Ryu spoke again.

"Go get Sakura. Meet me in the emergency room. I'll go look for a place where we can train in peace." he said. "Though you aren't aware of it, you have already used Ki force in your battles. I've felt it and it's not the least bad. What I can teach you to do is to control the amount of energy you use during a fight and how to harness it to do extraordinary things... Now get going."

I forced a weak smile and lowered my head, respectfully.

"Thank you, master."

Sakura was quite excited when I told her that Ryu was willing to train both of us. She even forgot that it had been me who had attacked Ryoga... and as you may see, my friends, I was the only one who thought about this. I have mentioned it so many times because I thought about it constantly (of course, you know that I also thought about Ukyo). I suppose that my conscience was not going to leave me alone for a while. And you will later see that I was right about this indeed...

Sakura and I quickly headed to the emergency room. There was Ryu, waiting for us with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Sakura could barely keep herself from jumping up and down in joy. I must admit that I was a little excited as well. Only while I held Renamark did I feel true power running through my body. I trusted that Ryu would show me how to reach that power without the aid of my blade. And when I get Renamark back... I thought, I will be invincible and I will be able to get Ukyo back.

The fighter led us to a large, quiet, warm room. There was no one around to bother us. Ryu said that Dante had told him that this room was perfect for us to get some training in peace. He did not explain much else, for we began to practice right away.

Sakura asked Ryu to teach her some of his techniques, to which the fighter answered that he need not do such a thing.

"You have your own fighting style, Sakura." he said. "If you mix it up with something else, you'll only end confused. I can teach you to use your Ki and to summon lots of energy without passing out. I understand that you managed to unleash a Shinkuu Hadoken in the Sanctuary, but you lost all of your energies... We need to train you so that you won't black out on us again during the upcoming battle."

The girl nodded enthusiastically. She did not care that she was not going to learn how to copy Ryu's techniques: all she wanted was to learn from him, no matter what. Even if he had taught her mathematics she would still be happy, I suppose.

We were very quick learners, thankfully. By the end of the first day, I had learned to feel other Ki forces and to know who they belonged to, while Sakura increased her power a notch... Still, we needed to hurry. Time's flow was becoming more merciless by the minute.

"I can't believe that there's only six days left..." Sakura said as night fell over our heads.

"Time has never befriended me. It only seems to be more brutal as it passes." I added dryly.

Through the following days, Dante, Demean, Octavius, Leon, Tish, and some others had long meetings with General Gisla. I suppose that they spoke about the upcoming battle, doing their best to plan a solid strategy. I did not care for that much. I was solely concentrated on Ryu's teachings. I adopted the tendency to call him 'master', which he did not like very much. Sakura tried it a couple of times, but soon called him by his name again. I guess that Ryu did not wish to think of himself as a teacher to me, but as a friend. Yet masters can be great friends: I had learned that with many other people. As a matter of fact, my teachers became my greatest friends...

By the dawn of the fourth day, I had begun to accumulate Ki in the palms of my hands. Sakura, on the other hand, did not grow so weak after firing a Hadoken. But I still had to unleash my first wave of energy...

"Concentrate." Ryu said in a low voice, seeing that I had already gathered much energy, but had a hard time keeping it close to me. We were now about to come to the end of the sixth day. "Focus the mind... Cleanse your soul... Concentrate!"

As I struggled to keep the powerful energy within my hands, his voice became more and more a thought...

"Focus, boy. Gather the energy around it. Feel it coming to you. Let your spirit be at peace. Don't lose it: anger leads to a certain defeat. Keep calm and cool. Concentrate!" I felt Sakura's presence right next to his as his voice grew louder and louder. "Feel the energy as it fills you. Feel it running through your body: harness it with your own strength. Increase your Ki; become one with it..." there was a small pause. His voice again filled the air, escaping my head. "Wilheim, what do you fight for?"

I could only think of one answer...

"Ukyo..." I whispered. It was then that I reached a higher state of consciousness and that I finally unleashed the lethal wave. "AAAHHHHH!"

The projectile crashed against a wall and brought it down. A cloud of dust and snow rose from the ground as brick fell over brick. I fell to my knees, smiling triumphantly. I had never felt so proud of myself, to tell the truth.

"Welcome to the Hadoken-throwing club!" Sakura cheered, while hugging me. "It gets bigger everyday."

"I really can't tell why it's so popular." Ryu chuckled. He too seemed happy and proud. "I can't believe that you managed to do this in so little time."

"You know what I fight for." I muttered as I gasped for air. "She is the source of my strength." I looked at Ryu and added: "I am not like you, master. I do not fight for fun: I only wage battles to protect my beloved. When my duty is done, I will fight no more."

"That's a shame." Ryu said. "I would've liked to fight against you, someday. But that's okay. I'm glad I taught you."

"You mean that there is nothing more than you can teach me, master?"

"You've learned all that you need."

"That was a huge Hadoken." Sakura added. "If you keep that rhythm up, you'll be able to dish out more powerful projectiles before the battle begins."

"So you can stop calling me 'master', now." Ryu said, with a chuckle.

"I will try." I replied, smiling at him. Yet I did not laugh. To tell the truth, I cannot recall ever laughing in Gaia. "Help me up, please. I believe I need some rest."

"At least you didn't faint." Sakura giggled, while helping Ryu to get me to my feet. "That's something."

"Tomorrow, we'll meet with Dante, General Gisla, and the others." my master said. "We need to know what we'll be doing on the eve of battle. It'll be a major advantage for our enemy if our lines aren't organized. But for now, like Wilheim says, we need some rest. Also, I'm hungry. Why don't you guys join me for supper? I bet you two could also use a little food."

Following my new master's advice, I joined the rest of my friends in a small room and studied our strategy against the Heartless.

The main plan was simple enough for me to understand. It was obvious that the Heartless army was bound to be enormous. Recent studies indicated that it was composed of nearly a billion foes, while our warriors summed a million units. To listen to this did not prove very encouraging... Even though fighters from around had been summoned to this apocalyptic battle and that they were all extremely proficient (for Dante had said that he did not want 'rookies' to engage in combat), the enemy still had incredible numeric advantage over us. Our only chance was to find the keyhole and seal it with Sora's blade. However, we knew that Digaia and the four horsemen would not let us do that so easily. Hence, our main goal was to destroy the five abominations, while the rest of the Garrison's forces dealt with the Heartless' army.

Demean, Octavius, and Leon had also contributed with plans of their own. The elf had organized the Barbarian Archers inside the Garrison so they could shoot at their targets repeatedly without exposing themselves to any sort of damage: Octavius had assembled the rest of the Medieval Knights and had planned a welcoming committee, so to speak, if any Heartless was to breach the outer wall, and Leon had taught some basic spells to the knights that did not know much about the ways of magic. I did not pay much attention to either of them as they rambled about what would be the best way to defend the Garrison's turrets: I only wanted to go into combat already.

Amazingly, I did not have to wait much. An alarm suddenly went off, quieting my companions. The technocrats immediately began to work on their computers. Soon, an alarming image appeared on every monitor in the room. It was Digaia, standing right outside the Garrison, as if hoping that someone would go out and greet him.

"What the hell is he waiting for, a welcoming party?" Seyia groaned.

"Seyia, you're beginning to get me nervous. Shut up." Ikki said.

"Easy, guys, we're not doing this again." Sora intervened. He looked at Dante and asked: "What do you think? Should we go out there and talk to him?"

"I guess so." Dante mumbled. I could see in his face that he was worried about the effectiveness of his psychological strategy against Digaia.

"Let's go." said Cameron firmly, who was also with us and was armed and ready. Kane nodded and began to follow him out the door, but Dante stopped him.

"Not you, guys... I have to do this alone." he glanced at Sora and said: "I need you, though. Come with me and play along."

"Got it." Sora replied.

"We'll you be alright on your own?" Aeris asked, like a concerned mother.

"Sure, but we need to hurry: we don't want to keep him waiting for too long." Dante replied and the two boys raced to the gate.

It was not before long that they arrived at the Garrison's entrance and asked for the technocrats to open the gate for them. The soldiers arrived, and as we saw the gigantic doors slowly open to the abomination, the technocrats in the room turned on the microphones near Dante and Sora, so that we could hear what all of them said. The cameras followed them closely as they stepped out of the Garrison and met Digaia.

"What are you doing here?" Dante asked.

"Just paying you guys a little visit." chuckled the Heartless. "May I come in?"

"Not really." Dante replied. His face reflected anger, but he kept it inside of him well.

"Why not?"

"Because the girls are taking a shower. What did you think?"

Digaia chuckled and shook his head.

"That's a good one, Dante. Nice creativity." he gazed over the boys' shoulder and said, cockily: "I see you've rounded up quite a few soldiers. Nice work. Just by looks I can tell that there are about... What? A million? Perhaps a bit more? It's still quite impressive. But, they won't do much good against an army as large as mine." he paced around Dante and Sora and added: "So is that what you've been doing all this time? How said. I was at the Sky Castle, reading some books by H. P. Lovecraft. The man had a brilliant mind, don't you think? When I'm done with you and the princesses of heart are all assembled, I think I'll take some of my free time to create beings of the sort. Also, I watched some T. V. There are some interesting movies coming from Gaia and other worlds, Dante. Isn't that nice?"

"You're too confident on your victory." Sora said. "It won't be that hard to bring you down."

"Oh, how adorable!" Digaia laughed. "The Keyblade master still thinks he can win. Well, in spite of your stupidity, you're worth ten points, Keyblade master."

"I have a name, you know... freak."

"Here we go again, calling each other names. Okay... Sora. Whatever. I just came down here to tell you that at nightfall, the battle will begin. A little heads up didn't hurt anybody. Besides..."

"You said you wouldn't do squat until the eight day." Dante interrupted.

"Did I? Damn. I keep forgetting so many things." the Heartless said, slapping his forehead. "Sorry about that. Either way, I can't push back my plans. It wouldn't turn out so nicely, you know. You've got until nightfall before we crush you. That's about... what? Three hours? I think it's about three hours. You'll then get to see the biggest army of all times. It'll be an awesome view before your death."

"What makes you think you'll beat us this time?" Sora asked.

"Please, you hardly even scratched me in our former battle. And that was Dante. What are you talking about? You weren't even there."

"You know, it's pretty obvious why you won." Dante said, defiantly.

"What?" Digaia muttered, eying him curiously.

Sora then faked a sneeze and yelled: "Cheater!" Digaia turned to him with a serious expression on his face. "I'm sorry." our friend said. "I'm allergic to cowardly dogs."

"What?" the foe said, as his eyelid began to twitch.

"You know what he means." Dante added. "You used your oblivion mode on the last battle. No wonder you won. It's obvious that you're just a little more than a rat without that can of booster juice. Without it, I bet I could turn you to dust on my own."

"Really?" Digaia muttered. I noticed him slightly angry. I suppose that he felt insulted. He could not complain, though. "Do you think I'm afraid of you? If that's what you think, then I won't use that power. I'll beat you without even making an effort, smartass."

"Come on, come on, no names." Dante said, unable to contain a smile of triumph. "Now, tell me... What is it with the Heartless in this place? Why are they so different?"

This seemed to catch Digaia's interest. His anger quickly vanished and he explained: "Alright. Since you're about to die, I suppose I can let you know. You see, Jace and I conducted some experiments..."

"That idiot?" Sora interrupted.

The monster could not avoid letting out a laugh.

"He is somewhat slow when it comes to catching on to phrases." he said. "But he is a remarkable engineer and bioengineer, much like myself, thank you very much. We experimented with some Heartless by adding them organs: skin, brains... you know, all those things. There was still one big thing missing. I bet you can guess what that is."

"A heart." Sora muttered.

"Indeed. As an experienced bioengineer, one knows better than to keep the experiments up. But I did it, anyway. Look how they turned out. As for me, however, I haven't got the slightest idea how I got so smart or so powerful. What I do know is that if we make more Heartless like myself, we'll be invincible."

"So what about Jace and the other three stogies?" Dante asked. "Are they also experiments?"

"Funny thing, Dante. Actually, they weren't originally Heartless. They were outcasts: shunned from their homes, family, and 'friends', they wandered aimlessly through Gaia, before they met me. I offered them the power of the Heartless and they accepted it. How they grew so powerful is also beyond me, but I managed to keep the power of the Heartless from completely devouring their heart. After all, I can't afford mindless slaves. They need some intelligence. But don't feel guilty if you manage (by some sort of miracle, that is) to kill one of them. They didn't feel guilty when they destroyed the towns that housed them..."

"You know, that is a funny thing. I never would've guessed that a Heartless would have sympathy towards others."

"Must've gotten that from you, dear Watson." Digaia sneered. "But only in some habits. And I also gained some knowledge about yourself, obviously. So you'd better give it all that you got, or else you're not going to do squat. Even though I won't use the 'booster juice' again, I do have some other tricks up my sleeve that aren't any sorts of cheats, if you get my meaning."

"Don't worry, I'll kill you when the time comes."

"Right." Digaia said, with a low laugh. "Any other questions...? No? Well, then I'm off. See you in three hours..."

"Wait just a second!" Sora shouted as the fiend turned his back on them. "Where is she?" he demanded, while I got closer to the monitor and waited eagerly for an answer.

"Where is who? I don't know what you're talking about." Digaia said.

"You know exactly what the hell I'm talking about!" Sora cried angrily.

"The girl? That... Ukyo?" Digaia said innocently, facing them again... I really wanted to kill that slime. "It's not really of your business, now, is it?"

"The hell it is my business!" the boy yelled, while Dante held him from going after the monster by himself. "Where?"

"Now, now, don't lose your temper. Suffice to say that you'll not have to worry about her anymore. You'll never see her again."

"I will tear his eyes out!" I roared and raced to the door, but Ryu caught up with me and stopped me.

"Calm down, Wilheim!" he said.

"You poor excuse for a Heartless..." Sora said. As I looked at the monitor again, I saw a terrible rage on his face. Perhaps not as intense as mine, but it did burn through his skin... "You'd better not have hurt her, bastard. Because if you did, I'm going to..."

"Kill me?" Digaia interrupted. "You can't even touch me, sport. You're way too weak for me. Anyway, don't worry about your friend. She's not in pain, I think. But then again, what do I know?" he concluded with an evil smile, while shrugging his shoulders.

"I WILL RIP OUT HIS TONGUE!" I roared again, nearly escaping Ryu's grasp. Octavius quickly came to his aid and kept me still.

"Save your anger for later, lad." he said. "You will need if you want to rescue your beloved."

"Well, see you later. It'd be good for you if you started moving your effects to your new home; a coffin, that is." Digaia said, waving at Dante and Sora, and then he vanished.

"Jace, Cameron... Are your squads ready?" Dante asked his friends. Both of them nodded their heads, replying:

"Yes, sir!" Cameron did not seem to happy about speaking to Dante in such a manner, but he was, after all, his superior.

"Takeesha..." the lad muttered, turning to the Lucien. "Do you think that...?"

"I don't know, Dante." she said. "We've sent out lots of messengers. All we can hope for is that there are others in the vicinity. And if there are, we still have to wait to see if they make it on time..." she sighed and looked at the rest of us. "But don't worry too much about it." she added. "Your friends planned a good strategy. It'll get us through tonight, Dante. You just wait and see."

"I like your optimism." Dante said, with a smile, and gently caressed her beloved's ear. She was still a bit hurt, but not gravely injured: she could fight the Heartless, no doubt about that. It surprised me how quickly the Lucien healed.

"We'll need all the help we can get." Leon said. "Anyway, we don't have much time. The sun's almost down. I'll go on ahead. You guys do whatever you want, but I suggest that you get moving."

"Tish and I will go to meet the archers." Demean said. "The Heartless will be upon us soon and they need to occupy their positions as I instructed them as quickly as possible."

"Then I shall go to the outer wall." Octavius added. "The Barbarians are waiting for me there. It is time we get ready."

"Yeah, right..." Ranma muttered. "Let's just hope this isn't a major suicide."

"Suicide, yes." Donald murmured. "But what else are you going to do?"

"You're right about that."

"All personal, report immediately to the outer wall." the walls suddenly thundered. "Report to the outer wall on the double: General Gisla's orders."

We had no choice but to go there as quickly as we could. When we finally found a place to stand, I looked around and saw that there were thousands and thousands of soldiers ready for battle. All of them had the same look: their face reflected valor and calm. It was as if they knew that they were going to die. Yet, they would battle fiercely, so they could leave the world with honor...

"Soldiers of the Silver Garrison! My friends...!" the general cried through a megaphone. "The hour of the battle is nearly at hand! I am reluctant and sad to say this... but you know that I have never lied to you, nor will I start now. The shadow that approaches is bigger than any other threat we have ever faced. Bigger than the Abyss itself. It is a shadow that threatens to plunge into our brains, to take over our thoughts, to lead us into a nightmare from which there is no end!

"But we will stand our ground. Our bodies may lay in ruin before the sun comes up, but we will stand our ground. Though our blood may cool on the freezing snow before the first birds sing to the sunlight, we will stand our ground! Should we die, we will die with honor! For that way, no nightmare can take over us, no demon is too terrible to defeat us! Let the foes hear the cry of rage and valor of the Silver Garrison! Let them fear us; let them flee before the might of the wolf! Tonight, sword will crash against sword and a rain of arrows will fall from the sky! Tonight, we stand our ground! Tonight, we fight for honor!"

Everyone cheered and shouted as the general raised his hand and signaled us to be off. I let out a sigh and advanced at the outer wall. As I did, I noticed that Gisla had put on armor and was carrying a gun. With a line of men walking behind him, he stood before Demean and Tish and said: "Lead the way, master elf."

"Are you sure that you wish to do this, general?" asked Tish.

"I want nothing of this world, madam, save an honorable death." the man replied.

"Should we die tonight, your honor will remain forever in the songs of the wind." she said, with a smile.

"Follow me, sir." Demean added, and they were off.

Everyone ran in every direction. I could not see any of my friends around. They had vanished in that sea of people. I jumped up and down, hoping to see someone. I finally noticed Octavius assembling barbarians in front of the gate (after all, he was the most notorious of my companions because of his tremendous size). I ran to him and stayed close. I had no idea of what to do anymore, so I decided to remain next to someone who knew what the blazes was going on.

Once he had assembled all the troops, he went up the wall and remained there with other soldiers. I then saw that Ryu, Ken, Sakura, and Ryoga were not too far from us. I was relieved to see them...

The movement in the Silver Garrison suddenly stopped and a silence befell on the city. I could feel both the chill of the snow and the heat of the garrison's lights. All of them were on: many sentry lights were scouting the field actively. It was not until then that fright attacked me. The immensity and blackness of the field made my heart stop for a few seconds. I breathed deeply, trying to calm myself down. The were-bear, who was standing next to me, noticed this.

"Are you alright, boy?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the field.

"I will be fine once this is all over." I answered.

"Are you sure that you will be able to handle this? You cannot just go into a battle with nothing but anger in your heart..."

"What do you mean? If I remember correctly, it was you who told me a while ago that I should let lose all of my fury in the heat of war."

"But not the way you have been doing so. You must fight with intelligence, and this requires you to keep some control upon yourself. If you only fight with hatred and rage in your spirit, you will lose for sure. Believe me, Wilheim, that I too am angry at the Heartless because they took Ukyo. She is also my friend. But I cannot succumb to anger. It could even be dangerous."

"For the enemy? That is what we are looking for, are we not?"

"No. For everybody."

I stared at him curiously, not knowing what he had meant. I expected to hear some sort of explanation, but instead, he gripped his katana firmly and said in a low voice:

"Be on your guard. They are coming."

"Are you certain?" I asked, also in a low voice. My eyes quickly searched the field, but I saw nothing save the pit of blackness that had dwelled there with the fall of the sun. "I cannot see even one."

"But I can smell them." Octavius whispered.

"Are they near?"

"No. Yet we do not have much time left. Fear not: you will see them."

I was about to say something, but something in the dark horizon caught my eye. It seemed at first like yellow torches. Little by little, they started to multiply. My heart pounded quickly and with fright as I saw that the torches were all over the field. The darkness had been replaced by a swarm of yellow lanterns. And as they came closer, I realized that I was not looking at lanterns, but eyes. They were millions of Heartless, marching steadily towards the Garrison. They kept on coming, and as they walked, the ground shook with each step they took. It was a sea of foes... From their mouths came no sound: they were silent monsters advancing through the snow and the night. Their bodies melded with the darkness: their yellow, evil eyes gave them away.

"...Is there hope?" I whispered to Octavius in a frightened breath.

"Perhaps in some other time I would have said 'no'." the were-bear replied. "But since I have met all of you, I am absolutely sure of our victory." he turned his head right and then added: "Wilheim, go to Ryu. It seems that he wants you to be by his side."

I peeked over his shoulder and saw that my master, indeed, wanted me to go with him. He was waving at me frantically; Ken, Sakura, and Ryoga were already with him. I began to run to him, but before I could go too far, Octavius called to me.

"Wilheim!" he said. "Be wary. I am certain that these monsters will try to bring down the wall. When the time comes, I want you to run as quickly and as far away as you possibly can. You must survive tonight."

"Thank you for the advice, my friend." I said. "Good luck!"

I reached Ryu and the others in an instant. The sea of yellow eyes had grown a lot in those few moments. I looked at them again and took a deep breath, trying to summon what courage I had left in my battered heart.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I have had better days." I answered. "What do you have in mind?"

"I'm going to attack them with a Hadoken." Ryu said. "I think we should all do the same. If we're lucky, we'll take out a bunch of Heartless before they reach the wall."

"Hmm. I can only hope that they are not bringing shields with them."

"Who cares? We'll break through them." Ken assured. He glanced at the sea of Heartless and took a deep breath, too. We would be fools if we were not afraid, I reckon. "Okay, let's do this." he began to gather energy. The rest of us quickly did the same. Soon, we had the wave of energy ready within the palms of our hands. "Let's wait until the archers and gunners begin firing..."

A moment of silence came. I was struggling hard not to unleash the projectile before the order. It was beginning to burn my hands. Yet suddenly, Demean cried, from the upper part of the wall: "ATTACK!"

The archers and gunners quickly unleashed a rain of arrows, energy beams, and bullets. Yet they were not firing at the Heartless on the ground: they were aiming at foes that had taken over the sky. Many of them came crashing down with a yell of agony...

"NOW!" Ryu exclaimed. "HADOKEN!"

"SHISHI HOUKODAN!"

The five waves of energy crashed against the first lines of the Heartless' army. Many enemies fell down lifelessly as our projectiles hit them. The impact of our Ki upon the ground created a fierce explosion that injured many Heartless and destroyed many others.

It was not until then that the Heartless began to run as quickly as their feet could carry them at the wall. I raised my head and saw that the moon, which to this moment had been hiding behind a dark cloud, had come out and poured its glitter on the army. I saw all sorts of Heartless: many of them we had met in our previous encounter, but there were many new opponents to destroy. I shall tell you about them later, for even though I could see them from where I was, I did not concentrate on studying them, for I was more worried about the fact that I had been right: the Heartless in the front lines did have shields. They advanced swiftly in a formation that resembled the Roman Turtle. Our energy waves broke through the shields easily, but I was not sure that the arrows and bullets would.

Demean, however, had already foreseen this and took action. He waved at Tish and the fairy flew about the archers and gunners with great haste, casting upon their weapons powerful spells. As they fired again, the arrows and energy beams pierced through the Heartless' shields as if they were made out of paper. Many of them fell, making those who were running behind them stumble upon their dead bodies.

"Clever." I murmured.

"Let's give it another shot!" Ryu exclaimed. "Come on, let's do this!"

"HADOKEN!"

We kept on firing energy blasts, yet I did not gather as much strength for them as I had done for the first one. I had still not mastered the technique and knew that I would grow weak if I kept up that rhythm. Luckily, Ryu and Ken's energy waves were more than a match for most of the enemies. While Sakura, Ryoga, and I only destroyed a few Heartless with each blast, my master and his friend decimated units with every wave they unleashed.

It was but a matter of time before the Heartless began to climb unto the wall. Some of them managed to climb by the surface of the barrier; some others used stairs they had brought with them; others simply flew through, and some others leapt as high as Dante. They cleared the obstacle and begun their attack. The Garrison's soldier's quickly killed them. The monsters did manage to injure a few men; however, Aeris, Tish, and Ariel were supporting us with healing spells and potions. Donald was not participating in this endeavor, for he was busy firing fireballs and ice blasts at his enemies. He had nearly decimated a unit of Heartless by himself.

Five Heartless got where we stood. Four of them seemed like little balls with spikes sticking out of their surface. They rolled at my companions, who skillfully dodged their charge. The fifth Heartless attacked me from behind. I quickly turned around as I was pushed at the edge of the wall, but saw nothing. I then felt two hands on my neck, trying to choke me. I hit the air about me furiously and felt how my fists crashed against something. It was then that I noticed, as the moon suddenly seemed to glitter like a star, that a silhouette was what had attacked me. It vanished into the night and pressed on the attack. I could not see his fists nor feet and felt his punches all over my body.

Meanwhile, Ryu and Ken had managed to defeat the balls that had been attacking them. Sakura and Ryoga had a few scratches on their skin, but they were still fighting bravely and fiercely. It was not long before the girl disposed of her enemy with an uppercut. Ryoga made the ground under him explode, and his enemy flew far away from him, falling into the hundreds of Heartless in the field below. Ryu then looked at me and yelled:

"Feel his presence! Stop relying on your eyes!"

I nodded my head and obeyed. I closed my eyes and felt the air about me. As I calmed down and focused my power on my fists, I felt a chill coming from behind me. I immediately grasped the Heartless' fist and threw him at the floor. Before he could get up, I threw my fist at his stomach and pierced it as it my arm had been a spear. The Heartless spat black blood out of his mouth, and then lay still. His body turned visible: he was a thin, yet muscular shadow with no other distinctive features whatsoever. I carried the dead fiend and threw it with all my strength at the rows of enemies below. One of them met the body of the Heartless with his head and fell down dead.

"Good job." my master said, patting my shoulder. "But it's not over yet."

"I did not think that it was, master." I replied.

"You sound like Anakin, Wilheim, take it easy!" Ken exclaimed, with a laugh. Yet then he quieted down and looked at the sky, which suddenly turned dark. The moonlight disappeared in a dark shadow, and the army of darkness became almost impossible to see. We all raised our heads and gasped as we noticed what Ken had seen. It seemed to be a gigantic whale. It flew gloomily over our heads, blocking the moonlight with its immense body... "Oh, crap. I don't like the look of this."

"Let's take it out before it does anything." Ryoga said, nervously.

"All guns and bows: fire at that abomination!" Demean yelled from his place. All projectiles quickly went up into the sky and crashed against the whale. We wasted no more time and helped the warriors with projectiles of our own. The energy waves flew high into the air and impacted on the monster's surface. Slowly, the thing began to come down. It bellowed as it fell and crashed into the army of Heartless, squashing many of them under its tremendous weight. We smiled as the moonlight covered the fields again, but quickly stopped doing so and put ourselves on guards as we realized we had fallen into the Heartless' trap.

Many of the Garrison's soldiers lay dead over a unit of Heartless. These new enemies had made a small breach through the wall and were coming into the city one by one. Smoke rose from their right arms, while blood oozed from three pincer claws that were on their other arms. It was obvious that they had taken advantage of the night and had attacked swiftly. We quickly leapt down and started to fight them. They used their right arm to fire bolts at us, but we evaded them. The archers and gunners began to fire at them, but Demean stopped them and ordered to focus only on the aerial Heartless, for they had already devastated many soldiers as well.

Octavius, Leon, Cloud, and Tifa arrived at the scene on time to help us. The rest of the warriors ran at the breached wall with a large steel wall, and placed it on top of the hole made by the Heartless, while we distracted the other foes. With an advanced solder, they sealed the hole in less than thirty seconds and returned to their positions.

I already had killed two Heartless by upper cutting one on his chest and by breaking the other one's neck. They had barely wounded me with their pincer claws: it was nothing too serious. Octavius had destroyed much more enemies, for every time he swung his blade, many monster heads flew into the air. The lizard-like helmets remained immobile on the ground while the were-bear slashed at his foes with obliterating strength. Leon used his fireballs and sword to dispose of all the enemies that raced at him with ease. There was not a wound on his body. Cloud had a few cuts on his arms, but he and Tifa together had killed more Heartless than anyone else. He slashed at them with his enormous sword and bounced back the bolts they shot at him. Tifa fired energy blasts similar to ours that exploded as they touched her enemies. She also used her strong legs to break her enemies' necks when the attempted to slash her with their claws. Ryu, Ken, Sakura, and Ryoga fought bravely, as they always did, and before long, we defeated every Heartless that had poured into the city. Aeris immediately cast a spell to tend our wounds.

"We're done here: let's go back to the top of the wall!" Ryu exclaimed.

We jumped high into the air and then went up some stairs. By the time we had reached the top of the wall and had looked at the battle field once more, we gasped in horror, seeing that all the Heartless that had been destroyed had been but mere grains of sand in an endless beach of darkness. Their eyes covered the entire ground; they took over the night with ease.

For a moment, I felt my last breath of hope escape my body. I raised my hands to my head and let out a sob of despair. I was about to fall to my knees when suddenly I felt Sakura's hands on my shoulders. I turned to her and she smiled to me bravely.

"We will win tonight, Wilheim." she said.

"...Alright." I whispered back, not feeling better at all, but at least I was willing to give fight once more.

Sora was fighting alongside Goofy and Donald. They had killed a good number of Heartless and their spirits were still high, it seemed. Whenever he had the chance, the boy threw his blade at the Heartless army as if it were a boomerang – a move that he had come to rely on heavily, but very effective nonetheless – and decapitated quite a few foes. He sometimes used magic spells. It appeared that Donald had taught him some magic during the days of peace... Goofy used his shield skillfully, driving back all the Heartless that attempted to use stairs to get on top of the wall. He was doing very well, for only few enemies reached their goal, and all of them fell to Sora's weapon and Donald's magic spells.

Suddenly, the boy turned to me. Then he gave a quick look at the battle field. Without losing another moment, he began to run at me at full speed. He caught me off guard: I did not move. He finally threw himself at me and knocked me down. I then heard a loud explosion and realized that a building had just been blown off the face of the planet. Sora had saved my life.

"Are you OK?" he asked.

"Yes... thank you, Sora." I replied.

"Keep your mind on the battle, Wilheim, and we'll get her back."

He got on his feet and helped me get up. I nodded silently and looked at the Heartless army yet again. The fiend that had attempted to destroy me with that shot was on sight: he was a huge Heartless that seemed to be carrying heavy machinery over his body. He had some sort of armor on top of him; smoke came out of his chest. He glanced at me and his eyes began to shine. I did not want to know what he was going to do next, and was not willing to find out. I unleashed a weak, yet fast energy wave that hit the enemy on his chest and blew him to pieces. I let out a sigh and wiped sweat off my forehead.

"Good job, Wilheim." Sora said. "Those things really have high firepower. But I've noticed they're really stupid. Throw something at them – like a grenade or a brick – and they'll shoot at it like madmen. I managed to get one of them to decimate an entire unit by tricking him like that."

"Well done, Sora." I replied. "I will see what I can do. In the mean time, you should return to Goofy and Donald's side: they seem to need your help."

"Right. Good luck!" and then he ran back to his two friends.

I went back to Ryu and the others and we continued our energy wave raid on the Heartless, killing countless enemies with every blast. Little by little, I started using more energy on my attacks, yet I did not feel tired. Somehow, fear had melded with anger and despair, and they were all fueling my strength...

Yet we all stopped as we saw on the horizon a huge piece of machinery coming near. It seemed to be some sort of gigantic cannon... It stood still and all of the Heartless in front of it moved aside. A rumbling noise began to come from it, and we knew immediately what that meant. Steam started to flow through it, while lightning encircled it. It was clear that the cannon was charged and ready to fire.

"Leon, Dante, Cameron, Kane! Get your men away from the wall!" Demean yelled frantically. Then he turned to us and screamed: "Wilheim, get out of there immediately!"

We started running as fast as we could to the eastern side of the wall, hoping that the blast would not kill us. We ducked in the very edge of the wall and waited for the blast. A thunderous noise deafened the screaming of the soldiers and the Heartless. We covered our ears and let out a moan of pain. Then the ground began to shake. We looked at the center part of the wall and saw it crumbling. Many soldiers, barbarians, and magicians were squashed by the rocks and steel that fell on them. We glanced at the cannon, horrified, knowing that if that thing were to fire again, the battle would be lost. But when we turned, the cannon lay shattered on the ground. I suppose that it only held the capacity for one shot. Either way, that shot had opened a large breach on the wall. The Heartless wasted no time and entered the Garrison as if they were a swarm of bees. All of the guns and bows immediately pointed to the breached wall in an attempt to stop the Heartless, but only few of them were killed. They were overrunning the city like a plague. It was clear to us that the wall was no longer in our control. But then, the leaders of the enemy army came into view, and we knew that we would not have a better opportunity to engage with them. I looked at Jace and Digaia as they slaughtered the lines of brave soldiers that opposed them with great ease. My fear vanished and all that I could feel again was anger and hatred. I raised my Ki high enough to warm up the air about me and leapt to the attack. Ryu and the others quickly followed.

However, we did not manage to fight the fiends. A unit of new Heartless appeared before us, creating a barrier between us and the fiends, who kept on destroying soldiers, barbarians, and magicians to their pleasure. I recognized the shadows immediately: they were all images of Dante. Fortunately, as they attacked us, I realized that they did not possess the abilities and strengths that our friend had. It appeared that they had not acquired the knowledge and strategic thought that our friend had learnt throughout his travels with us. Even then, they were formidable adversaries that kept us busy. I had to evade their swords as best as I could. I ducked underneath one of their attacks and then executed a roundhouse powerful enough to destroy three of them. They fell to the ground lifelessly. I thought that maybe I could grasp one of their swords and use it while I recovered Renamark – which was now in the grasp of Jace, who was amazed by the power it was giving him as he sliced soldiers in two. However, the swords were part of the Heartless' body, and I failed in retrieving one. They also had claws, and I tried snatching a pair as well, but not to avail.

It was not before long that, once again, Leon, Cloud, Tifa, and Octavius joined the battle. Felicia, Morrigan, and my dear Camille also entered the freight. Merryck made a heroic appearance after a while by destroying a Heartless monster that threatened to end with one of the soldier's lives. We kept on battling with fury in our attacks, and eventually destroyed most of the Heartless, leaving the remaining few to the soldiers of the Garrison. Nevertheless, when I say that we succeeded in destroying most of the Heartless, I speak about Dante's shadows, for the enemies were still pouring into the Garrison like hornets. We did not have much time; the Heartless were beginning to take over the city, and if they did, all would be lost. I quickly aimed for Digaia and Jace with an energy blast, but one of those Heartless that had fired at me earlier got in the way. At least I did kill someone with that blast: he had not been fast enough to get out of the way. I then felt a strong blow on my back and was sent flying high into the air. I did not know who or what was that hit me. I only remember falling down, my face buried in the snow, and not moving for a few instants. The blow had been very hard and I had become very dizzy. I managed to lift my head and saw that Jace and Digaia were just a few steps away: they were speaking casually, as if they were in a party.

"So, how many have you gotten?" Digaia asked.

"Oh, you know, boss, I've killed so many fools that are not worth counting..." Jace answered.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I guess that if we want to get some real action, we'll have to kill everyone but the Keyblade bozo and the other clowns, huh?"

"You're right about that, boss. But the problem is that you're always trying to hog all of the action. I'd appreciate it if you didn't do that this time."

"What are you talking about? Josie won the last time, didn't he?"

"Yeah, but he also complains about it. That was just pure luck, and you know it, boss."

"What do Tamora Leslin and Fiona have to say about that?"

"Oh, you know they don't speak much, boss. They just like to kill. It's a nice hobby, after all."

"It is, isn't it?" Digaia exclaimed, and they both laughed.

"I will have your heads..." I murmured to myself, as I struggled to my feet.

"So, where are those three, anyhow?" Digaia asked.

"Somewhere within the city, I guess. Building up their score. We should be doing the same thing too, boss."

"You're right." he then turned to me and smiled wickedly. "Hey, Jace. There's the guy that gladly gave you his sword."

"I'll be! I have much to thank him, you know, this thing is doing wonders right now!" Jace laughed.

"Go on ahead. He's worth a lot of points. Maleficent said that he was pretty strong."

"Somehow I doubt that, boss."

"Stop your blabbering and face me, Heartless fiend!" I roared, and put myself on guard.

"He seems to be eager to fight you, Jace." Digaia muttered.

"Oh, well. I guess I'll just have to try to have as much fun as I can before I kill him off." Jace said.

"Don't have too much fun, or you'll lose the bet for sure."

"You're always one step ahead of me, boss."

"I agree. Well, I guess I better head back to..."

He stopped speaking as something pierced the screaming of the Heartless and the Silver Garrison's men. He turned around and his jaw dropped at what he saw. I could not see what was going on, so I quickly jumped onto a wall that was still in one piece and my heart gave a leap of hope...

An army of Luciens were howling out loud, making all of the Heartless turn to them and face them. It was, of course, not as numerous as the army of the enemy. But if the Luciens could truly do the things Dante had said on board the Gummy ship; if they had the strength he had mentioned... They might as well as be able to turn the tide of the battle.

A Lucien, bigger and stronger than the others, turned to the army and spoke to them. I suppose that he was giving them an encouragement speech. It did not last long, however, for the Luciens soon found themselves charging at the Heartless army. The fiends replied with shots come from the Heartless that nearly obliterated me, killing some Luciens in the process. Some flying Heartless swooped down at the beasts like hawks, managing to slice the heads of one or two. However, the Luciens were strong and intelligent, and when the hovering fiends tried to attack again, they grabbed them by the ankles and smashed them to the ground with great strength. The Luciens arrived at their target and stampeded through the army, like horses running over hyenas...

"They're here!" Takeesha suddenly exclaimed, from the other side of the wall, cheering enthusiastically at her comrades. "I didn't think they'd come, but here they are! And I didn't think there would be so many of them either!"

"You've got to be kidding me!" exclaimed suddenly as he saw how his army was being decimated by an unstoppable force. I leapt back to where he and Digaia were, only to find my friends by my side, as well as the rest of the horsemen. Dante walked up to Digaia and said:

"I think your little army is going to get crushed. What a pity."

"Nice trick, Dante. However, I'm far from done..." replied the foe. And with that being said, the four horsemen disappeared. Digaia smiled at our confused expressions and then he left as well, leaving us only with the following words: "Meet me at the old church."

"Digaia, wait!" Dante said, but it had been too late. He turned to us and added: "We have to catch up with him! No doubt that's were the Keyhole is." he looked up and so did we. Too many towers had been destroyed. "Jace really did work the turrets up..." he muttered.

"Jace?" I asked. "How did he...?"

"He used his arm, Wilheim. Weren't you watching?" Ken asked.

"I was busy asking the Dante-clones where they had gotten their punk clothing and their claws, Ken." I replied angrily.

"Okay, okay, I get the point."

"Sora! You, Goofy, and Donald have to come down here!" Dante cried. "We need your help for this!"

Before he could say much more, it was necessary for us to defend ourselves against another onslaught of Heartless fiends. I could not believe how these ants did not die. Not even as the first glimmer of the sunlight crept over the mountains. It was no surprise to me that I was so tired: we had been fighting for hours.

"What's the hell with those sons of bitches?" Tifa yelled. "They just keep on coming!"

"Just concentrate on killing them!" Octavius roared as he sliced three fiends with his katana.

Sora and the other two soon helped us with the fiends. The boy skillfully engaged a Dante-clone. He parried one blow of his claws with his Keyblade and ran through him with great strength. Goofy defended himself skillfully against ball-like enemies. They were a bit different than the ones we had faced before, for these only had four spikes coming out of their body. Larger, sharper ones at that. Yet they did not seem to last as long as the others, for the knight quickly disposed of them. Donald used his magic spells to slow down the Heartless' moves. We appreciated his help this time, make no mistake about it.

Soon, the five saints arrived and easily helped us destroy the remaining Heartless of that single wave. They were still many, many other foes out in the battle field, you can be sure of that.

"We have to go to the old church." Dante said. "But we need some of you to stay here."

"My company's been decimated." Leon said. "I'll go with you: I can't do anything more for them."

"I shall go, too." Octavius added. "I too do not have many barbarians left to command."

"We're coming too, Dante." Kane said.

"You know we're not letting you face Digaia alone. You need the help of the best." Cameron chuckled.

"Cloud and I are coming, too." Tifa intervened. "I trust Aeris won't have such a hard time healing less people... And protecting Ariel. She's been hiding behind her and Link, throwing potions at the Heartless throughout all the battle."

"You can't blame her." Ken said. "Then I'm going too. And so is Ryu, I suppose. And Sakura. And Ryoga. And Wilheim."

"I have to go." Sora said. "I don't like leaving the soldiers like this, but I don't have much choice. If the Keyblade is where Digaia is, then I need to seal it as fast as possible."

"Then it's settled!" Donald exclaimed. "Goofy and I will go, too. You should remain here and help the soldiers." he said to the five saints. "Just don't mess things up, Seyia."

"Don't push your luck, Donald." the saint answered.

"They'll be all right, Donald. You just wait and see." Goofy said, enthusiastically. He was admirable: nothing ever dampened his spirit.

"Let's go!" Dante insisted. "There is a way to the old church. It's not far from here. Come on!" As we followed him, I heard Camille calling me.

"Wilheim!" I stopped and faced her, my legs still in movement, eager to resume the race. "Be careful! Please think of nothing more than your fists and your enemies'!"

I nodded my head and ran quickly behind my friends. We looked at the battle field one last time before leaving the Garrison, seeing that the Heartless were once again beginning to win ground...


	31. Chapter Thirty: Momentary Madness

Hi again, guys.

I have two news: a good one and a bad one. I'll start with the bad one first...

I'm going back to the university in a week. Yep, I start next Monday. Sucks, huh? Well, luckily I got most of the Friday's days free, so I'll do my best to write during that time...

Now for the good news. This chapter turned out to be longer than I expected. Actually, it's almost as long as the past one. And again, I didn't take that long :)

This is the last chapter of, so to speak, Mr. Kiosce's saga. Again, the storyline and characters appearing here are his ideas (with, again, some modifications made by yours truly).

Well, that's about it. I hope you like it. Enjoy:)

_Chapter Thirty: Momentary Madness_

_Narrator: Wilheim_

We snuck past the Heartless army by taking a well-hidden path just outside the Garrison. It was a trench, riddled with Garrison's soldiers. They had been fighting for quite a long while and had been attacked several times: the stench of blood and death was about us. I tried to hold my breath as Cameron and Dante lead us away from the battle.

"Do any of you guys have grenades or something of the sort?" Leon asked.

"Yes, we've been saving them in case..." one of the soldiers replied, but the man quickly hushed him up by commanding:

"What are you waiting for? Use them already! The Garrison is about to fall. Go there and help the rest of your friends, warriors! We need you to stay alive. Make way with the explosives."

"Make haste, soldiers of the Silver Garrison." Octavius said as he walked past one a sitting, tired warrior. "You have had many hardships, but now is not the time to rest. Give us more time, and you will need to fight no more enemies."

"Let's go!" exclaimed one of the soldiers with higher rank and the troops moved out of the trench.

We kept on running with nothing to light our path save the few rays of sunlight. There were no other lights to guide our way. As we went forward, my heart began to quail in terror. I was worried about my Ukyo. What if they were holding her as a hostage? What if they threatened to kill her unless Sora surrendered the Keyblade? What would I do if I lost her? All these thoughts affected my legs and suddenly, they became heavy like lead. However, Octavius grasped my arm and forced me to keep up.

"Remember what the succubus told you, Wilheim." he said. "You need to go on, thinking of nothing but the fight."

I nodded quietly and did my best to suppress those horrid thoughts. Instead, I forced myself to think of Renamark. It was vital for me to get it back from the cursed Jace, for a number of reasons that I have previously explained... I was sure that if I got my hands on it again, the blade would roar for me and would thirst for the blood of those evil fiends. My only consolation was that Jace would not be capable of using Renamark's full power. I would have to employ the teachings Ryu had taught me without fail.

"We're getting close." Cameron whispered to us all. "Stay on your toes, everyone. We don't want to be ambushed."

"Wow..." Ken muttered, raising head and staring at the building that lay before us. "That thing's huge."

Indeed, the old church was indeed big. Its walls rose high above the snowy ground with a majestic air. Its windows were large and colored, like the ones in the ancient Cathedral of Notre Dame, in Paris. As we approached it, I noticed many spider webs moving gently with the air, as if they were silk adorning the walls. A chill ran down my spine as I went past them. I have never been too fond of spiders. I believe that I have already told you this. But that is not important... The main door was made out of wood and had many beautiful carvings in it. A great cross was that which caught the eye, above all other things. I felt compelled to cast the holy sign upon myself, and so I did. Tifa noticed me doing this and asked:

"Are you a religious man, Wilheim?"

"Absolutely." I assured.

"Then let's pray for the success of the mission in silence."

"This church reminds me of the one where I found Aeris." Cloud murmured. "Or better said the one where Aeris found me. It's a lot bigger, though, and I don't suppose that there are flowers growing out of the ground inside."

"There aren't." Kane said. "I especially don't suppose that there will be any with those bastards around."

"Be quiet, guys." Sora intervened. "We don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves, do we?"

Dante, Kane, and Cameron went up the stairs, with our good friend leading the way. They walked slowly, turning their heads to the sides cautiously. They even tried not to breathe too hard, for they were afraid that even the slightest sound would give them away. Sora, however, who was right next to me, did not take much care in being quiet. I suppose that he knew it was no use: the enemies surely knew that we were there.

Suddenly, as Dante went inside the church, a purple crystal wall appeared out of nowhere. As it extended itself from the ground to the ceiling, it expelled a fierce energy that knocked us all back. We raised our heads from the ground and noticed that Dante had been locked inside the church. He was banging on the wall, yelling us if we were all right. Sora, Donald, and Goofy quickly ran to him and said that they were not hurt.

"What's going on?" the Keyblade bearer said.

"Hey, Dante!" a voice called from behind our friend. He slowly turned and saw Digaia. Behind him, were the four horsemen with wicked smiled on their faces. The abomination walked to him and stopped a few steps away from him. He crossed his arms over his chest and kept silent, waiting for Dante to speak.

"Heh." Dante chuckled dryly. "I see you haven't changed a bit. So you're still a cowardly dog. I knew you and your lackeys were planning an ambush, but I didn't think you would be as sissy as to fight me alone with them by your side."

"Still you have learned no manners. I'm hurt, Dante. I thought that you had found out that I'm not a coward." he snapped his fingers and the four horsemen stepped back. In a matter of seconds, another wall of energy appeared in front of them. Its force drove them back a bit, but since they were prepared, they were not sent flying through the air. "No, Dante. This is just you and me: it's going to be our little show. I don't want your friends to die before you: I want them to see you bite the dust. And then, it'll be their turn. No more mister nice guy."

"But you are going to let us in, right boss?" Josie yelled from the other side of the wall. "It's not fair to keep them all to yourself, you know. That's a whole load of points right there."

"Don't worry, Josie, I won't kill all of them." Digaia sneered devilishly. "This time, Dante, I'm going to give it all I've got. Since you complained like a little girl about it, I won't use the oblivion mode. But I'm going to do some things that I didn't do in our last match. Tell me, crybaby, is that considered cheating?"

"No. Don't worry about it." Dante replied, pointing his sword at the fiend. "I'm going to give it my best shot, too. Right from the start."

The fiend stared at the sword in silence with a serious look on his face. "Nice sword." he finally muttered dryly. It appeared that he was not happy at all that his adversary held that weapon...

"Oh, you like it? It was made especially to take out scum like you and your four maggots." Dante said, spinning his blade slowly.

"Hmm. You've gotten even cockier." Digaia muttered. He looked at us and shouted: "I'm sorry, y'all. I know it's kind of rude to leave the guests without entertainment. My bad. Don't worry about it, though, I'll fix that immediately." he snapped his fingers and we heard footsteps behind us. We turned around, only to find out that we had been ambushed by a battalion of Dante-clones.

"Great. Just great." Cameron growled.

"Sending lamb to the slaughter again." Octavius said to the fiend. "They will perish quickly: it would be rather nice to have you as an amusement."

"Don't worry, I'll be right with you." Digaia assured. "But first..." and with that being said, he launched himself at Dante, who barely managed to parry the blow he had unleashed. As Digaia had said, he did not mean to spare any mercy, as he was now armed with both of his swords.

Meanwhile, we had been surrounded by the Heartless and were fighting back to back. None of them dared attack us. They waited for us to make the first move. It was Tifa who began the attack by rushing to a Heartless and kicking him in the face with a somersault kick. The fiend fell back, not knowing what had happened, and then got up angrily. Four Heartless attacked her, but she parried their blows with her fists with amazing skill and speed. Cloud lost no time and aided her. Two swings of his sword were all that she needed to be free of the menace that threatened her. The rest of us decided that it was time for us to enter the fray as well. Octavius used his fists to take out the enemies that had attempted to bury their claws on his stomach; Leon conjured small, but fierce fireballs to attack his opponents; Sora, Goofy, and Donald fought side by side: the boy attacked fiercely with his weapon as did the knight, while the magician froze the Heartless in range, and Ryu, Ken, Sakura, Ryoga, and I used our martial arts to break the foes one by one.

We did get harmed, however, but nothing had been too serious. Donald quickly healed our wounds with a spell, and amazingly, Sora helped him. It seemed that the young lad was learning how to use magic faster than anyone would think. With no enemies left to battle, we rushed at the energy wall and watched the battle against Dante and Digaia, which was now quite a balanced duel.

While we had been fighting, Dante had managed to wound Digaia many times, but the opposite had also happened. Both of them were bleeding, but not much. It was not long before both of them began to use magic spells on each other. Dante's spells were not as powerful as his opponent's, but he had learned to cast them much faster and impressively, scored more hits than Digaia. As for the enemy, he cast the Thundjira spell which had nearly killed Dante last time, yet our friend dodged it every time without fail. The boy rushed at him when he found his opportunity and attacked with quick blows. Digaia tried to repel his rapid sword, but in the end, Dante succeeded in disarming his left arm. The fiend jumped back and gave out a laugh of satisfaction.

"I don't know if that's really you or the sword, Dante, but this is getting interesting!" he said. "But don't think for once that you've gotten me beaten. I still have much, much more tricks under my sleeve, so to speak. For instance..." he removed the left glove off his hand and revealed three steel talons which shone menacingly as the sunlight poured on them through the windows. "Surprise!"

"You think I'm afraid?" Dante challenged. "I've only just started to warm up!"

"You see, I don't quite believe you... To me it's just thrash talk. Less blabbering and more action, kid!"

Dante answered by jumping high in the air, coming down on Digaia with his sword aiming at the fiend's head. The monster merely sidestepped out of the blade's way and kicked the boy in the stomach, who flew across the room and went through some of the church's chairs. Dante shook his head as we yelled his name, encouraging not to give up. He grasped his sword firmly and charged at Digaia once more. His opponent tried to counterattack with his talons, but Dante was skilled enough to parry his blow. They then became locked in their fierce duel once again. This time, however, Digaia was gaining the upper hand; we were realizing that he had not used his full power during the battle. And what was worse, we did not think that this was all of his strength either.

Dante screamed in pain as Digaia buried his claws deep into his skin again and again. His blows became weaker by the minute and he was not using magic anymore, while Digaia had already unleashed his fists full of sorcery. Each time he hit our friend, a wave of gravity crushed his bones. Dante had lost a great deal of blood: I could even see it in his skin, for it had grown as pale as the one of a dead man...

Digaia suddenly grabbed Dante by the shirt and threw him against one of the walls. The boy grunted as his body hit the bricks. Dust fell from the ceiling while he fell to the ground. He was barely able to stand up. He spat blood and put himself on guard. He was truly a proud warrior, not willing to accept defeat until the end. Digaia laughed at this brave act and said:

"I don't believe that you still want to fight! Oh, well. I was going to kill you either way, so I shouldn't complain. But really, Dante, you're impressive. No other human had lasted as long before me... Except your mother, that is."

Dante dropped his sword when he heard this. We thought he had already accepted death as the only way out of the fight, but instead, he growled and clenched his fist with fury.

"You know something?" Digaia went on. "Your mother knew that I wasn't you when she saw me. She fought me, and fought well, I daresay. But you know, people have a tendency to lose when they face me. Anyway, you know what she said? It's quite funny, I'm sure you'll laugh your head off." He leaned forward and added, devilishly: "She begged me not to kill you. What a loser! Can you believe that? The great warrior, Leyna, actually begged me! Oh?" he muttered. Dante had shaken violently. This had obviously caught Digaia's attention (as ours, I might add). He walked to him and smiled as Dante's growls became more and more menacing. "What's the matter? Did I touch a sensitive spot yet again? Boy, I'm getting good at it, huh? So, what are you going to do about it, Dante? Or are you just going to sit there like the coward you are?"

"I'm... I'm..." Dante muttered, filled by rage. He lowered his head, trying to contain the anger in his body, but it was already too late. After a few moments, he realized that there was no use in trying to fight his rage and decided to let it lose. "I want you to get out of my face...! You animal!" he then raised his head, making us gasp in surprise and horror as we looked at his eyes: there were no pupils or irises anymore. His eyes were turquoise orbs that glowed like the ones of a hungry monster. "I'LL KILL YOU, DIGAIA!" he screamed... and the metamorphosis began.

His fingernails broke to pieces under the might of the talons that grew out of his fingers. Fur began to grow from his body and covered all of his skin. His jaw extended forward while his teeth grew into sharp, saw like fangs, very similar to the ones of a reptile. A tail came out of his pants and whipped the floor about it with fury. His feet grew into reptilian claws, destroying the shoes that contained them. We then heard how, as he began to grow in size and his muscles started to expand, his bones cracked under his own might. Surprisingly enough, he did not tear away most of his clothing. I suppose that is why he chose to wear slightly bigger clothes for the battle. He grew as tall as Octavius himself, and finally, he let out a loud howl that shattered the church's colored windows and forced us to cover our ears. Most of my friends could not believe the sight of this. They gazed at Dante with their mouths wide open, no sound coming out of them. The only ones who did not seem to be that amazed were Octavius and myself. I guess that Octavius was not too surprised because he too could turn into a fearsome monster (and I speak not of his bear form); and I was relatively calm because I already knew this could happen. For this was Dante's secret.

Digaia chuckled in satisfaction. He cast his sword aside and took off his glove, revealing another set of sharp talons. As I looked at him more carefully, I noticed that all of his wounds were gone. The bastard had taken advantage of Dante's transformation and had healed himself. But the other was also true, for our friend's body was in perfect shape as well. It appeared that the metamorphosis had also served him for that purpose...

Our friend was the first to attack. With inhuman strength and speed, he swung his arm at Digaia, hitting him on his face and sending him flying high into the air. He crashed against the church's ceiling and landed on his feet, luckily for him. He looked up and sidestepped before a pile of rocks came crashing down on him. The fiend noticed that he was bleeding from the mouth. He wiped the blood off the wound and his smile grew bigger.

"At long last..." he said. "I thought I'd never get to face a worthy foe."

Dante replied to this by racing at Digaia. The fiend leapt high into the air, but our friend quickly followed him. The fiend shot three energy balls from the palm of his hand; two of them missed Dante. He deflected the third with his bare hand and opened his mouth widely, ready to close it down with great fury as soon as Digaia's hand was near. Yet he did not realize that the other two balls had changed directions and headed straight at him. They hit him from behind hard, propelling him at Digaia, who kicked him in the stomach. He hit the ground with terrible force, making it shake under his weight. Digaia landed safely far away from him. Or so he thought, at least, for Dante quickly got up and spat a blue beam of energy from his mouth. The Heartless was so surprised that he did not move at all as the beam of energy hit him in the stomach, sending him rolling over the ground. He stood up, shook his head, and conjured another spell. Tendrils appeared on his hand and he quickly ensnared Dante in them. Our friend used this to his advantage: he grasped the tendrils and swung Digaia with great ease. The foe yelled as our monster let go of him, sending him flying at incredible speed across the battlefield. He crashed against the wall, breaking the stones with his back. He almost went through it, I reckon... Digaia stoop up, pain shooting through his body, only to find Dante next to him, eager to bite his skin off...

Digaia leapt aside just before Dante's teeth captured his arm and bashed him on the face with his claws. Our friend yelped in pain, but quickly responded with a swipe of his own. The fiend barely dodged the blow. However, he was still not safe, for Dante pressed on the attack. He did not let him get away this time. It became a fierce struggle, in which Digaia scored more hits than he received, but did not wound his adversary too much. Dante, on the other hand, was lucky to have hit Digaia. His speed and agility were too much of a match for the clumsy beast. Yet whenever he managed to land a blow, the Heartless was twisted by pain and spat blood.

They kept on fighting like this until Dante used his tail as a whip to strike Digaia. He hurt the Heartless several times before tripping him down. The fiend was defenseless against Dante's incoming attacks and our monster showed no mercy. He bit Digaia's hand with his sharp teeth, and this last one howled in pain, feeling as if his hand was about to be torn off. Nevertheless, Digaia was not willing to go down just yet. He surrounded his body with electricity and gave Dante a fierce shock. Our friend stepped back, whimpering in pain. Digaia took advantage of this moment to leap back and conjure a terrible spell.

The enemy closed his eyes and focused all of his energy just behind him. He raised his head and murmured in a soft, yet frightening voice: "Dance of the Moon." Then, the shape of a crescent moon appeared at his back. It then broke into hundreds of blades, which were also shaped like a crescent moon, surrounded by dark energy. Digaia thrust his arms forward, sending all of the blades with blistering speed straight at Dante. They all exploded with a loud roar, covering the beast with smoke. We yelled frantically, calling his name, telling him not to die; not to give up. Digaia fell to his knees, exhausted, laughing aloud. But his joy was suddenly cut... The monster stepped out of the smoke with even more rage in his eyes. He bled from arms, legs, and torso, but did not seem to be in pain. It was not until then that Digaia's smile faded and his eyes revealed the true feeling that had begun to haunt him: fear.

Dante jumped at Digaia and trapped him with his arms and legs. Without wasting another second, he bit the fiend's shoulder with fury and shook him as if he were a shark tearing his prey into pieces. Digaia screamed in horror and pain, not without summoning electricity to his body again. Yet this time, Dante, although terribly shocked and hurt, did not let go of his adversary. The Heartless began to grow weak as all of his blood left his body. The electricity began to leave his body, causing Dante to bite down harder. At long last, he let go: Digaia lay still on the ground, trembling in cold fear. We could see that he was so badly wounded that he practically had no skin left on his arm: a white, cracked bone was all that we could see. Though the sight was not at all pretty, it was certainly relieving: Dante had won the match.

Yet it was too soon to celebrate our victory. The barrier that contained Digaia's men came down. The four of them shot blasts of energy at our friend, who crashed against a wall, far from Digaia... And the shield of energy that prevented us from entering the field still stood.

"I'm not letting this happen again!" Ken shouted.

"Let us tear this thing apart!" Octavius exclaimed.

"Hang on, Dante!" Tifa screamed and began to gather energy to her fists. We did like her and readied ourselves to deliver a fatal blow.

The four horsemen kept on shooting at Dante mercilessly. Our friend withstood the attacks as long as he could, but in the end, he fell to his knees. He then hit the ground with a whimper, losing consciousness. Jace helped Digaia to his feet, who had partially cured himself during all that racket. With the help of the four fiends, he healed all of his wounds in a matter of seconds.

"You okay, boss?" Jace asked. "See, this is what happens when you try to hog all the action."

"Jace, know when to shut up." Digaia snapped. His subordinate let out a sigh as he handed him a gun. The fiend then walked to Dante and shook his head. "I can't believe it." He muttered, angrily. His face revealed disappointment... "I really can't. You beat me. Fair and square. I really underestimated you, Dante... I shouldn't have made that mistake. Believe me when I say this because I mean it: it really hurts me to finish you off like this. I've lost my honor to you today... I don't know how I'll get it back, but I'll do my best." He pointed the gun at Dante's head. "Sorry it had to end like this, but that's just the way it goes. Good-bye, Dante."

"NOW!" Octavius screamed loudly and we all used our strength on the wall to bring it down. The energy shield was shattered by our energy beams, magic, and other secret techniques. With great anger and a battle cry, we entered the church and charged at our foes. Digaia glanced at us with disbelief in his face and muttered:

"Oh, for the love of..."

This is all that he managed to say before Leon spun in the air and delivered a kick to his face, knocking him off his feet. Ryu, Ken, and Sakura attacked Fiona; Octavius, Ryoga, and Cloud went after Tamora Leslin; Donald, Kane, and Goofy confronted Josie; Leon, Cameron and Sora made their stand against Digaia, while Tifa and I took on Jace. My friend raced at him great speed, but before she could hit him, Jace grabbed her and slammed her on the ground. He put his foot on her stomach and removed his hat.

"Well, well, aren't we feisty?" he mocked. "Pardon me, ma'am. I think that an introduction is an order. Name's Jace. I think you already know, but anyway, it's better this way. Nice to meet you."

Before he could keep on speaking (and before I could have attacked him), Tifa grabbed his foot and pushed him up. He did not let him hit the ground: while he was still in midair, my friend kicked him hard in the stomach, sending him a few steps away from us. She smiled and said:

"Well, well, we are feisty. Name's Tifa, hillbilly-boy. The pleasure is all mine."

"Tough one, eh? I like that in a lady. And quite a cute one at that, if I may say so."

"Step back, Tifa." I muttered angrily. "This piece of filth is mine."

"Oh, no you don't." Tifa answered. "We're in this together. You won't be able to take him out by yourself. So don't force it."

"Ah, but if isn't my good friend, the guy who gave me the sword." Jace laughed, getting up. "I suppose that thanks are an order. I think I'll kill you with your own blade. Does that sound like fun to you?"

"Where is she, monster?" I demanded.

"Who? Oh, the girl." He said. "Hmm... you don't really want to know where or how she is, believe me. But I'll tell you what: if by any chance you manage to beat me, I'll tell you. Of course, you won't like to hear it, but there's nothing I can do about it if you really want to know... Except kill you."

"You are so dead!" Tifa screamed and charged at him, as did I. He repelled our attacks with some martial art techniques of his own. Yet he could not hold us for long, for we were better trained than he was in this area. Tifa jumped high into the air, performing a somersault, her leg extended at the foe's face. She kicked him right in the neck, rendering him defenseless for a few seconds. My turn came. I kicked his stomach as hard as I could, and when he leaned forward, I sidestepped behind him and held him by the neck. Slowly, I began to squeeze him.

"Tell me where is she!" I demanded. One could almost say that I had gone into a killing frenzy... "Do this and I will ease your death!"

The foe then showed me his arms. I nearly lost my grasp as I saw that he had seven cannons on each one. But I held on tightly and tried to break his neck. Yet it would not be that simple: Jace raised his left arm to his mouth and said: "Timeout." The cannons quickly rotated and stopped in a second; then he aimed at my arm and fired. I let out a yell of pain as I stepped back, with my arm frozen in some sort of ice sheet. I could not move it.

"You think it would be that easy?" Jace sneered. "I've only just started. Your sword is fun to use, but I think I'll leave it for later..."

"Forgot about me, punk?" Tifa roared as she kicked both arms out of her way and began to pummel Jace with her fists and legs. She finally knocked him to the ground by elbowing his chest, but before she could deliver the final blow, Jace whispered at his right arm:

"Haze." He then fired at Tifa a screen of black smoke. My friend stepped back, while coughing, unable to breathe. Holding my breath, I entered the dark fog and carried her away. Moments later, the ice on my arm had melted and Tifa was back to her feet. With determined fists, we attacked Jace once more.

Our other companions were doing much like Tifa and I: holding up the enemy. Octavius, Ryoga, and Cloud attacked the Lucien with great strength, yet not too quickly. The four warriors were the same: they were a bit slow in their movements, yet they were unbelievably powerful. It was truly a clash of titans. Tamora Leslin used his tail as a whip, much like Dante had done so against Digaia previously, striking all of them with ease. He did not go unpunished, however, for Ryoga had destroyed the ground below him many times, damaging him with the rocks that flew into the air; Cloud had only hit him a few times, but that sword of his does not do light damage, and Octavius, whose katana was in its sheathe at the moment, had delivered a few punches to him on the face, making him stagger with each blow.

All of a sudden, Tamora Leslin stepped back and opened his jaws. He then fired a blue beam of energy at the three fighters. They all managed to dodge the powerful projectile in time. As they fell on the ground with their hands covering their heads, a wall of the church came crashing down. Ryoga was the one who had it worse: while the beam had not hit him cleanly, it had brushed his leg, leaving it terribly bruised. Luckily, Donald was near, and healed him in a matter of seconds, while Goofy and Kane protected him from Josie.

This last Heartless was also a pest, much like Jace. Seeing that Goofy and Donald were not going to let Donald defenseless, he threw a white rose at them. It exploded, creating a white fog that not only engulfed our three friends, but all of us, as well.

"Yee-haw!" Josie screamed from outside the fog. "Looks to me that we caught ourselves a lot of fishes! Who wants to slice one first?"

"Slice? I don't know about slicing, but one thing I do know, though..." Jace muttered. I could see his silhouette right in front of me. I was about to attack him, but I froze as he raised his right arm to his mouth. "Nuke." A flash of yellow light came from where he was and a deafening sound followed it.

"GET DOWN!" I yelled at my companions as I grabbed my nearest friend (Tifa) and threw her at the ground. I covered her body with mine as a missile past right over our heads, clearing the fog and bringing down another wall. And to think that it was a church, that which we were destroying...

"Well, it isn't as elegant as using a sword, but that would've worked." Digaia chuckled. I could see that he was quite well, now...

"Don't encourage him, man!" Josie intervened. "Jace, goddamn it, dude! You're supposed to leave us some!"

"They didn't die, partner, so quit complaining!" Jace laughed.

"You will be the one dying today, fiend!" I growled. I got up to my feet and gathered energy as quickly as I could in the palms of my hands. "HADOKEN!"

"Oh, sh..." Jace leapt aside just in time to evade my projectile. The rest of my friends got to their feet as well and pressed on the attack.

I raced at the foe, determined to jump on his head and end with his life, but these Heartless looked out for one another as well. Suddenly, I felt a throbbing pain on my back and fell down hard. It hurt as if I had been stabbed. I was not too far from the truth: Fiona had flown just past me and had sliced my back with her sharp talons. Ryu, Ken, and Sakura fended off the creature by throwing waves of energy at her. My master suddenly unleashed a deadly projectile, which headed straight at the monster. Fiona landed on the ground and wrapped her wings around herself. The Hadoken bounced off her, doing nothing more than knocking her to the ground. Neither of us could believe how resistant those wings were... She responded to the aggression by hitting the ground. I do not know what sort of devilry she used, but as her fist touched the floor, blades rose from the ground at great speed, along with fire explosions, as if those traps had always been there. Sakura was terribly injured by the attack, and fell to the ground. Ryu tried to get her to her feet, but she had been knocked out. Ryoga, filled by rage as he saw this, fought against the beast in Sakura's stead, keeping her busy along with Ken, giving Ryu time to exit the church with Sakura. He hid her somewhere safe and returned with an enraged stare in his eyes, delivering a terrible kick at Fiona, knocking her down again. Yet the beast never held back... she summoned a horrible specter: a horned skeleton that flew straight at Ryu. It passed right through him as if it were wind come from the seventh circle of hell. My master yelled in pain and fell to his knees. However, he was still conscious and willing to give battle. He shook his head and leapt high into the air, his fist aiming at Fiona, who was flying straight at him, no doubt attempting to deliver the final blow.

"SHORYUKEN!" he cried.

The creature fell headfirst to the ground. The attack had been brutal: she did not get up right away. When she finally got to her feet, we saw that the scarf that was covering the lower part of her face had gone. We understood why she wore it straight away... her jaw was the one of a skeleton, cold and dead.

"Oh, that's disgusting!" Ken yelled.

The fiend's eyes glowed with fury as she launched herself against the three warriors.

Meanwhile, Tifa and I had once again engaged combat with Jace. Slowly, we were gaining the upper hand. Jace tried to make us step back by using his arms' cannons. He had whispered "Napalm" and "Shocker" to his right arm previously: the first attack had been a thin line of flames that had nearly scorched us, but we had been skillful enough to evade it and counterattack, and the second cannon had shot a bolt of electricity at us, which hurt us a bit, yet not enough to knock us out. And he had also used his left arm after whispering "Freezer" to it to shoot a blast of ice that froze my legs. Tifa kept him busy while I shattered the ice with my fists and when I was free, I joined my friend in the attack.

Leon, Cameron, and Sora had suffered some wounds against Digaia, but they were doing a good job in keeping him off our backs. Actually, they were giving him plenty of battle, perhaps a bit more than he could handle. Digaia tried to cut them with his talons and sword (which he had grabbed right after Josie had set up the diversion with the white rose), but they parried the blows with their swords and counterattacked with fire spells. Digaia's right arm was terribly burnt because of this. Even though he had unleashed new spells against them, Sora, Cameron and Leon found their way around them and hurt the fiend. From time to time, he would summon to himself a diamond shield and deflect all of the blows coming from either of the two. Yet he was unable to conjure anything else and, in perfect coordination and teamwork, Sora, Cameron, or Leon would distract him enough so that the other could attack from behind. He summoned a strange sphere a couple of times that flew high in the air and then made a rain of spears of energy fall all over the church. This actually damaged us more than our two friends. I got stabbed by one of them in the back myself, as if I was not hurt enough. Yet Leon, Sora, and Cameron parried all of the spears save a few, which did not injure them greatly. Digaia's electricity technique was probably that which gave our friends most trouble. He was skilled at grasping the blades with his hands, and when he did this, he shocked the attacker. But the fighters quickly changed their strategy to suit this aggression: Leon summoned his strength to his sword and filled it with glowing energy, making it longer and fiercer; Sora relied on his Strike Raid technique (throwing his Keyblade as a boomerang, that is) to hurt Digaia from afar, and Cameron used a gun that he had gotten from a fallen soldier right before we had arrived at the church. Although it was not as damaging as our other two friends' attacks, it certainly did prove a pest to Digaia, for while he was busy dodging the shots, Sora and Leon pressed on the attack.

Donald, Kane, and Goofy were the ones that had most trouble. Josie was easily the most skilled fighter of the lot. He kept on throwing black and red roses at our friends. The first ones exploded as they fell on the ground, sending both the knight and the sorcerer against the church's walls, while the red roses housed a spell that, when unleashed, trapped our friend's legs in the form of vines with thorns. Nevertheless, Donald's spells were quick enough to hit the enemy many times, Goofy's shield was good for both beating Josie on the head whenever he could or to deflect his hands whenever they glowed, for when he managed to touch either of our friends, he drained some energy from their bodies, and Kane's jumping ability, which was even greater than Dante's, got him out of the enemy's way. He then landed behind him and attacked mercilessly.

Octavius and Cloud were also winning the battle against Tamora Leslin. It was not before long before the monster, after having created some sort of energy field around him that had exploded and slightly damaged all of us and having used her claws to unleash waves of energy, had to resort to his most deadly technique. He howled in rage and his fur turned into a blue, living flame. Cloud and Octavius leapt back as the fiend charged at them with speed, knocking them off their feet. Even Octavius yelped in pain as his skin was burnt by the Lucien's horrific attack. The fiend charged at our friends again and again, turning the tables on them. He did not even give them a chance to attack. Yet they noticed something: with each charge, the flames on his body seemed to dim for a second. With time, this moment began to last longer. They realized that all they had to do was to stay alive until the fire had entirely consumed the Lucien's energy.

Ryoga's anger was paying off, I must add. The blast that came from his hand were fueled by his despair and sudden hatred, making them almost as powerful as my master's ultimate technique. Fiona's wings were quite damaged from all of their blows and Ken had already succeeded in disarming one of her arms. Fiona desperately tried to turn the tide of the fight again by using some sort of energy field to grasp as many bricks as she could and by throwing at them with all of her might. A few of them reached their targets, yet did not prove lethal... Ryu yelled at the other fighters to keep the monster busy while he focused his energy to release a blast that, he claimed, would surely destroy the enemy.

Jace was running out of tricks as well. He had used almost all of his cannons so many times that we already knew which attack came as he whispered it to his arm. We did not let him get far from us and kept on attacking him at close range. But there was one cannon that he had not used at all and seeing that we were not letting him breathe, he took advantage of our proximity...

"Sword!" a long blade came out of his arm and he began to swing it from left to right. Tifa jumped back in time to avoid his furious attacks, while I ducked underneath them. He faced me with a devilish smile and said: "What's the matter, partner? Thought you had me all figured out?"

"Do you think that you have won the battle, abomination?" I challenged. "You are sadly mistaken."

"You're quite stubborn. You remind me of someone. Now, who could that be...? Oh, I remember! Your girlfriend was also a pain, you know..."

"You are going to wish you never said that..." I growled. I could not bear him to talk about Ukyo that way and I lost my mind to those words. I suppose that is what Jace wanted. As I lunged at him furiously, he bruised my legs with his sword and knocked me down.

"Whoa!" he laughed. "There's a good boy! Just like a maddened bull! You should've been more careful, fella. Try remembering that in your next life." He got ready to chop my head off, but Tifa quickly leapt at his arm and caught it between her arms and legs. She knocked Jace to the ground and used both her arms and legs and even Jace's elbow as a lever to destroy his cannons. One hand had been disarmed, but the left arm was still armed. Tifa got up and got ready to finish the fight but suddenly, a burst of light hit her from behind, making her fall to her knees. Surprisingly, Jace rolled out of the way of another burst. He turned to Josie, who had knocked Donald out of combat with the technique that had nearly killed my friend and his companion.

"Josie, be careful when you're using that, stupid!" he roared.

"Sorry, bud. At least I already got myself one of these losers!" The fiend replied. Kane and Goofy were not intimidated by the remark or by the fact that they had lost one warrior. They charged at him with great speed, Goofy leading the way, blocking all of his attacks. The knight hit his face with his shield and knocked him down. This time, Kane spared no mercy. With a battle cry, he raised his sword high into the air and brought it down upon Josie's chest. The fiend groaned in pain as his eyes' pupils began to disappear. "No... no way..." he muttered. A drop of blood ran from the corner of his mouth and then he moved no more.

"Oh, jackass..." Jace muttered, glancing at his dead companion. "That's what he gets for being such a showoff. Oh, well... guess I better not make the same mistake." He pointed at Tifa with his cannon and said: "That's why I'm going to finish you off right now... Big Bang."

It was my turn now to save my friend. I raced at Jace as fast as I could and mimicked Tifa's moves. I managed to do this right as Jace's cannon fired a red orb that flew right past Tifa's head and brought down a column of the church and part of the ceiling with it. I punched the artifact as hard as I could and broke it. Jace rolled away from me and I smiled at him triumphantly.

"Give up, Jace." I said. "There is no way you can win this battle, now."

"You've got it all wrong, partner." He snickered. "You see, I've got your sword right here..." he pulled out Renamark from his back and pointed its edge at me. "And I'm quicker than ever. See, after I kill you, I'm going to kill that cute, little friend of yours. That'll get me a bunch of points, too."

"Wilheim... run...!" Tifa said. I turned to her and saw that she had already fallen to the ground and was struggling just not to faint. Without heeding her, I faced Jace again and repeated:

"I will warn you one more time: there is no way you can win this battle, now."

"Whatever, stupid." He laughed. "Take this!" he took a step forward and swung Renamark at my head. I ducked underneath the blow just in time. Indeed, he was quicker than before... He raised Renamark high above his head and let it come down with great fury. This time, I did not move.

"...WHAT?" Jace exclaimed, filled by disbelief. I had stopped Renamark with my bare hands right before it cut my face, just the way Ryu had taught me to do so. "How is this possible?" the fiend muttered. "A whole unit of soldiers fell to me when I unsheathed this blade! What the hell is wrong with it now?"

"I warned you, fiend." I said devilishly. Renamark began to shine and was engulfed by flames. Jace's face was twisted in terror as he saw that the fire was not burning my hands. With a quick movement, I took Renamark off his grasp and spun it in the air, only to catch it by the hilt a moment later. "You fool! You cannot use the full power of Renamark unless it has been passed on to you!" I explained. "This mighty blade will never obey you, Heartless bastard! Now tell me where she is and I shall spare you! I suggest that you take this opportunity, for this time, there will be no mercy for you!"

Jace growled and shook his head.

"You still think you can beat me?" he challenged. "That girl is as good as dead! Just shut up and fight!"

"Have it your way." I hissed.

Jace lunged at me, attempting to knock me down with a punch. Yet Renamark's power had increased my power ten times. I grasped his fist with ease and broke his hand with my fingers.

"AAAHHH!" the fiend cried. "WHAT THE HELL?"

"BEGONE!" I yelled and swung Renamark upward. I barely touched Jace's skin, but my sword's fire had already begun to consume him. It was not until then that I regained both knowledge and reason and knew that I had to put the fire on his body out. Perhaps later... I thought. I summoned a quick wave of energy to my hands and shot it at him. "HADOKEN!" Jace flew across what was left of a window and fell in the snowy field outside. He did not get up. I turned to Tifa and raced at her side. I held her head and turned her to face me. She smiled at me and muttered:

"How did you do that...?"

"The power of Renamark cannot harm me as long as it is mine." I answered. I noticed that she did not have much time before darkness invaded her mind and made her sleep. "Rest, Tifa. We will win this battle."

"I... I..."

"Speak no more. I shall take you outside. Should you wake up, remain there until you have recovered your strength. I cannot fight this battle with a steady mind if I know that yet another one of my friends is in mortal danger."

Her smile grew sweeter as she closed her eyes. I carried her away from the battle. As I was about to exit the church, I turned around to see how Octavius and Cloud were doing against the Lucien. Tamora Leslin's body still had blue flames covering it, but he seemed to be in extraordinary pain. He could no longer move as freely and as quickly as he did at the beginning of the battle. The fire was starting to wane. Cloud attacked with a fierce beam of energy come from his sword, while Octavius took out his shotgun and fired a few bursts at the fiend. Tamora Leslin howled in pain as he fell to his knees, exhausted. It was at that very moment that the flames faded. Cloud and Octavius spared no mercy: they raced at the enemy with determination and swung their swords at his head and torso. The sliced body of the beast fell lifelessly on the floor as the were-bear sheathed his katana and the warrior spun his blade victoriously in the air.

I took advantage of this moment to get Tifa out of the church. I noticed Sakura not too far away from the entrance. Her body was just behind a small bush. As I walked to her, I realized that she had woken up, and that she was freezing. I lowered Tifa next to her and put my hand on her forehead.

"Are you alright, Sakura?" I asked.

"I've been better..." she replied. "At least it's not as cold as the house of Aquarius..."

"Can you get up?"

"Not really, but I can keep both of us warm." She said, pointing at Tifa.

"That is more than enough. I entrust her to your care, then."

"How is the battle going?"

"Kane has killed Josie with his sword, while both Octavius and Cloud slaughtered the Lucien. For our part, we have already defeated Jace."

"Is he dead?"

"I do not know. I hope he is not, because I want to ask him about Ukyo's whereabouts."

"I see... Then go and help the rest of the others, Wilheim. You can do it together!"

"DENJIN – HADOKEN!" cried Ryu from inside the church. A bolt of lightning came out of the window and zoomed past our heads. We stayed low for a few more seconds and then, I got up and saw what had happened. Ryoga and Ken had distracted Fiona long enough for Ryu to gather all of his energy to his hands in the form of an electrical wave and had managed to hit Fiona with it. The monster shook violently as the electricity flew all over her body. She opened her mouth in pain, but no screams came out of it. After a few instants, its hands exploded and so did her eyes. She fell to the ground, smoke rising from her burnt skin. I smiled and said to Sakura, right before I leapt onto the window and back into battle:

"Ryu has killed Fiona! Digaia is the only fiend left! Now there is no way we can possibly lose!"

"Hurry up and get him!" she replied with a spark of hope on her eyes.

My smile grew bigger as I entered the church, noticing that all swords and fists were aiming only at Digaia now, who was badly hurt from Sora, Leon, and Cameron's restless attacks. I approached the Keyblade bearer and put my hand on his shoulder.

"Well done, Sora."

"Thanks, Wilheim, but we're still not done." He replied. Then he asked the monster: "Where is Ukyo?"

"You're still with that?" the enemy answered. "I don't believe that..." he looked around and saw all of his dead companions. "I can't believe those four were so stupid..." he paused for a second and glanced at us. "No. They weren't bad. You guys were better than we thought: I think we underestimated you."

"I asked you a question; I suggest you answer it!" Sora demanded.

"I'll answer that question, all right..." Digaia muttered, smiling wickedly. "But only if you defeat me."

"It seems to me that you're either blind or crazy." Leon intervened. "Look around you once again. Your partners are dead. There's nobody here to help your sorry butt."

"Oh, but there is..." he sneered. "There is... I don't suppose you thought this was going to be that easy!" and so he raised his arms and let out a deafening yell, making the ground under our feat tremble with his voice. A dark aura of energy surrounded him as four streams of purple smoke entered his body. We looked around in confusion and saw that these streams came from the four horsemen. It was obvious that the fiend was absorbing their Heartless essence to become more powerful! Cameron and I had the same idea, but he attacked first, proving to me that it was useless to try to hit him at that moment, for as he swung his blade at Digaia's neck, a field of energy drove him back and made him crash against what was left of one of the church's walls. Digaia laughed aloud as he absorbed all of his companions' energy and healed his wounds. A vortex suddenly appeared from the nothing and swallowed him. His laughs echoed through it as they became more and more like growls. A fell wind came from the vortex, which was even colder than the snow that covered the ground outside. And then, as suddenly as it had started, the process ended. The vortex disappeared, leaving Digaia in front of us with new powers and a new look. He had become, too, a Lucien: his eyes were no longer gold or purple. They were filled with a furious red color. He chuckled again as drool oozed from his mouth, which was now riddled with sharp teeth. His legs had transformed into scaly paws with claws as sharp as the talons he had used earlier. His size had become rather intimidating: he was even as tall as Octavius. Indeed he seemed to be the very spawn of Satan come to life.

"This can't be right..." Ken muttered in a desperate breath. "He's grown so much powerful...!"

"It's like he's in oblivion mode!" Ryoga exclaimed.

"You got that right." Digaia groaned. "Though at only fifty percent of its total power. Yet that'll be more than enough to finish the lot of you. You'd best start praying, because this time, I'm going to tear your heads off your bodies!"

"Cameron! Cameron, come in!"

We all turned to face our friend. The voice that had spoken had been Takeesha's, and it had come from a small communicator Cameron held in his belt. He did not grab it, for he was petrified by Digaia's power, much like the rest of us. He could only listen to it in dismay...

"Cameron, we need back up!" Takeesha wailed. "The Heartless have taken the wall and are gaining ground in the city! They've killed most of the archers and the gunners and my people have been decimated! Please, come back! We need you guys! Dante? Where are you? Dante, please!"

"So things are going well." Digaia said. "I suppose the army doesn't need my help. Either way, I'll lend them a hand... as soon as I kill you all."

"...Well, I don't care if you're in oblivion mode!" Sora exclaimed, breaking the curse Digaia had cast upon us with his awesome power. "I'm taking you down! Make no mistake about it: you're a dead man!"

"No: you're the dead man." The monster groaned and charged at Dante. He took a swipe at him with his fierce claws, hurting him badly and knocking him back. Donald quickly raced to his side and began to conjure a healing spell. Digaia tried to follow, but we all blocked his path. He laughed and said: "Think you can stop me? Try this on for size!" he howled, extending his arms to the sides as his fur became a living flame. "ANUBIS'S WRATH!"

"Great, just what we needed." Cloud grumbled. He did not have time to say anything else, for Digaia swung his arm at him, hitting his face with the back of his hand. He fell to the ground away from us terribly burnt. Again, Donald ran at him to cure him while we tried to slow down the monster. Sora joined us this time and threw his Keyblade at the fiend. The weapon bounced off him as if it had been a stone thrown at a train... Digaia charged at him once more, but this time, Ken stopped him with an energy wave. Digaia's eyes turned to the fighter, who was still frozen because of the lack of strength he experienced momentarily after successfully unleashing a Hadoken. He launched himself at him and this time there was no stopping him. I tried to get on his path put he pushed me aside with his flaming hands, hurting my chest. He then swiped at Ken, propelling him high into the air and then leapt after him only to strike him down and shoot black bolts of energy at him. Ken yelled in pain as the energy hit his body, leaving him unconscious.

"Ken!" Ryu cried, kneeling next to our friend. He raised his head at Digaia, who laughed wickedly, and spoke to him in anger. "Now you've done it!" he arched his back to one side and began to focus his power on his leg. "All of you, grab on to something!" he cried to us.

We nodded and did as he said. We held on to whatever solid object we could find as we felt Ryu's energy grow at an alarming rate. I grabbed onto a pillar and closed my eyes. I do not suppose that the rest of my companions knew what he was up to. Nevertheless, one who could feel his energy would certainly had been afraid. I did not look at Digaia at that moment, yet I can tell you that he was going to be surprised...

"SHINKU – TATSUMAKISENPPUKIAKU!" Ryu wailed, releasing the power within. I felt a warm wind on my back that quickly turned into a hurricane that tried to tear my legs apart. I cried loudly as I held to the pillar as hard as I could. I slowly turned my head back and saw that Digaia had not been able to escape Ryu's powerful technique. Even though the flame that covered his body was burning Ryu's foot, the warrior kept on spinning in the air, kicking the monster's face with great speed and strength. At last, he fell on the ground, not before giving one last kick to the Heartless. This latter rolled over the ground and crashed against a wall. We had beaten the church so badly that the wall did not resist the impact and came crashing down on top of him. Ryu shook his head for a moment and then put himself on guard. We all joined him while Donald tried to wake up Ken with his healing magic, not to avail. Digaia broke the bricks that lay on top of him and rose to his feet, spitting blood from his mouth. The fire on his fur was gone.

"Impressive." He sneered. "But you'll need a lot more than that to take me down."

"It's still early, Digaia." Leon assured. "You haven't seen anything."

"Neither have you, losers." The Heartless replied, raising his arms again. He did not summon flames to him again, but instead three swords that surrounded him and spun close to one another, as if a poltergeist were manipulating them. With an hysterical laugh, he ran at Leon, swiping at him fiercely, cutting the wind around him with his claws. Our friend, whose sword was still infused with magic and power, parried both of the swords and the claws rather well and counterattacked by leaping high into the air and slashing the beast with his blade. Digaia fell back, growling in anger, seeing that Leon had not only stopped his attack, but had shattered the swords.

"How was that?" our companion chuckled as we surrounded the monster.

"Not bad... But how's THIS!" Digaia suddenly cried as he summoned a huge star in a pentagon. We did not know what to do, but leaping back would have been a good move, for in a second, an explosion surrounded him, throwing us all back. I heard a loud ringing in my ears and sat down without moving for a moment, feeling as if the world about me was being attacked by a tremor. Digaia charged leapt into the air and opened his mouth, channeling all of his energy to this point. Then he shot a blue beam at us. Luckily we moved in time. However, the ground suddenly exploded a few instants after the beam hit it. The monster we were facing was indeed a formidable opponent come out of Hell itself. I crashed against a bench, even dizzier than before.

"Oww..." Ryoga muttered as he stood up. He was only a few feet away from me and Digaia was facing him. My friend was not intimidated. "You like explosions, don't you?" he grumbled. "Then take this!" he delved his finger into the ground, causing it to break into tiny pieces. Digaia was not hurt by the explosion, yet he did became distracted as he covered his eyes from the sharp wood. I quickly got up and slashed at the monster. Digaia moved just in time to avoid getting his arm cut off, but was still wounded by Renamark's awesome sharpness and power. He was about to counterattack when Ryoga let loose his energy wave, sending the fiend far away.

Goofy ran past Digaia, letting his shield crash on his face. The monster growled in anger and got up only to get knocked down again by Cameron and Kane. The latter had used his sword on Digaia's legs while Cameron had swung his blade at his chest. They cut him, but not badly. It seemed that only Renamark's fire could go through that evil flesh. The Heartless, madder than ever, stood up faster than the eye could see and swiped at both of them with anger. Each blow was slower, yet more powerful than the last. When Cameron and Kane could not stand any longer, Digaia spun on his foot and hit them with his tail. Both men fell unconscious close to Ken. The fiend laughed as he licked the blood that came from his chest. Ryoga and I looked at each other as Goofy joined us and put ourselves on guard. Digaia growled and ran at us, but stopped short as roar answered his threat...

An enormous bear charged at him and brought down both of its paws on his face with anger. The fiend fell down yelling in pain as he touched his wounds. It seemed as if he still felt the claws of the bear deep within. No doubt Octavius had transformed into this to battle in another way. As Digaia got up, Cloud, Leon, Ryu, Donald, and Sora joined the animal, aiming their weapons at the Heartless. Digaia groaned and raised his arms again, reading himself to conjure more black magic, I deem. Yet before he could cast the spell, a figure appeared from the nothing. It leapt at Digaia's head and began to scratch it frantically. The enemy cried as he grasped the creature and threw it against a wall. He rubbed his eyes, for blood had poured in them. The creature was not hurt: it had bounced off the wall and had landed just a few steps away from Ryoga, Goofy, and myself.

"Felicia?" I muttered. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to look for you, guys! We're getting our butts kicked by the Heartless!" the were-cat explained. "I was going to ask you to go back, but since I've noticed that you're already fighting the Big Kahuna and that you're doing well, I thought: 'What the heck? Let's beat this clown and get this over with!'"

"You are really starting to annoy me now, idiots!" Digaia roared. "I'm sick of you! I'm going to kill you all right now!"

"You've been saying that for the last ten minutes!" Leon answered.

"Here's a bit of your own medicine, big palooka!" Donald cried, as he conjured a gravity spell that squeezed Digaia's bones. The fiend yelled in pain, trying to free himself from the bubble of power the sorcerer had locked him in. He dashed at him as quickly as he could, but Cloud pushed him back with his blade, while Octavius bit his arm. Soon, we all charged at him and hit him at least once.

The fiend was weak and had nowhere to flee. He attempted to harm us with another explosion, but we were expecting something of the sort, and leapt back just before he let loose his might. He then fell to his knees, breathing hard, blood pouring out of his body. His eyes shone like fire as he stood high and let out a chilling howl. A shadow covered the church and we all looked up, gasping in terror as we noticed how a meteor quickly approached to the battlefield. Cloud tried to destroy it with energy come from his sword; Ryu, Ryoga, and I used energy waves to bring it to a halt, and Sora and Donald used magic on it, but it was no use. The meteor was going to fall and crush us all...

But just then, as suddenly as it had appeared, it vanished. Digaia let out another howl, yet this one had been a howl of pain. We faced him and saw that Dante had come to his senses and was biting him on the shoulder. Digaia grabbed our friend by the head and threw him out of the church. Dante whimpered as he hit the snow and stayed still. The Heartless fired several beams of energy at us in one last, desperate attempt to hold us back. We blocked them with our weapons or evaded them by leaping back or to our sides... except for Sora. The Keyblade master had rolled forth, avoiding all of the blasts, and ran at the fiend as fast as he could. Digaia tried to cut off his head with a quick, deadly swing of his tail. The boy parried it with the skill one would expect to see in a knight of old. He used his claws against him, but Sora ducked underneath each attack with blistering speed. At last, he cornered the foe and mimicked one of the techniques he had seen Cloud execute prior to the battle.

"CROSS-SLASH!" he cried, swinging the Keyblade from one side to another three times. Three slashes at three parts of Digaia's body: two to the legs and one to his left arm. Each blow was lethal. Digaia fell down, whimpering in pain and horror, realizing that Sora had just cut off three extremities.

"AARGHH!" Digaia roared. His voice reflected something I would not believe in a Heartless: he actually felt humiliated. He kept on groaning as we all sighed in relief. The battle was finally over.

We approached the foe at a slow pace. And suddenly, a glitter of light caught our attention. It had come from the altar, which was all but ruined, where a great cross still stood. After a few seconds, it shone again. We looked at it closer and realized that it had been our salvation: Gaia's keyhole lay in front of us, right below the cross...

"All right!" Cloud exclaimed, putting his sword on his back. "This is it... your army will soon be nothing but a big bunch of dust, Digaia. Come on, Sora. Do your stuff."

Sora aimed the tip of the Keyblade at the keyhole, but no shinning spark came from it. He lowered his head and his weapon back to Digaia.

"What are you doing, Sora?" Leon asked. "Get this over with, already! The Silver Garrison's going to get crushed and our friends are going to die unless you seal that thing right now!"

"Not before he speaks." I intervened, stepping forth. Sora turned to me and nodded his head. I walked next to him and stood silent as he sighed and said to Digaia:

"You're beaten, Heartless. Now it's time to fulfill your promise, see if you can go with some honor. Spill the beans already."

"Heh... heheh..." Digaia chuckled, spitting blood with every laugh. "It's too late. Your good friend, Riku... he's gathered all of the Princesses of Heart at Hollow Bastion. Soon, the final keyhole will be opened..."

Sora knelt and looked at him in the eyes.

"So that's it." He guessed. "Ukyo is a Princess of Heart... isn't she?"

"Heh... heheh..." the fiend replied, nodding his head, striking both fear and despair in my heart. If my darling was indeed a Princess of Heart... then hers would have surely be stolen by now. "You'll never catch him in time. Plus, the whole fleet of Heartless is waiting for you just outside the planet. Those ships won't vanish, since they didn't come from this keyhole... You won't ever leave here alive..."

"Shut up." I snapped.

"Oh... I touched a sensitive spot, didn't I?" the Heartless mocked.

"Sora, seal that keyhole. Let this fiend vanish into the nothingness of the abyss." I said to my friend. My voice had come out not in a command, but in a plea. I turned my head away from Digaia and looked at the keyhole, struggling to keep the tears in my eyes back.

"Farewell, Digaia." Sora muttered. He raised the Keyblade and pointed it at the keyhole. This time, he did not hesitate. The beam of pure light hit the shadowy crack and made it disappear. I heard Digaia yelp in pain and stop breathing. It was not until then that I turned around and saw him as he disappeared. He turned into blue light which was quickly consumed by the dawn...

Sakura and Tifa entered the church shortly after, helping each other as they walked. Ken, Kane, and Cameron slowly came to their senses. Takeesha's voice was heard on the latter's radio.

"They're gone!" she exclaimed, cheerfully. "The Heartless disappeared! We're saved! Thank you, guys! Thank you, Dante!" a loud roar of happiness also came from the radio. The entire garrison yelled in relief and cried triumphantly.

I turned to Dante, who was still lying outside the church, on the snow. Luckily, he had not gotten up. I remembered his words and said to Cameron in a low voice:

"Call the rest of our companions. Tell Shun that he must come over immediately. We will need his chains before our friend awakens." And then I walked away from my companions, to the church's exit. Cloud caught up with me and stopped me by putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Come on, Wilheim." He said. "Everything is going to be cool..."

"Spare your sympathy." I replied dryly. "Let me be."

"But..."

"Let me be."

With a sigh, the swordsman stepped back and let me go out of the church. I then heard Octavius's voice: apparently, he had changed back to a human. I did not heed him, however. I left the temple in silence, my heart beating slowly and painfully. No one followed me.

I raised my eyes at the sky and began to weep silently. I could not find anything to do. I could only think about crying. I could only think about her. I could only torment myself by thinking that I would never feel the soft touch of her hands on my cheeks; I would never again feel her loving lips brushing against mine. I would never see her eyes, letting them take me to the very Heavens with their mere glitter and I would not listen to her beautiful voice, that which sounded like an angel's whisper. I untied my headband and cleaned my bitter tears with it while sobbing softly. I knew now that I would be unable to ever find happiness again...

"Hey... hey!" said a voice that came from behind me. I dried my tears and turned to it. With an empty stare, I approached Jace, who had been calling me for ages, it seemed. I knelt beside him and saw him grinning. That smile stabbed my heart like a cold knife, yet I did nothing rash. I was too crushed to take any actions at the moment.

"So you are still alive." I said. "The essence of the Heartless has left your body, but I still feel evil in you. No matter. You are useless and weak."

"Heh... you think?" Jace answered. He paused for a second and then added: "I've taken you've heard. Right?"

I looked away.

"Yeah, thought so." He went on. "Yeah, she's a Princess of Heart, alright. And so is Dante's mom, Leyna." I faced him again as he said these words. "Yeah... Digaia didn't quite kill her. He just captured her and kept her on the Sky Castle until Riku and Maleficent came for her and your girlfriend. They left about two hours before we attacked the city."

I stood up and walked around. Jace called me again and again, yet I did not answer. Despair had nearly taken my heart and mind, but somehow, I had managed to overcome my sadness and think positively, at least for a moment. I quickly knelt beside him again and asked: "Can their hearts be saved?"

"What?" he blurted out. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Can they be brought back to their bodies again? Can they be restored?" I insisted.

"Why the hell should I tell you, partner?" he replied.

"Because I will spare your life if you do." I answered. This time, my voice had been firm and menacing.

"Really? What makes you think that I want your pity?"

"Because you have tasted Renamark's fire. And I deem that you do not want it burning on your skin again." I stared at him silently for a long while. At last, his smile began to fade. "I thought so." I whispered. Thus, he smiled again and said:

"You're good, partner. Better than I expected..." he chuckled before going on. "I don't have the least idea. If you really want to know that badly, you'd best get your butt to Hollow Bastion and ask Maleficent."

"Where is this Hollow Bastion?" I asked.

"Why the heck do you care? You won't get pass the Heartless fleet, bud. You're going to get your heads blown off as soon as you exit the planet."

"I asked you a question, Jace, I suggest you answer it." I threatened.

"Whatever. I don't know where it is per se. But you can go to the Sky Castle." I looked up and noticed that the flying fortress still floated in the sky above. I suppose that no Heartless were needed to run the thing... "Everything that happens there is recorded. You'll find Hollow Bastion's coordinates in there."

"I see..." I muttered. "Is there anything else?"

"I don't think there is. Will you keep your promise?"

"I will. However, I will take you to the Silver Garrison. I suppose you will be judged there. Whatever your punishment is, it will not be in my hands." I stood up and extended my hand to him, waiting for him to take it so I could help him to his feet. But instead, he laughed...

"You know?" he sneered. "You should've seen the look on your girlfriend's eyes when I told her I'd kill you personally... I've never seen anyone so damn afraid... The bitch even begged me to let you live! Can you believe her? What a loser!"

I slowly pulled my hand back.

"You know...?" he continued. "I'm glad she's the one dying. I sure hope that bitch's heart stays lost forever... 'Cause I'll never forget the way she pleaded me to spare you! It was the funniest thing I've ever seen!"

My heart could not take it anymore and yielded to the darkness. All the thought in my mind were deafened by voices of hatred. The entire world disappeared: only Jace was left behind. The bastard's laugh pierced through me like a boiling spear. He had finally succeeded in turning me into a mindless beast. I forgot the oath I had taken before God... for my heart had fallen into complete madness and hatred.

"If you think that was amusing..." I whispered wickedly as I reached for Renamark. "Then no doubt you will find this hilarious."

Jace's smile faded quickly and his eyes were filled by dread. I could see that he wanted to yell for help. It was a matter of seconds before the cry escaped his lips. And so I threw myself on top of him and buried my sword in his belly. That completely quieted him. I looked at him in the eyes and saw my reflection in them. There was nothing but hatred in my stare: my eyes ceased to be the ones of a human. They were not the ones of a vampire, either. I was a beast determined to kill and no one around was there to stop my bloody frenzy... And I did not care about my eyes at that moment. Rather, I tried to make them as horrid as I could. At that moment, I wanted Jace's last seconds to be filled by dread and pain.

"Why... This is funny, is it not?" I groaned with an evil smile, delving Renamark deeper into him. My hatred turned into flames that escaped from Renamark's steel and started to devour Jace's innards. A tear escaped the corner of his eye as he twitched and kicked, trying to free himself from my grasp. "What is the matter?" I asked in an enraged breath, yet my smile did not fade. "Why are you not laughing? I thought pain seemed hilarious to you. No? What a pity." It was not until then that my face changed. I became a monster with nothing but hatred within. I turned into something menacing and diabolic. I had become the very same thing I sought to destroy. "I hope you are in pain, Heartless fiend... I hope you and your companions meet a fate worse than death... Hear me now, Jace! I am glad you are afraid! For fear will not help you where you are going!"

Jace moaned in pain as Renamark unleashed its fire within him in its most furious form. His eyes rolled back as he let his head drop on the snow. Slowly, my sword's flames gnawed his skin until there was nothing left of him but his skeleton. I got up, madness in my eyes, and let out a laugh... But as I stepped back, I tripped with a branch and fell on my back. And so, I became myself again.

I shook my head and glanced at Renamark. After sheathing it, I realized what had happened and let out a gasp of fear. I crawled next to Jace's skeleton and put my hand in my mouth. It was no use, though. I regurgitated. And after I had cleaned my mouth with some snow that was nearby, I looked at him again. My heart pressed against my ribs and I felt pain in my chest. The air in my lungs escaped my body and I did not breath again for a long while.

"No..." I muttered to myself. "No, no, no..." I thought about the impossible. I thought about going to Donald and ask him to bring Jace back to life. But I soon realized that no force on this world or any other would be able to revive the fallen foe. I had taken his life and by doing so, I had broken my oath. And what was worse; unlike Magnus, I had promised him that I would let him live. "Oh, God..." I stammered. "I... I'm sorry... Jace... I'm sorry... Oh, God, I'm sorry!" with tears of despair and confusion in my eyes, I got up and ran to the Silver Garrison as fast as I could, taking a detour to avoid my friends, who were coming to the church on Cameron's request...

I hid behind one of the crumbled walls of the Silver Garrison, which had almost been destroyed. All that remained were the Headquarters, a few houses, and some bunkers. The rest of the city was in fire and men struggled to put it out, yet they did so with unworried faces, singing victoriously. But I had been there for a long time, weeping inconsolably. Though I had known many forms of pain, I had never felt this horrible sensation – the knowledge that I had behaved like a devil. I had killed and laughed at my victim. Though Jace was everything but innocent, it was not up to me to put an end to him. I hugged me legs and hid in the shadows with only one thought in my mind: I had become an assassin.

No soldiers saw me. Many of them passed by my side, yet none of them noticed me. I saw General Gisla with a troop of men, laughing not to far away from where I was. They all became quiet all of a sudden, however. The general ran out of my sight and returned with the rest of my companions. I noticed that Dante was twitching and swiping at my friend's legs with fury. He did not hurt them, however: they were far from his reach. He was trapped in Shun's chains, just like I had suggested. Demean asked him something, which I did not hear. Then Gisla asked all of them to follow him as another soldier shot a tranquilizer dart at Dante. The creature growled and then fell asleep. Shun dragged him into the emergency room, all of my friends following closely. Before she entered, though, Ariel turned to Cloud and asked him about me. The man shook his head and said something that I did not hear, as well. Then they went inside. I chose to stay there. I was not ready to face any of them... For I knew that I would tell them what I had done. They would probably ask me not to go with them anymore. I would not be able to tolerate that. I could not bear the thought to have Demean, Tish, or Camille tell me that I would not go with them any longer. I needed to save Ukyo, if there still was a way to save her. But would they let me go to her if I could not even save myself?

"You coming out already?" asked someone from behind the shattered wall. I recognized his voice and knew that he had spoken to me. I quickly dried my tears and stood up to face Leon. I did my best not to sob as I looked at him in the eyes. "You okay?"

"Y... No." I replied. I knew that I had to tell the truth. "I am far from being okay."

"Want to talk about it?" he asked.

"I..." gathering all of my courage, I nodded my head. "Yes."

"Let's take a walk."

This might be easier. I thought. I did not know Leon very well and sometimes, speaking to a stranger is much less difficult.

We walked away from the soldiers; away from the pestilence of the emergency room. We left the Silver Garrison and made our way through the snowy fields. The Heartless had finally disappeared. The sun's light bounced off the white surface, damaging my eyes. I did not care much about that, though. I suppose you know that already. All I wanted to do, was to tell him about what had happened. But I could not find the words. I was ashamed of myself.

I had thought of keeping it a secret, obviously. However, I knew that I would not be able to live with my conscience like that. Even if it was one person, I had to speak up. Little did I know that Leon was exactly the right person to speak to...

"Okay. What's the problem, Wilheim?" he asked.

"I..." I lowered my head and stopped. "I..."

"Look at me in the eyes, man." He said softly. "I like it when the person I'm speaking to looks at me in the eyes." I did as he asked me too and stared at him in silence. "That's better. You were saying...?"

"I... I do not know where to begin." I admitted.

"Alright. Then say whatever you have to say already. Quit beating around the bush."

I nodded my head and closed my eyes for a few moments. I felt as if my chest was about to explode. And so, with a trembling voice, I confessed:

"I killed Jace."

"So?" Leon replied. "It was either you or him..."

"No, you do not understand." I interrupted. "He was helpless. The fight was over and he was helpless... and I killed him when I had promised him I would not do such a thing." I nearly froze when Leon did not say anything. "And that is not all..." I added, and as I went on, my voice started to break. "Not only did I kill him... I... I enjoyed it! I made him suffer until the very end! I... Oh, God...!" I covered my eyes and turned my back to him as I began to cry again.

There was silence between the two of us for a long time. I did not know whether to stay there or to run to the forest that was before me. But before I could do something rash again, Leon put his hand on my shoulder and said with a sympathetic voice:

"It doesn't look like you enjoyed it to me."

"But I did!" I replied. "I did! I even laughed at the sight of his dead body!"

"I know."

"And I... what?" I looked at him with disbelief. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not the sort of people that likes to eavesdrop." He explained. "But I wanted to know if you were feeling better after you left us and stayed out of the church for some minutes. I had bad timing, though... I went out just when you had run him through with your sword." But then, he placed his other hand on my shoulder and added: "I did also see, however, how you called out to God and asked for forgiveness."

"Do you think that a simple 'I'm sorry' is enough apology?" I asked with a desperate laugh.

"It may be, if you mean it." Leon answered. I did not say anything. "But it'll never do if you let hatred and anger take over you whenever they feel like it... Wilheim, you must learn to control your rage. That's what makes a hero great: he knows how to control his feelings and keep a steady nerve in the hip of things. Are you following me?"

I nodded silently, with tears still running down my cheeks.

"You are a good man, Wilheim. And you will save Ukyo. You can be sure about that. But in order to do that, you must learn to control yourself." He said. "If I would've been around, I would've stopped you for sure. But that's not the point, Wilheim. You have to know right from wrong even if your heart is burning with desire of vengeance. Now..." he let go of me and took a deep breath. "You are sorry you did that, and for now, God will settle with your apology. But you can't go on doing this every time you get mad."

"I... I understand." I murmured.

"I won't tell anybody about this. As far as the rest of the guys are concerned, you killed Jace with that energy wave of yours." He said. "Nevertheless, if you pull any stunt like this again, I'll cast you out of the group myself. Do we have a deal?" he stretched his hand and waited for me to shake it.

"But... but... do you think that they do not need to know?" I asked.

"I don't think they do."

"...All right..." and so I shook hands with him. And again I started crying. Amazingly, Leon, who is not a very warm fellow, hugged me and patted my back.

"You're a good man, Wilheim. Just hang on, okay?"

"I... I do not want her... to see me as a murderer..."

"I know, man. I know..."

He consoled me for a long time. I do not how long we stayed there... but when I finally managed to control my tears and felt my heart a little less heavy, we headed back to the emergency room.

We made our way into the emergency room. Some of my friends noticed me and gave me a sympathetic look. I could see, indeed, that none of them knew what had happened, save for Leon, and I knew my secret was safe with him. Merryck came to me and patted my hand with his. After all, he could not reach my shoulder.

"Are you feeling better, Wilheim?" he asked politely.

"A little bit, yes." I answered. "Thank you, Merryck."

"Don't you worry about a thing, Mr. Wilheim. We'll save miss Ukyo, you just wait and see." He assured.

"Yes, we will. Thank you once more."

"There's a good chap."

"Hey, Wilheim!" Seyia called. I noticed that he was near a chair in which Dante sat. His hands and legs were strapped to it and he was asleep. All of my companions and Gisla formed a semicircle around him. The saint was close to our unconscious friend. I took a deep breath and walked to him. He kept silence for a couple of seconds before asking me the inevitable. "Are you okay?"

"Somewhat." I replied, loudly enough for all of them to hear. I was getting tired of being asked the same thing over and over again. "Yes, I am feeling a bit better. Thank you, all."

"No problem." Seyia replied. He then glanced at Dante and asked: "What did he tell you?"

I sighed in relief – I was glad he had changed the subject. "The same thing that he told the General. I suppose that you already know what it was, since Demean and Camille also understand German, and as far as I am concerned, Octavius and Tish do so, too."

"Yes, my friend, we do understand German." Demean declared as he walked to me and looked at Dante. "Yet you were the only one who suggested to use the chains on him. I am guessing that you know a bit more than any of us."

"...Yes, I do..." I muttered. I had forgotten about the little chat I had with Dante in the ruined city of Madrigal. "But I do not know how to turn him back into his human form or to squeeze some sense into him for that matter, if that is what you mean."

"What did he tell you?" asked Shiryu.

"Nothing too helpful." I answered. "He told me that, if the time came and he had to turn himself into this, then we would have to kill him."

"That's it?" Seyia barked.

"Yes, I am afraid so."

"That's just great..."

"What are we supposed to do now?" asked Felicia, almost as angrily as the saint.

"Calm down, _Bastet_." Morrigan said calmly.

"Would you please stop calling me that?"

"For starters, we could say that killing him is not an option." Camille murmured, crossing her arms and lowering her head – thinking about a solution, I suppose.

"Maybe a Lucien would know how to cure him!" Ariel suggested.

"That is a good idea." I said.

"Nope." Ken intervened. "We tried that earlier. Cameron and Kane were here, as well as Takeesha. She didn't know what to do. Or at least I guess she didn't, 'cause she bolted off to somewhere after seeing Dante strapped onto the chair."

"Well, whatever the case, we have to think of something." Cid muttered as he lit a cigarette and began to smoke it. "Also, we have to think of a way to get rid of the Heartless' ships out of the planet so we can get the hell out of here and start looking for Ukyo."

I was about to tell them that I knew where I was. But then I thought carefully about what to say, for if I blurted out what I had in mind, they would surely ask me where I had gotten that information. I would then have no choice but to tell them about Jace. It was not before long that I thought of a reply that would not cause confusion and curiosity.

"Being a Princess of Heart, she must be on her way to Hollow Bastion." I said. "And she must have left from the Sky Castle. Perhaps they have some information on the location of the planets."

"That's a great idea, Wilheim!" Sora exclaimed enthusiastically. "We should get going to the Sky Castle A.S.A.P. General, do you have some sort of transport that can take us there?"

"Yes, I suppose so." Gisla replied. Clearly, he was still concerned about Dante. "I will make the arrangements so you can go there as quickly as possible."

"Thanks!"

"I'm here! I found him!" someone suddenly cried from outside the emergency room. We turned to face the voice and saw that Takeesha was standing with a happy glance at the room's entrance and that another Lucien was with her. He was a little bigger than she was and seemed stronger. He had many scars and some recent cuts. From the battle, I suppose. What was most strange and most spectacular about him was his fur, for it was not gray or black or brown, like most of the Luciens we had seen, but shinning gold. Worthy of a war hero, one would think. With a calm stare in his eyes he advanced forth as Cameron and Kane caught up with Takeesha. The Lucien stood in front of Dante and looked at him in silence. And then, our friend woke up.

He glanced at the creature in front of him and began to growl. The chair began to tremble under his strength. He was trying to break free, but the straps held him tightly. The Lucien calmly placed his hand on Dante's forehead and said in a soft voice: "It's all right, Dante. Wake up... son." And chanted some spell in a language unknown to us as a magical aura engulfed Dante...

We all looked at each other with a wild gaze. We could not believe our ears, although it certainly was logical...

The younger Lucien stopped shaking and dropped his head. He let out a sigh as the rage in his eyes was gone. The older creature gently grabbed his head and pulled it up to face him. Dante's eyes, which seemed to be rolling wildly in their sockets, came to a stop and locked themselves onto the golden Lucien. His eyes were no longer turquoise. They had turned blue and green... like his father's.

"...Dad…?" Dante muttered. "Dad...!"

With a smile on his face, General Gisla quickly undid the straps that held Dante to the chair. The young Lucien jumped up and embraced his father. The older creature let out a muffled laugh as he felt his son's strong arms pressing hard against his body. Both of them smiled and remained together for a long while.

"What are you doing here, dad?" Dante asked.

"Well, Takeesha sent out for us. That's why I came." His father replied merrily.

"It's good to see you again, Griffin." Gisla said.

"Thank you, general."

"I'm happy that you're here, dad!" Dante laughed. But his smile quickly faded as he looked at us. Well, we could not hide our surprise... "Hi." He muttered. We merely responded by waving our hands. "I suppose I owe you guys an explanation..."

"Well, I..." Ranma stuttered. "I... an explanation would be nice, yes."

Dante took a deep breath and remained silent for a few instants as he thought about what to say, I guess. Meanwhile, Takeesha approached us and remained close to us. I suppose that she wanted Dante to speak to us about his father and himself before she went to him.

"Okay, here goes." The young Lucien said. "But before I say anything, just for the record, I never lied to you guys about anything. Well, that being said... my father's a Lucien. I suppose it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out. My mother is a human... So you can say I'm half and half. See, my dad..." he gave a quick glance at him before going on. His father remained silent and calm. "Is a war chief of his continent. That's why we rarely ever seen him around these parts – I'm glad he's here, though. But anyway... The thing is that I can't control my feral side unless I have some guidance from my own Lucien bloodline... Well, I..." all of a sudden, he could not find any more words. He sighed and concluded: "That's about it, I guess."

"Dante, if I may..." Demean intervened. "Why did you not tell us about this?"

"Yeah, Dante." Akane added. "I mean... are you ashamed of being a Lucien? Is that why you didn't say anything?"

"No, I..." the Lucien began, turning to see his father. The old creature smiled and nodded. With another sigh, Dante went on. "I'm proud of being a Lucien. But I'm also sort of ashamed, you know? It's kind of difficult to explain."

"I see. Well, you shouldn't be ashamed of who or what you are. We accept you for what you are." Akane assured with a warm voice.

"Take me, for instance." Ken said. "I'm friends with Ryu and I accept him for what he is." Ryu shook his head with a smile as they all laughed, save, as always, Octavius. I only allowed myself a smile, which was more than he did.

"Thanks, guys." Dante said. "I'm sorry that I thought you wouldn't understand."

"Worry not about it." Link replied. "Be proud of who you are." Dante's father smiled and nodded silently at those words.

Takeesha did not wait any longer and walked to Dante. This latter one glanced at her and let out a jolly laugh. The female Lucien raced at him and embraced him. Both of them began to lick and sniff each other. Some of my friends let out silent chuckles.

"You still smell like summer's breeze, Dante..." Takeesha giggled.

"And you still smell like autumn's spice, cute Takeesha." He replied, with a laugh. He then looked at us and blushed. "So... how's my mane?" I almost laughed as he asked this, for I remembered him saying that Luciens take much pride in their mane. I suppose that Sora recalled this too and answered:

"Aside from some blood on it, it looks great."

Dante's father stood outside the emergency room as his son was transferred to a bed. The young Lucien had respectfully declined to receive Aeris's help, who wanted to use healing magic to cure him, saying that in his current state, magic would do nothing but to hurt him. For the moment, Dante was so happy about our victory and his father being close by that he seemed to have forgotten about his mother. I, however, could not get my mind off Ukyo. So I decided that, while the rest of my friends celebrated next to the young Lucien and his friends, it would perhaps be good for me if I had a little chat with Griffin. I walked to him and introduced myself.

"Wilheim, eh?" he asked. "Well, it's nice to met you too."

"You have a strong, good son." I said. "He is a great friend and an excellent warrior."

"Yes, he is." The Lucien chuckled and looked at the Silver Garrison's fallen walls. His smile then faded. "You know... his mother and I have high military ranks, so that's why we have to stay in each of our continents. Dante used to visit his mother in autumn and in winter and he came to my continent in spring and in summer. That was before he was called to begin his military training..." he paused for a moment and started to walk away from the emergency room. I followed him closely. "He's more Lucien than human, actually. And sadly, he cannot transform into his former self again, unless his mother helps him. And for all I know, she's..."

"Stop." I said. Griffin turned to me and I explained. "I know what you are about to say. You think that Leyna is dead... you see, in a way, perhaps she is. Yet I believe that we can get her back..." it was I who paused now, as I looked for the right words in my mind. "You see, my darling... my beloved Ukyo was taken by the Heartless because she is a Princess of Heart. They need her to open the keyhole that will unleash the ultimate darkness... And they also need Leyna, for she too is a Princess of Heart." Griffin looked at me with both hope and interest as I said this. "They will not kill them, but they have already stolen their hearts, I believe. As I understand, they lay between the kingdom of life and the gates of death. Not all is lost, for one can return from that place."

"Are you sure of this?" Griffin asked.

"I am certain." I assured. I was also trying to convince myself with this answer. "But to rescue them, we need to go to the Heartless' fortress, Hollow Bastion. They are keeping them there."

"And do you know where this fortress is?"

"I think I know where I can find it..." I replied, raising my head to the Sky Castle...

"Wow... this place really is a mess. At least there aren't any more Heartless to fight." Said Hyoga. He was the first to step out of the ship that had carried us to the Sky Castle. Many of the buildings had come down and smoke rose from the ground. I was both afraid and confused, because I did not know if the aerial city would come crashing down on the snowy field below and because I could not explain why were so many things destroyed. I decided that it mattered not as I step out of the ship. Despite what the saint had said, we all walked cautiously among the ruins... "I guess I wasn't wrong." Hyoga muttered after a while.

"If that's the case, then we should try to get the coordinates of the Hollow Bastion as soon as possible." Vincent said. "I don't like it here at all."

"There's a building over there that seems to be still working." Dante declared, pointing at a tall structure that stood in front of us. It was hardly damaged. "Let's go check it out."

We were not very numerous. The only ones that accompanied Dante and I were Vincent, Hyoga, Shiryu, Demean, Tish, Cid, Camille, and Sora. Of course, we were hoping that there were no enemies about. Yet one can only hope, as the saying goes. We slowly entered the building, keeping a steady pace and quiet breaths...

The complex was big and only housed two rooms. The first one we visited was a laboratory. We could not believe our eyes... there were many Heartless within tanks submerged in a strange liquid. Some of them were deformed and had an extra limb or two heads, yet they were dead. Some others lay still on an operating table, where many tools lay by their side, some of them stained with dark blood. I could even see that a few of them had internal organs. But, as Digaia had said, they had no heart. It was truly a horrid spectacle from which we escaped as fast as our feet could carry us. Soon, we entered the other room, which turned out to house an even nastier surprise...

The room was riddled with television screens and VCRs. It was clear to us that this was a security room. It seemed to me rather strange that the Heartless had thought about something of the sort. There was nowhere else to go. Dante approached one of the VCRs and studied it carefully. Sora looked at the videotapes for a second and then turned to us, shrugging his shoulders and saying:

"They don't have any titles or anything on them. How are we supposed to know anything?"

"I suppose that we will have to study them one at the time." Camille muttered.

"Press play on all the VCRs." Shiryu suggested. "Perhaps we'll get to see what we're looking for."

"Good idea." Dante answered and did as the Dragon's saint said. Luckily for us, we did not have to search long before we found the video that would show us our princesses...

Dante stepped back as he turned off all the VCRs, leaving only one running. We all looked at the television screen right above it. It showed a room that we had yet to visit. We supposed that it was in another building. But that is not important. Because the world and our hearts froze as we saw that there were two women chained to the walls. They were, of course, Dante's mother and my beloved Ukyo. They were both just beginning to wake up from a deep sleep. By the look of things, they were terribly weak. I held my breath as I looked at the screen. Camille noticed this and held my hand and embraced me. Yet that did not ease the cold wind that had begun to attack my body. And I could see that Dante was not too thrilled about this video, either...

Shortly after, six shadows began to walk at them. They both turned their heads to them and their eyes were filled by dread. The shadows stepped into the light and revealed themselves to both women. They were Digaia, the four horsemen and a dark sorceress whose face was as pale as the one of a dead man. She carried a magical staff and wore long, black clothes. She did not need an introduction. I knew right away that this foul creature was Maleficent.

"There they are." Digaia said, waving at the two girls. "Your last Princesses of Heart. Are you happy now?"

"I daresay that I'm most satisfied." The witch replied. "I was beginning to doubt of your abilities. You were capable of destroying worlds with a mere effort, yet you couldn't catch Leyna for the longest of times."

"It's not our fault that she hid so damn well in here." Josie said. "But I guess you should start looking for what you want in the most uncertain places, eh?"

"It doesn't matter, now. We have both princesses." Digaia said. "I trust you'll stop bugging us, Maleficent."

"You are rude, Digaia; I recommend that you work on your manners." She then snapped his fingers. "Riku!"

It was then that a sixth shadow appeared. I had seen it before, in the Coliseum of the Greek gods...

"Riku, no..." Sora murmured.

"It's about time you caught the both of them." Riku said. "I thought you'd never do it."

"Shut up and just take them out of here." Josie grumbled.

"Hold on, I've got something to say to Leyna." Digaia chuckled.

"Yeah, I've also got a few words for the other cutie." Jace sneered with an evil smile. For a moment, my heart became filled by rage and I was glad I killed him.

"Well, well, well. I see you're wide awake. How are things going, Leyna?" Digaia asked Dante's mother. "You know, once your hearts are gone, I'll have a lot of fun with the new Heartless. You following me? I'll make experiments no one's ever seen before."

"You make me sick." Leyna answered defiantly.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Digaia laughed.

"Just promise me one thing." The woman quickly added. "Don't kill Dante."

"Now, why would I promise that?"

"He's my son. I don't want to lose him. I'll give you my heart, but please... spare him."

"I suppose it's a promise if I say yes. I'll think about it."

Leyna lowered her head and started to sob. Meanwhile, Jace had walked to my darling and had removed his hat.

"You are a pretty one, aren't you?" he snickered. "Name's Jace, ma'am. How are you doing?"

"I'll do whatever you want on one condition." My beloved answered. "Don't touch my Wilheim-honey, or any of my other friends. Please, don't kill them..."

"...Let me give you a big kiss." The bastard said, licking his lips.

"...If I do that... will you let them live?"

"No way. I'm going to kill your stupid Wilheim-honey myself, with his own sword. I just want to know what you taste like, girl."

Ukyo's glance became angry as she pulled her head back. Jace slowly advanced to her, grasping her from her waist, moving her lips closer to hers. I did not know what to do... I felt so much rage that I did not know if I would be able to stand it any longer. But the snake did not kiss her. For Ukyo quickly brought down her forehead on his nose, knocking him to the ground with that one blow.

"ARGH!" Jace shouted as he grasped his nose. He then spat blood all over the ground. "Oh, no, goddamn! You bitch!"

"'Atta girl." Murmured Cid.

"Let me lose, you pathetic jackass! I'll kill you for what you said!" Ukyo roared, thrashing frantically in her chains, while Jace tried to stand up and while Digaia and the others laughed loudly.

"Quit laughing, damn it!" Jace barked. "The bitch broke my nose!"

"Serves you right." Digaia chuckled. "I like to humiliate my foes, but not like that. I'd suggest that you stayed away from her. It looks like she means business."

"Thanks a lot, boss." Jace muttered as he crawled away from my beloved.

"Now, where were we...? Oh, I remember." Digaia said, turning to Leyna. "I thought it through, already. The answer is 'no'. So good night, and see you... never, I guess." He put his hand on her forehead and her eyes closed. She rattled in her chains, falling unconscious. "That should hold her for a while."

"And when are you going to attack?" Maleficent asked.

"In a couple of hours. We have to get ready. And don't go saying something like: 'don't disappoint me', 'cause you know I won't."

"You're one of my finest minions, Digaia..."

"I know the drill." Digaia interrupted. "It'll go nicely. Just get the princesses out of here."

"You won't get away with this!" Ukyo roared. "My friends are going to tear you apart!"

"I guess we'll find out soon enough, won't we?" Digaia answered coldly. "I'll give my regards to your boyfriend." He put her hand on her forehead and she fainted.

"I can't watch this anymore." Dante declared, stopping the video. I was about to say the same thing.

We kept silence for a few moments. I suppose that none of our friends knew what to say to console us. In the end, Cid was the one who spoke.

"Okay, okay..." he said. "If we are to get to the Hollow Bastion as soon as possible, then we need to find those coordinates. They're obviously not in here, so I suggest we start looking."

"Let's get to it, then." Shiryu added and we left the video room.

We exited the building and then stood still, not knowing where to begin. Cid was the only one who started to walk around, examining the buildings, guns and other weaponry. He disappeared out of our sight and soon, all of our friends were looking for the place where we would find the coordinates. Dante and I, however, did not move. With a worried sigh, we both looked at the sky, wondering if we would ever get their hearts back...

"There's hope... isn't there, Wilheim?" he asked me.

"Hope always dies last." I forced myself to answer.

"That's good to hear."

"Hey, guys!" called a familiar voice. As we turned to it we noticed that both Felicia and Morrigan had just landed on the Sky Castle. It seemed that the succubus had carried the _Bastet_ all the way. We approached them as they looked around. "This place is really messed up. Strange thing, though, 'cause I don't remember that anyone fired at the base."

"Perhaps when Sora sealed the Keyhole, there were no Heartless left to operate the stations." Morrigan guessed. "That must be why all the systems came crashing down."

Almost as she finished saying these words, all of our friends returned to our side. Apparently, no one had found anything, except Cid, who had an amazed expression on his face.

"It seems to me that you have found something useful. Or at least, this is what I wish..." Tish said to him.

"Sort of." He replied. "I've been checking out the Sky Castle and the more I've studied it, I've come to realize one thing that still has me really shocked."

"What?" we all asked.

"This thing is a Gummy ship." He said, to our surprise. "It's one big, armored, Gummy ship! I can't believe that they could build stuff like this! If this were to shrink, it would probably be the size of one of our ships at its normal state! And the firepower it has... I really do think that the cannons and other stuff did work back at the battle, because they can do some heavy damage." His gaze had already drifted into the fallen buildings and the weapons when he remembered our mission and faced us again. "Well, that's not the point here. The thing is that General Gisla said they still can't use their ships to attack the Heartless' ones. If we can find away to trigger the weapon system and turn it against the Heartless, we'll get rid of them in no time."

"That's really nice, Cid, but that still leaves us with one problem..." Hyoga intervened. "Even if we could destroy the Heartless ships patrolling the atmosphere, we still won't know how to get to Hollow Bastion."

"Hold on, Hyoga, I think I have the answer to that." Shiryu said. "If this is a ship, then there's got to be a captain's log or something of the sort somewhere around here. If we can access it, then we'll find Hollow Bastion's coordinates."

"That's correct, my saint friend." Cid said with a smile. "I like where you're head's at."

"Then I suggest we start looking for the cockpit." Vincent added. "That's probably where most of the stuff we're looking for is."

"Let's get to it right away!" Felicia exclaimed.

"Ladies, gentlemen... may I have your attention for a moment?" Demean asked. As we turned to face him, we realized that he was standing somewhat far away from us, right next to a small dome made out of hard glass. "I admit that my knowledge about ships and things of the sort is lacking, but, this is the cockpit, is it not?"

"Oh, I love you!" Cid laughed as he raced at his side and peeked into the glass dome. "I didn't think things would go as fast!"

"Then let them go faster." I said. "We need to be on our way as soon as possible."

"Got it. Let me handle this!" Felicia exclaimed. She was the first to enter the cockpit. Vincent could not help but to let out a worried sigh. "What do you suppose this thing does?"

"Come on, Felicia, don't play around the controls. You might blast the..." Dante began to say but became as quiet as a grave when deafening noise came from the cannons started to shake the Sky Castle. The guns became active and pointed upwards. A few seconds of uncertainty passed... and then, they all fired at once. We looked in awe as thousands of little explosions illuminated the sky. Then, a rain of what seemed to be falling stars began. They vanished as they started to enter the planet. The pilots of some of the ships became desperate and jumped off their vehicles only to meet a gruesome death the instant they crashed on the ground and vanished into nothingness...

"Holy crap!" Cid shouted, holding his head with his hands. "The Heartless... they're nothing but dust now!"

"Hah!" laughed the were-cat. "I knew this was going to be a walk in the park!"

"And, if I may ask, did you know what buttons to press?" Tish said.

"Not really, but..."

"You could have killed us, feline! Be a little careful next time! Curiosity did not kill the cat now, but we may not be that lucky in the future!"

"Easy, easy, girls..." Vincent said, quieting an angry, yet scared Tish and an embarrassed Felicia. "Let's stick to our plan. Cid, can you download the coordinates?"

"I... I guess I can." Cid said, still shocked for what had just happened.

"Then make haste, please." Camille begged. "I do not want to stay in this aberration any longer."

"Okay, okay, just give me a minute." The pilot sighed. He went into the dome and stayed there for a few instants. I was actually about to make my way into the small structure when he came out with a triumphant smile. As you may expect, I never got to see the cockpit of the Sky Castle. "Got them." He announced, holding up a piece of paper with numerical characters on it. "It's not too far away from here. If we hurry, we might make it in time."

"All right." Dante said. "I'll get my stuff ready. We have to leave this as soon as possible."

"I thought you were staying..." Morrigan muttered.

"If I wasn't thinking about staying before, there's no way I'm grounding my butt here now." The young Lucien replied. "I've got to help my mom. Besides, like I've already told Wilheim, I've got the coordinates of Gaia written down."

"What about your girlfriend?" Hyoga asked.

"I'll miss her, I guess." Dante said. "I don't want her to go... for her safety. We'll be in grave danger, you can be sure about that. She should stay here; and be on the lookout if something else attacks Gaia. Hopefully, that won't be the case. My dad will stay, too. He's got nowhere else to go, I think. Besides, they need him here."

"It seems that your mind is made up." Shiryu said. "Well, we've discussed this long enough. Let's get everyone ready."

"It's about time it was us who paid the Heartless a little visit." Cid murmured with a devilish smile.

"Indeed." I added. "And my sword will not rest until Ukyo is safe and sound in my arms again."


	32. Chapter ThirtyOne: Home of Evil

Hey again, guys. Sorry I've kept you waiting for so long, but the last few weeks have been killers. To make up for my delay, let me tell you that this is actually the longest chapter I've written so far...

The semester will be over in about three or four weeks. The next two are going to be horrible. The following can be either very easy or very difficult. I'll let you all know. Anyhow, I'll keep on writing on Fridays and whenever I find some free time.

Another note: since the server isn't letting me put my traditional three asterisks to depict a change of scene, I had no choice but to write _(Change of scene)_ whenever such a thing happens... Yes, I've just noticed that. Sorry...

I hope you'll enjoy the chapter. Take care:)

_Chapter Thirty-One: Home of Evil_

Narrator: Tifa 

"No, no. See, that's where you have it all wrong. If you're going for a chop, it's best to hit your opponent right in the throat, not on the side of the neck. I'm sure your other teacher taught you that."

"He did. It is not that I do not know how to fight, Tifa, it is just that I am very nervous. And I need you to help me polish my flaws."

"I know, but if we're going to do this, you've got to relax a bit, Wilheim."

This was turning out to be much more difficult than I thought. And it wasn't because Wilheim wasn't a good fighter. It was just that, like he'd said, he was too scared about the thought of losing Ukyo. Now that he knew where she was and suspected the condition she was in, he was growing more restless by the minute (though, thankfully, he hadn't lost his mind as he had done back in Gaia, up until now). He had problems in dishing out even the most basic attacks. Such a thing was, of course, beginning to worry me. I kept telling him to pull himself together, yet he showed little or no improvement...

He had approached me and had asked me to show him some new fighting techniques. It was a shame that he didn't get to show me what he knew: that would've quickened things up. We had to go over some things that he already knew. But we had to stop there because... well, I suppose that I don't need to explain you again.

Cloud also taught him a thing or two with the sword. He didn't mess up as bad with him. Regarding that, I have a couple of hypothesis... He could feel more comfortable learning from a man than with me, for one part. I understood that, during all his years as a vampire, he had trained with lots of vampire men. He had also sparred with Demean. The only woman he had ever fought had been Camille, and she hadn't taught him anything... That's one thing. The other thought that came into my mind was that it was likely that his blade steadied his hand. I understood that his sword, Renamark, multiplied his strength ten times. Perhaps that's why he didn't mess up so much. But I don't think that's relevant.

We were traveling on the ship that had carried us out of Agrabah. It was Wilheim, Cloud, and I (obviously), along with Octavius, Merryck, and Camille. The were-bear was the one who did most of the driving. The other two, who were once two of the merriest of our friends, had fallen into a deep and silent depression. I tried to cheer all of them up. I told them that the mission would go well, that we would get Ukyo back and we would free the Princesses of Heart from their prisons. Merryck was the most receptive of them. When I said that to him, he answered in a worried voice:

"I hope so, miss Tifa. If we cannot get Mr. Wilheim's bonny lass back, I dread to think what he might do." The others didn't reply a thing.

We traveled through space for two and a half days. By the end of the second day, Wilheim had learnt some new techniques I taught him and had finessed some other that he already knew. Still, we didn't go too far. I wish I had had more time to teach him more stuff, but time was a luxury we couldn't afford. It took us about three hours to get to our destination on the third day (and please note that when I say days, I'm talking about twenty-four hour periods. There were no days or nights in space, of course.) and when we were an hour away from the place, Cid spoke to us by the radio.

"Okay, kids... we're almost there." He said. "I want to tell you all some things. First of all (let's hope I'm wrong), the planet could be swarming with Heartless ships. If that's the case, we'll have to think of something to do to avoid them. The good news is that I put a radar on all of your ships as well as excellent turbines. They're a hell of a lot better than those on the Heartless' ships so if we need to turn tail and run, I guarantee you that we'll leave them behind in the blink of an eye. And, as you might have already figured out, there'll be no surprises this time. We'll see them coming from wherever they might appear... All of this was courtesy of our good friend General Gisla, so I suggest you appreciate it and keep a sharp eye."

"Why didn't you tell us about the radar sooner?" Vincent asked.

"We haven't run into any enemy ships, so there was no need." The pilot answered. "Quit complaining and pay attention to space, man."

"Okay. I just want to get this over with as soon as possible."

"We all want to, man. My mother's there as well." Dante added and then they spoke no more.

We kept silent for a while before we talked to each other again. Octavius kept a sharp eye on the radar and a steady hand on the controllers as we began to whisper amongst ourselves.

"Do you think that the Heartless in this place will be as powerful as the ones on Gaia?" asked Merryck.

"Safe to say that they are." Cloud replied. "In fact, I think it's logical that they're even more powerful. After all, that's their hideout, isn't it?"

"If that is the case, then our mission will rely on stealth rather than on strength." Camille added. "And we cannot afford to linger in this place. We must be cautious, but we must be quick. The fate of the Princesses of Heart rests on our shoulders."

"If stealth is needed, then I will meld with the shadows about me." Wilheim assured. "I will not risk my Ukyo by doing something reckless."

"Let's just hope that we can also get Sora's friend back to his senses." Merryck muttered. "And let's also hope that Mr. Cloud isn't too accurate about the Heartless."

"It's not that I have a hunch or anything like that, Merryck. It's just a matter of deductive logic, so to speak." Cloud answered.

"Still, I'm with Merryck." I intervened. "Maybe the Heartless aren't as powerful. Remember that Digaia experimented with them and that's why they became so strong. It's likely that there aren't any altered foes in this place. Maybe they're just more... numerous, that's all."

"That still isn't a very encouraging thought." The hobbit sighed.

"No army, as big as it may be, will stop me this time." Wilheim said. "I will cut through it if I must, until the very end."

"Like you said before, my dear, do not do anything rash." Camille said. "Be calm and think carefully."

"I will try... it is difficult to do so when she is in danger."

"You'll put her in graver danger if you don't do as she says, Wilheim." I assured.

"Be quiet." Octavius suddenly whispered harshly as he glanced at us. He looked at the radar again and then spoke on the radio. "Cid, are you seeing what I am?"

"I think we all are, Octavius." Donald grumbled, from his ship. "There's a really big asteroid moving slowly right in front of us. It's big enough to hide all of our ships. Let's hide behind it and take a closer look."

"Let's go." Vincent said.

The were-bear slowly conducted the ship behind a huge asteroid – the one Donald had spotted. Once we came to a halt, we all looked at what the radar showed us in disbelief: the place was swarming with hundreds of Heartless ships. Luckily, they hadn't seen us so far, but their number was too great. So great that even Vincent let out a desperate laugh and exclaimed:

"This is impossible!"

"Are you sure that's where Hollow Bastion is, Cid?" asked Shiryu.

"Positive." The pilot assured. "The place should be on that quadrant, right there. I hope I were wrong, though... 'cause I don't have the least idea of how we're going to get past all of those ships."

"So you mean that the special weapon General Gisla gave you won't be enough to get rid of all of them?" asked Dante.

"No way. I'll wipe out about a quarter of the fleet with one shot, but that's it."

I forgot to mention this... General Gisla had provided us with many supplies and weapons and accessories for our trip. I'm sure you were already aware of this, yet I haven't said anything about the laser... The general had mentioned that it had a tremendous destructive power. We all knew this because we all had seen it in action. It was actually the same cannon that had fired on us when we were battling at the Silver Garrison. The technocrats at Gaia had found the way to make it shrink and become part of the magic that the Gummi ships emitted. They had also managed to make some improvements upon it so it could fire more than once... However, it took a long time to reload. If we were to use it on the Heartless and then run away, more backup would arrive by the time the shot was ready.

"What the hell are we supposed to do, then?" asked Seyia, frantically. "Saori is there. We have to get her out!"

"Calm down, Seyia." Ikki said. "We can't afford to do anything rash if we're to rescue Saori. Try not to do something stupid."

"Easy, guys... let's just try to figure this out." Donald intervened. Amazing... I never thought that he would actually stop a fight.

"Um... guys?" Akane suddenly said. "I have an idea..."

"Let's hear it, then. Any thought is good." Cid said.

"But I'm not sure you'll like it... Besides, it's pretty dangerous."

"Speak your mind, girl, for we do not have much time. Perhaps your plan will work." Octavius pressured.

"OK, here goes..." the girl sighed. "According to Cid, we'll be able to outrun the Heartless if they chase us. Oh, first of all, a question. Do we have some sort of deflector shields on our behinds?"

"Something like that, yeah." Cid replied. "And with the speed we'll have, it'll be the more effective. So, what's on your mind?"

"Perhaps we could shoot down a part of the army with that cannon's blast and then run away."

"That's not such a good idea, Akane." Ranma intervened.

"I haven't finished, stupid!" Akane whispered in an angry voice. "Listen, the thing is that not all of us would run away. Sora would stay behind with some others to go into Hollow Bastion. Then, we'd try to wipe out the rest of the army with another blast as soon as the cannon's charged and we'd meet them back here."

There was silence for a few moments. It was pretty dangerous. But, what can I tell you? Deep in our hearts we knew that this was the best thing we could do. At long last, it was Wilheim who spoke up.

"We will accompany Sora. I said I would free Ukyo from the grasp of these foul demons, and I intend to be true to my word." He declared.

"I guess we have no other choice..." Vincent sighed.

"So Sora and Wilheim and their parties are going alone..." Seyia muttered. "I'd like to go too. Saori is there..."

"My mother is there!" Dante interrupted. "I want to go there, too!"

"Friends, let us be rational about this." Demean intervened. "There are probably many Heartless lurking around the place. A party of thirty-two people is possibly not meant to succeed in secrecy, but a group of thirteen persons may as well as go as deep into the lion's den as possible..."

"That's easy for you to say. You're going with them, and your mom isn't there."

"Do you really think that I am calm about this, warrior of Gaia? Fear and doubt dwell in my heart at this very moment, for many innocent women are trapped in that dreadful place, including my dear friend. Believe me, Dante, if I would not be going with the group that will enter Hollow Bastion, I would not complain. I would rather pray for their safety: I only want the princesses to be free and if it is not the time for me to play hero, then so be it."

"Dante, please, there is no other way." Wilheim added. "I know how you feel, believe me. I would very much like that you, of all people, would come with us. Nevertheless, if this is not possible, then there is no point in arguing. If it would be someone else, I would gladly surrender my place so you could go in my stead. But my Ukyo is down there and I promised that I would go to her. Yet do not let your heart be troubled, Dante: for I swear to you under pain of death that I will free your mother as well."

"...You promise?" Dante muttered.

"I shall give my life for her if it comes to it. You have my word. And I say the same to you, saints of Athena. Entrust Saori's safety to me and my friends. I assure you we will not fail."

"He's right." I said. "We'll save the Princesses of Heart. Each and every one of them. And if we're lucky enough, we'll get to them and we'll free them before you guys come to our side."

Again, there was a slight pause of silence for a few moments. I could hear my friend's breaths through the communicators. But none of them dared to say anything. After that small instant, which actually seemed to be an eternity, Seyia said:

"I still don't like it."

"I don't think any of us do, but that's the way it goes." Goofy replied. "Don't worry. We'll be alright and we'll do fine."

"Cid, be sure to take care of my ship." Donald said. "I'll roast your butt if something happens to it."

"Don't worry, duck, it'll be fine." The pilot answered, somewhat vexed.

"And... take care of yourselves." Donald added. "If it comes to worse, look after Pluto and Jiminy."

"No sweat, Donald. It'll all go as planned." Cid said, this time with a cheerful voice. "Okay, guys... It's time for operation 'Akane'".

"Wilheim! Good luck in saving her!" Ariel cried.

"Thank you, fair mermaid."

Four ships silently moved away from us and stopped at the edge of the asteroid. They stayed there silently and without moving for a few seconds. And then, Cid's ship flew out of its hiding place. The cannon on the bottom of the vehicle began to gather great energy to him. I swear that I even heard the rocks about it rumbling. An instant passed and then, BOOM! The ship fired its powerful blast. I didn't see how many Heartless ships got destroyed in that catastrophic explosion. I did see, however, a bright sparkle that nearly blinded me. I covered my eyes with my hands, as did the rest of my friends. We knew we couldn't stare away for too long and after a few seconds, we looked again. The other three ships had abandoned the safety of the asteroid and were firing lots of rays at the Heartless. They did this for a moment and then, they turned around and flew away as fast as they could. A swarm of Heartless ships passed by us and fired at them desperately. Though there were hundreds of them, not one shot hit a target. Octavius saw in the radar how our enemies slowly disappeared out of sight, leaving Hollow Bastion alone and unguarded.

"It is time." The were-bear said. "Let us go into this world. With any luck, this home of evil will not trick us into our deaths."

_(Change of scene)_

As we left the ship and met with the rest of our friends, we gasped in awe as we saw the place we had come to. We were standing on the edge of an icy waterfall... only that its waters didn't exactly fall on the lake below us. Rather, they flew upwards and escaped our eyes in a cloud of cold vapor. This was truly unlike I had ever seen in my entire life. And before us, stood a dark castle; the emblem of the Heartless was engraved in two gigantic stones that conformed one of the many walls that God knows how many enemies and traps housed. I suddenly felt as if the enemy had been waiting for us and mocked us with the mere sight of this place. I gulped hard and reached out for Cloud's hand, who grasped me firmly and caressed me, trying to give me valor. Steam came out of many pipes that popped out of the castle's ceiling and I noticed in the distance several gondolas that traveled from one place to another magically. It was truly an awesome sight and, although I was mesmerized by the place, I wasn't exactly thrilled to be there.

A sound broke the spell that Hollow Bastion and its waterfalls had cast upon me. It had been Wilheim, who had unsheathed his sword. He took a deep breath and glanced at Sora, who nodded his head while taking out the Keyblade. Donald and Goofy grasped their arms tightly while Demean silently grasped his knifes and Tish flew about the blades, casting powerful spells on them. Octavius held his katana's sheathe and kept still. Camille flapped her wings, making the freezing air about us go away; Merryck took a deep breath and unsheathed his sword. Ryoga and Sakura put themselves on guard as Cloud let go of me and readied his Buster Sword. I walked near him and raised my fists. We looked at a strange, icy surface that levitated over the water. I suppose that it was filled with Heartless magic. Not caring about this, we leapt onto it...

We spotted another surfaced and leapt there as well. As we went higher, the air grew colder. Camille began to have trouble in flapping her wings. Merryck, who had been relying on her to carry him from one place to another, went to Demean's side so that the elf could help him, while Wilheim looked after the succubus. I did nothing more than to look from one place to the other after each jump, hoping that there wouldn't be any Heartless nearby. As for Tish, I guess that her magical essence prevented her from turning into a Popsicle, 'cause she kept on flying as if it were summer.

We kept on jumping for a long while and reached a really high spot. I was literally chattering my teeth and hugging myself. I have never been colder in my entire life. Not even when I had fought in the house of Capricorn had I felt such chill. It's no picnic, you can be sure of that. My friends didn't seem to be enjoying the cold air, either. But as we leapt onto a magical platform for the 'nth' time, we kept still and gasped in surprise as we saw what lay ahead...

There was a hooded figure speaking to a young man. The figure's cloak was purple and the creature was as big, if not even bigger, than Octavius. I could only see its feet, which appeared to be the paws of a lion... And the young man had silvery hair and blue eyes. He had a Sephiroth air to him, so to speak... his glance was wicked...

"I know you have her here." The creature said in a booming voice. "Give her back to me! Where is she? I don't want to waste another moment here, with you, so you'd better speak up!"

"Do you think that you frighten me, monster?" the boy replied, with a cocky grin. "What do you care? If she's here, it's none of your business. She's doing something more important than being by your side, by all means. So get out of here before I beat the living snout of you."

"You're dead!" the creature roared and lunged at the boy ferociously. The young man raised his hand and shot a wave of energy from it. The being fell back to the icy platform he jumped from, defeated. His hood fell back and we finally got a glimpse of his face. He was a monster, with the horns of a bull and the face of a lion. His body was covered in brown fur and his mouth was wide, riddled with sharp fangs. Yet, strangely, his blue eyes seemed noble and gentle, though filled by rage. He tried to stand up, but not even his enormous paws did him any good. With a breath of desperation, he sat down and looked at the boy with anger.

"Riku!" Sora cried and leapt to the creature's side. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Great. There goes our cover." Cloud muttered. He put his sword behind him and followed Sora, as did the rest of us. We put ourselves on guard and waited for the boy to attack...

"Sora?" Riku asked, in a puzzled voice. "Wow... this is strange. I didn't think you'd be strong enough to get here."

"Just zip it!" Sora interrupted. "What's come over you? Where's Kairi?"

"So you're still with that..."

"Listen, fiend! I have come to claim my Ukyo back, and I suggest you giver her to me before Renamark awakens!" Wilheim cried. "I will not spare you any mercy just because you are manipulating the body of this boy!"

"Jeez... do you really think that I'm being manipulated?" Riku snapped.

"We would very much like to think so." Tish intervened. "For if not, then I would guess that you are weak minded..."

"You're wrong." The boy replied. "My resolve is as strong as ever. I mean to save Kairi. I'm the one who should be protecting her. Not you!" he pointed his finger at Sora, with angry eyes.

"You're stupid!" Sora answered. "Do you think that stealing the hearts of other girls will actually bring Kairi back? And even if that were true, do you realize the meaning of that?"

"Oh, I do, Sora. Better than you. Quite honestly, it's clear to me that you no longer care about Kairi. You don't give a damn about her anymore! Or me, for that matter!"

"What are talking about, Riku?"

"You've found new friends, Sora! I suggest you stick to them and that you all get out of here. I'm not interested in harming you..."

"But you already have!" Merryck intervened. "By stealing our friends from our side, you have wounded us deeply! We don't want this to become a war between two good companions, Mr. Riku! So please, let us get to our friends... Let us get their hearts back!"

"And sacrifice Kairi because of your stubbornness?" Riku cried. "No way! Her heart has been stolen! I'm getting it back! No matter the consequences!"

"If that is the case, then you shall suffer our wrath, boy!" Camille roared.

"Why would I? After all, I'm the only one who can stop the Heartless..."

"Now I'm positive you've gone mad!" Sora exclaimed.

"Shut up!" Riku cried. He then shot a wave of energy at us. We all leapt aside and dodged it successfully. But as we got up to our feet, we heart the platform crack... We looked down and noticed that the ground was trembling. With a swift movement, I leapt up and fell next to Wilheim, Sora, Goofy, and Donald... but the rest of our friends weren't as quick... The ground broke and they all fell, with Tish screaming loudly and following them as they went. I reached out for someone and barely caught Cloud's hand...

"Cloud!" I yelled.

"Tifa...!" he answered, staring at me with desperation. His hand was wet and he was beginning to slip from my grasp... "Tifa!" he managed to cry before he fell down.

"NO! CLOUD!" I wailed. I was about to throw myself after him but Wilheim stopped me. "NO! LET ME GO!"

"Not now, Tifa!" he yelled. "We must concentrate on this battle! There will be time to look for them later! The water will break their fall!"

"But...!"

"What...?" Sora suddenly exclaimed, catching our attention. We turned to him and gasped in surprise and horror as we saw that the Keyblade was no longer in his hand... Riku had it and he was staring back at our friend, smiling victoriously. "WHAT?"

"You see, Sora?" he sneered. "You're not nearly strong enough to take on me. You're not even worthy to be here. You're not cut out to be the master of the Keyblade."

"But... but how?" the boy muttered, falling to his knees. "This can't be!"

"Get out of here." Riku said. "I'll rescue Kairi myself. You can't protect her: you're too weak..." he turned his back to us and walked away. All of a sudden, he disappeared in the chilling vapor that the waters let loose about us...

We stayed in petrified silence for a few seconds, not knowing what to think or do. I couldn't get my mind off Cloud, but I still had trouble believing what had just happened. I stayed still in Wilheim's arms, as he glanced at Sora with disbelief in his eyes. Donald and Goofy stepped away from us and looked at the place where Riku had vanished. With a sad expression, they turned to each other and sighed.

"So what do we do now?" Donald muttered.

"...The king told us to follow the master of the Keyblade, and..." the knight answered, but found no more words.

"Sora..." the magician said as he faced the boy. They looked at each other in silence for a few seconds and then, Donald lowered his head and murmured: "Sorry." And with that, both of them walked at the curtain of vapor and disappeared.

I had never felt so confused in my entire life. I didn't know whether to feel an infinite sadness or an infinite anger. I didn't know if I had been betrayed or abandoned. I didn't know if the Keyblade was meant to pick the strong one or the just. All those thoughts, along with the fear of having lost Cloud stroke my heart with a terrible blow and I found myself weeping in Wilheim's arms. He held me weakly, without words in his mouth to comfort me. It had all happened in such a short time. I couldn't believe it... It was no use. We had failed.

"Why...?" Sora murmured. "Why did this happen?"

"Sora! Wilheim! Tifa!" a little voice suddenly called from behind us. I didn't turn to look at it. It had been Tish, who had flown back up and breathed heavily. "Are you all alright?"

"We..." Wilheim muttered but was muted by the question afterwards.

"What...? Where...? Where are Donald and Goofy?" the little fairy asked. "Are they...?"

"They have gone." Wilheim answered. "We... we cannot tell why. I cannot tell where... I do not know if they have abandoned us or..."

"But they are alive." Tish interrupted. "This is all that matters, for now."

"But..."

"We are all alright." The fairy declared. It was not until then that I stopped sobbing and I dried my tears. I turned to her and urged her with my mere glance to keep on speaking. "There is a secret passage below. It seems as if we can infiltrate ourselves to the castle from there. It is perfect: we will be split into two groups. This way, the Heartless will be confused and it will be more likely for us to reach our goal. I will go back down and aid Demean and the others. You must carry on from here..."

"But we cannot..." Wilheim began to say, but was interrupted.

"We'll go, then. Go back to the others, and good luck."

"Good luck." Tish replied and flew down.

Sora had finally stood up and seemed to be calm and cool. His eyes reflected hope and strength, a strength that none of us believed that he had... He reached for his pants and pulled out a wooden sword. He spun it in the air and smiled confidently. I almost wept again as I saw him... his courage was breathtaking.

"It's time we went after Donald and Goofy, guys." He declared.

"But..." Wilheim and I stuttered.

"Don't worry." He said. "I have a feeling that it'll all turn out fine."

Wilheim and I looked at each other with confusion. We couldn't tell what had gotten over Sora... but whatever it was, it brought a warm feeling to our hearts. The chill of the magical waterfalls suddenly vanished and put a smile in our faces... We nodded our heads and got up. Wilheim grasped Renamark and sheathed it as he walked to Sora and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Let us go, then, my brave friend." He said. He turned to me and added: "Cloud will be fine. I am sure we will meet him in the castle; it is time we get going."

"Yeah..." I murmured. "Yeah. I get you." I wiped my tears and looked at the Hollow Bastion with determination in my eyes and fists. "It's time we showed them the meaning of pain."

Before we went on, Sora looked to our right and walked away from us. We had all but forgotten about the creature that lay close by... He was looking at us in silence and didn't move a muscle. Sora stretched out his hand and said:

"You're looking for someone, right? So are we. Maybe we could help each other out."

The creature stared at the boy for a long time with confused eyes. And at long last, he put his enormous paw on the kid's hand and let him help him to his feet. He inevitably smiled as Sora's heroic grin illuminated his face.

"Thank you, boy." He said, gently.

"I'm Sora." Our friend declared. "And these are my good friends, Tifa and Wilheim. We're all pleased to meet you, I can tell you that for sure. What's your name?"

"You may call me Beast, for no one has called me anything else for a very long time." The creature replied. "...Let's go, then."

"They couldn't just vanish into nothingness." I said. "I saw some gondolas when we were way down there. Maybe they took one and went into the castle."

"I saw them too." Wilheim added. "Then let us waste no more time speaking. We must gain on Riku and our two friends..."

"Let's go, guys. Follow me." Sora said as he walked into the mist of vapor. We took a few steps into the invisible path that lay before us, not knowing if a cliff was right in front of us. We stepped on a metallic surface and stopped. We had, indeed, climbed aboard a gondola. The magical platform began to move as we all stood still and took us to the Hollow Bastion...

(_Change of scene_)

"The gate is closed." Wilheim sighed as we stopped at what seemed to be the entrance to the castle. "I reckon that brute strength will not suffice here..."

"Brute strength." I muttered. "That's all you guys think about. No wonder women are smarter. It's obvious that there's some sort of mechanism that opens this thing. We have to look for it and trigger it so the doors will open."

"That's easier said than done." Beast growled. "Where are we to look for this mechanism in the first place?"

"Hmm. Could there be like some sort of string or chain attached to the door that's attached to the mechanism at the same time?" Sora suggested.

"See? You guys lose your wits as you grow up." I said. "Good thinking, Sora."

"Enough of insults." Beast said. "Let's look for this thing and get this over with."

"Be on your guard." Wilheim added. "There must be Heartless lurking about and it is sound to think that they have already been made aware of our presence."

We walked closer to the gate and noticed that Sora's theory was correct. The only problem was that instead of a chain or string holding the gate closed. There were two and they headed in opposite directions. This was going to be a more difficult than we thought, obviously. We barely had time: we needed to act as quickly as we could.

"So... what do you guys think?" Sora said. "Should we break up into two groups?"

"Belle's time is running out." Beast intervened. "The sooner we get through that gate, the better!"

"Belle?" I asked. "Is that the name of the person you're trying to save?"

"Yes... but please, let's not waste anymore time!"

"Then I believe Sora's plan is the choice we must take." Wilheim said. "He and I will see to it that the right chain is released. Tifa, you and Beast go and to the left. Come back here as soon as you have found the mechanism." He turned to the boy and added: "Let us make haste, my friend. And let us hope that no Heartless will attack us in the mean time."

"What do you mean? I'm ready for them!" Sora exclaimed bravely.

"I do not doubt your spirit, but I do doubt the strength of the wooden sword you hold."

"Wilheim, I may not have the Keyblade with me, but that doesn't mean that I have forgotten the magic spells I've learnt. Don't worry about me, I won't slow you down."

"That I have never doubted, my friend." Wilheim assured as they walked away from us and disappeared behind a wall.

"All right. It's time we got going. Hopefully we won't have any visitors." I said, walking carefully, following the trace of the left chain, with Beast following close behind.

There was another gondola in front of us that seemed to lead into the depths of Hollow Bastion's grounds. It went down into the vapor that the chilling waterfalls below us expelled and disappeared... That's where the chain holding the gate headed.

"Oh, boy." I sighed. "Well, I guess that there's no other way."

"Hurry. Fear no darkness." Beast urged.

We stepped onto the gondola as it took us beneath the mist of vapor. We felt a chill as we went through the fog and then came to a sudden stop. It took us a few moments to get used to the new darkness that surrounded us. At last, we stepped out of the gondola and realized that we had arrived to what seemed to be the castle's sewers. Cold walls made out of brick formed some sort of a maze that trapped us within. Luckily for us, we hadn't lost trace of the chain. There it was, right over our heads. It went straight down the corridor in front of us and turned left in a dark corner. It was not until then that I felt water inside my shoes. It went as high as my ankles and had finally gone into my feet.

"Great." I grumbled. "As if it weren't cold enough down here."

"No time for complaining." Beast said. "Come on."

I nodded my head and followed the beast as he turned left and followed the chain's trail.

We turned right and left on many corners, thanking God for the trail the chain left every time we did. It was a goddamn maze, down there. If we had gone down there without anything to guide our way, we would've surely spent a year trying to figure out where the exit was. Anyway, the other good news was that we were completely alone in that labyrinth. There were no Heartless in sight. We were very quiet and careful. Any sound could be fatal. To be quite honest, I was struggling not to call out Cloud's name at the top of my lungs... I was still very worried about him and imagined that he could be very close by. It was a logical idea, but sadly, screaming wasn't exactly the most practical thing I could do... I just held my breath as we advanced through the maze.

The trail suddenly went through one wall and was lost from our eyes. The way we saw it, to go and look for another way to get through that wall wasn't going to be neither easy nor practical. We would surely get lost. So, in the end, Beast and I looked at each other and decided to go for the... brute strength, as Wilheim would say.

"Stand back." Said the creature as he prepared himself to charge at the wall. With his size, I thought that it would be easier for him to shatter the wall than it would be for me. He ran at the barrier of bricks like a maddened bull and crushed them with great might and fury. A cloud of smoke and dust rose about him, making him invisible to my eyes for a few seconds. And then, he came out of this cloud and said: "We must be quick. No doubt someone must've heard that."

"No doubt." I sighed, hoping that maybe that someone would've been Cloud. But truth to be told is that I didn't see Cloud again for a long time...

We kept on following the chain through the labyrinth. It seemed as if the goddamn thing wanted to somehow set us up, for we found many walls that blocked our path and had to bring them down. Strangely enough, no Heartless attacked us right then. And I say 'strangely' and not 'luckily' because this gave me a funny feeling, as if somebody wanted us alive... Then again, we had been underestimated by the Heartless for the past few times and we had managed to beat them. Maybe this is a good thing after all, I thought...

At long last, we reached it. The mechanism to open the gate rested quietly beyond a door that yielded to Beast's weight in a moment. It was a very big, yellow lever. I touched it but pulled my hand back and let out a yelp of surprise.

"What is it?" Beast asked.

"It's so freaking cold!" I exclaimed.

"Well, that doesn't matter. Pull it so we can open the gate." The creature urged.

"It does matter, Beast." I refuted. "If this thing's so damn frozen, I'll only break it if I pull it too hard. It first needs to be warmed up a bit. If not, it'll all have been for nothing."

"The Heartless could come here any minute."

"I'm perfectly aware of that, Beast. Instead of complaining, why don't you watch out for them while I try to heat this thing up a bit so I can get it moving?"

"How will you do that?"

"I'm going to use my energy to heat it. Now please, just keep an eye on the corner."

"Alright." Beast growled as he placed his humongous body between me and the corner of the labyrinth from which we had come. Meanwhile, I placed both hands on the lever and began to summon my inner force so that I could heat the thing up a bit. I did this slowly, of course: if I were to warm it up too fast, it would shatter to a hundred pieces. "What's taking you so long?" he grumbled.

"I'm doing it steadily so I won't break it. You don't know jack about physics, do you?" I groaned. "Who are you, anyways?"

Beast's face, which had nothing but anger at the time, suddenly turned into a sad expression. He looked away and sighed, remaining silent for a few moments, before replying: "I used to be a prince: the lord of a land that dwells far away... the master of an ominous castle."

"Really?" I asked, no longer mad. "So... that was before the Heartless came to your home and destroyed it, I imagine."

"No, not really. Much happened before that. You see, I..." he paused for a moment and his voice turned softer. "I was a prince... and I only cared about myself. I was egotistical, ruthless, and cold. I... used to be a handsome man. But then, something happened...

"One night, an old lady showed up at my gate. She claimed that she was very cold and that she needed a place to stay during the dark, stormy night. She said that she had nothing to give me for a room to spend the night, except a red, beautiful rose. I... I refused to let her in and shut the gate on her face. But before I could go far into my castle, the gate busted open and where the old woman once stood, was a fairy with great power, a golden aura engulfing her body. She said that I was... all that I have told you. And she said that she would curse me for being so evil. I got on my knees and begged for forgiveness. Yet the fairy spared no mercy; she turned me into what I am now, and put a curse on my castle, as well. The only way to break it... is to have someone love me. Or so she said."

There was another moment of silence between us. I had almost forgotten about the lever and summoned more energy to my hands as I gulped and asked him: "What happened after that?"

"I became a bitter hermit." Beast answered. "I thought that there would be no salvation for me, because... how can anyone love a being such as myself? But then... one girl came into my castle. There is a story behind that, but I don't want to go into details. Suffice to say that she stayed long enough to bring feelings to my heart. She didn't treat me like a monster. She was kind to me all the time, even though I wasn't a very good host at the beginning... I fell in love with her."

"I see." I sighed. "So that's why you're here. To save her..." I smiled briefly as I heard the thick layer of ice covering the lever crack once and then twice. "It's almost done."

"Good."

"And what about her?" I asked. "Do you think that she loves you, too?"

"I don't think so." The creature confessed. "I know she doesn't hate me. Yet, if she sees me as something, then it's as a friend. If she loved me, I would be back to my old self again. But that doesn't matter to me. I don't care if I spend the rest of my days as a horrid creature. All I want is her safety; and I will not rest until she is safe and sound. I will give my life for her if I have to."

I smiled again and nodded my head silently.

"Somehow, I don't imagine you ever being greedy and mean." I giggled.

"That's nice of you. Thank you." He said, while grinning.

At long last, I melted all of the ice. With numb hands, I pulled on the lever, and the chain began to move. I heard a rumbling sound just above our heads and let out a tiny yell of triumph.

"All right!" I exclaimed, quietly.

"It was about time." He added. "Quickly, let's get out of here, before..."

But it was already too late. Before he could say anything else, we heard loud footsteps approaching at a quick pace. I knew it couldn't be Cloud and the others, because there were more than eight beings walking on the water...

It wasn't long before a group of Heartless appeared behind the corner. Most of them were those gigantic soldiers holding shields that had the head of a macabre dog in them. Some others were wizards, and some others were those punks we had fought in Gaia. However, truth to be told... I couldn't help out but to let a sigh of relief out of my mouth. I kind of expected at least ten times that.

"I guess they want to take our skins." Beast growled.

"Well, I'm not selling mine cheap!" I cried as I lunged at the group with a flying kick and knocked out two of the punks. One of the knights used his shield to fire a beam of ice at me, but I destroyed it with a punch before it hit my head. At that moment, Beast joined me in the offensive, as he leapt at two of the Heartless. They tried to use their shields to deflect his furious attacks, yet my companion simply grabbed them by the arms and swung them against the wall... Brute strength, indeed.

Although ridiculously powerful, I did notice that Beast was a bit slow and sluggish. That didn't mind much with the guardian knights, since they were horribly slow too, but it would most likely get him in trouble because of the punks and the wizards. Seeing that he would surely wipe out the remaining knights almost by himself, I decided to concentrate mainly on the annoying wizards and the stupid punks. I ran at one of the magicians and before he could disappear into thin air, put my legs around his neck and snapped it with a quick move.

It was then that the magicians did something unexpected. They used lightning spells against us. I leapt high into the air before the shock reached the water, but Beast wasn't as quick. Amazingly, he didn't fall. It did seem like it hurt him a lot, because he wailed in pain as he took a few steps back and stumbled for a few seconds. I felt a decent shook myself, and nearly became paralyzed. Yet the Heartless brilliant strategy backfired, because the idiots didn't think about what's mixing water with metal and electricity, and, well, you can imagine how the guardian knights felt about that little stunt. Most of them died due to their magic and those who didn't became to weak to attack us. Obviously, some punks died, too. And once again, their bodies didn't disintegrate, contrary to the guardian knights, who left nothing of their essence behind. After the magicians committed this critical mistake, I wasn't going to let them conjure some other magic spell against us. With a battle cry, I threw myself at them. I kicked one of them in the face and bounced off him to hurt another one and so on. I had to be quick: I couldn't let even one teleport away from me... Beast, enraged by the sorcerers little trick, charged at them with claws at the ready, and swiped past most of them. The few that remained alive didn't last long like that: I took no chances and finished them with a weak Final Heaven.

The punks used their chains to immobilize Beast as one of them began to hit him with a bat on the head. My companion roared in fury as he managed to free his right arm from one of the punks grasp and caught the creature's bat before he could hit him again and swiped at him. I ran at the others and threw them at the ground so that Beast would free himself entirely and finish them. I killed the last of the Heartless by rushing at him with great speed, grabbing him by the neck before he could do anything and them slamming his head against the ground as hard as I could. The punk lay still as I wiped the sweat of my face and shook my body in hopes of getting rid of the nasty sensation that still went through it. Beast mimicked me and as I looked at him, I realized that his fur was all spongy, as if he had been forced into a drier and had come out looking like that. I allowed myself a quick smile before I approached him and helped him pull himself together.

"More Heartless are bound to come." He said.

"That I can't tell for sure." I replied. "Yet I sure as hell don't want to stay here. Let's get out of here. With any luck, Sora and Wilheim will already be waiting for us."

"Yes, with any luck." He repeated as we quickly ran through the maze back to the gondola that had carried us there as quickly as our legs could take us.

We got off the gondola and ran to the castle's main gate. At long last, we had some luck. There stood Wilheim and Sora, eagerly waiting for us while glancing at the opened door and the black, lifeless shadows that came from the fortress's interior. Beast and I stopped for a second and I gulped. I was kind of hoping that a horde of monsters would come out of there at any second. Strangely enough, such a thing didn't happen. I decided to try not to worry about it (wasn't easy, though) and approached my friends.

"Any trouble?" I asked in a low voice.

"A group of Heartless ambushed us." Wilheim replied. "Yet we took care of them quickly. Sora may not have the Keyblade with him, but as he said, it seems that his skills as a magician are developing swiftly. He only suffered a few scratches, but nothing more."

"No need to use potions just yet, Tifa." Sora said. "I suppose you did bring them..."

"Of course I brought some." I assured.

"Enough talk. Let's go inside." Beast urged and took a step forth, but Wilheim raised his arm and stopped him.

"This is not as simple as it looks." He whispered.

"It's strange." Sora added. "This is the home of the Heartless. They could've sent ten times more soldiers than the ones that attacked us. Why wouldn't they do that? I don't know what the rest of you guys think, but my guess is that there's something worse than an army of Heartless waiting for us in there... Or maybe there is an army of Heartless. Yet they're just waiting for us to step inside..."

There was silence between us for a few moments. My thoughts suddenly centered on Cloud, again. But I didn't picture him in my head for long. Rather than that, I thought about myself and my friends, the ones that were with me at that moment... But most of all, I thought about Ukyo. I was sure that Wilheim was thinking about her too. We couldn't just stay there trying to come up with a plan. We had been discovered and all that we could do was to make our way inside the castle...

"It doesn't matter what's waiting for us inside." I declared. I waited for them to turn to me and went on. "I don't care if we're going to fight another Digaia or... another Sephiroth. I just want to get this over with. I want to get Ukyo back, and I'm pretty sure that you want her back too, Wilheim. There's no time to think: there is only time to act. And you all know this."

Wilheim let out a sigh and nodded his head.

"You are right." He said. "Then let us waste no more time." He unsheathed his sword and quickly followed Sora and Beast, who had already ran into the darkness of the castle. I caught up with them in a few seconds and tried hard not to pay attention to the gates that closed behind us.

_(Change of scene)_

"There is so much silence." Wilheim said. "So much tranquility. I cannot help but to be uneasy."

"That's good." Beast said. "That way you won't get caught off guard."

"Be quiet!" I snapped in a whisper. "We want to hear everything that's going on about us. It doesn't matter if you're uneasy or not: if you're making so much noise, you won't hear when the enemies come at you."

We kept on walking through the darkness and reached a great hall. We stopped at once, not daring to walk farther unless we knew that there were no enemies hiding about... They could be somewhere on the large staircase in front of us, or behind the many statues that adorned the room. They could even be in the floor above, peering at us from the magical platform that floated high above the ground. They could be anywhere, melding with the purple walls and the dark blue floor, waiting for us to step on them so they could pull us to where there was no escape. There was someone there, in that great hall. We all knew this. We could all feel an eerie presence, which made us keep on our toes...

Sora was the first to step forth. He kept his sword close to the ground with a steady grip as he studied every corner of the hall carefully. He suddenly stopped and looked at one place with suspicious eyes. But then he turned around and moved on. Before long, we joined him in his search for the unseen enemy. Our eyes strayed from one side to another, not knowing what the hell we were trying to uncover...

But the enemy didn't wait too much before showing himself. But he wasn't going to risk a fight against the four of us alone. A voice called Beast from behind us; a feminine voice. The creature turned to it with anguish in his eyes and let out a gasp when he saw the woman that had spoken.

From where we had come, was a young woman. She wore a yellow dress over her slender body and had a worried expression on her face. Her eyes were brown as was her hair. She was as beautiful as a porcelain doll and seemed just as delicate. Her hands were clasped together and her half-opened mouth called to her savior once again with a distant voice...

"BELLE!" Beast cried and ran at her.

Of course, you surely must've guessed by now that something was wrong. If this girl, Belle, had been kidnapped by the Heartless, chances were that she had already had her heart stolen by them. To see her there, in the pink of health, gave me a pretty bad feeling...

"Beast, stop!" I cried, but it was already too late. As he jumped at the woman, seemingly trying to protect her from whatever harm was near, the doors that were behind us and that we had not noticed until then, closed behind him. A few moments later, we heard Beast pounding on them. Yet he could not open them, not even with his great girth. Wilheim got ready to slash them down with his sword, but something caught our attention before he could carry on.

"You know, it's quite rude to have someone barge into your house when he's clearly not invited."

The one that had spoken was none other than Riku, who now stood in front of us and pointed the Keyblade at Sora's heart. The boy was not afraid to face his own weapon. He got on his guard as we joined him and readied ourselves to give Riku battle. Beast would have to wait: we couldn't be distracted by anything or by anyone. Not by a second...

"I thought I told you to get out of here." Riku said.

"Yeah, but I'm kind of a slow-learner." Sora replied.

"I'm the one who's going to save Kairi. You best quit this while you can, Sora. This is your last chance." The fiend threatened and he then snapped his fingers. We gasped in awe and kept silent as both Donald and Goofy came out of the shadows and stood by Riku's side. I could tell that he hadn't brainwashed them or anything of the sort. The sad look in their eyes told me so. "You've got one minute."

We looked at each other, not knowing what to do or what to say. At least, Wilheim and I were out of words. I was too hurt to think about anything. Yet Sora... Sora's heart had some strange energy within, which helped him to be strong, helped him to know exactly what to say and what to do...

"I'm not leaving." He said, firmly. Wilheim and I both looked at him silently as he went on. "I've gone through a lot of trouble to get here. I'm not going back. I'm here to save Kairi. And I'd be glad if you were to help me in this mission... but you're taking a path that I cannot follow. That's where you and I are different right now, Riku. That's why I'm stronger than you'll ever be."

"What?" Riku snorted.

"You see, it doesn't matter if you have the Keyblade... or the Master Sword... or Renamark. A warrior isn't strong unless he fights with a team. And I have the best team I could ask for. I've got friends, Riku. Lots of them. And I'd rather die than seeing them in pain. I care for them and they care for me. That's what gives me my strength. That's why I'm the more powerful than you or any minion of the Heartless. Though I only hold a toy for a weapon, my willpower, the love for my friends, and the love for Kairi make this sword the strongest of all." He took a deep breath and put on a triumphant smile on his face. I gave a quick glance at Riku and noticed him confused. Now he was the one who couldn't find anything to say... Knowing this, Sora pointed his wooden sword at him and said: "I won't go back. I've come for my friends, and I won't leave this place without them."

"...You've got to be kidding me!" Riku exclaimed, forcing a laugh. But before he could say anything else, Donald stepped forth and murmured:

"Sora... I'm sorry." He lowered his head and let out a sigh. I put myself on guard, expecting an attack at any moment. Yet Donald's intentions were others... He walked to Sora's side and turned around. He held his staff firmly and threatened Riku with it. "I shouldn't have left you."

"Yeah, we shouldn't have left you." Added Goofy as he quickly joined us, leaving Riku more confused than every. He watched in disbelief how his two helpers returned to our side and faced him with a confident smile on their faces. Wilheim and I couldn't help but to smile as well. "After all, what are friends for?"

"We stick together until the end." Donald added. "No matter what."

"What the heck?" Riku growled. "Come back...!" He stopped talking as he noticed how the Keyblade abruptly vanished from his hands. In an instant, the wooden sword that Sora had been holding had changed back into the mighty weapon. The boy let out a laugh as Goofy and Donald patted him on the back. I had no idea how that had happened, but it was obviously good news! Nevertheless, there was no time to ask ourselves questions. The battle was just about to start.

Riku had lost the great sword and had only a dark blade to keep him company against us. Rage and disappointment filled his face as he began to curse us in a low voice.

"I'm not weak...!" he growled. "I'm not...! I'M NOT A WEAKLING!" And so he launched himself at Sora with fire in his eyes. The boy fended off the attack and skillfully dodged Riku's sword as he took a swipe at his legs.

I braced myself and tried to help Sora, but Wilheim held me by the shoulder.

"He can take care of himself." He said. "Besides, this is not our battle." He faced right and it was not until this moment that I noticed a large group of Heartless as it quickly made its way into the large room. They all seemed to be going after Sora: for a moment, it looked to me as if they didn't even know we were there. But I could see in my friend's eyes that it was his intention to let them know he was still alive. He glanced at me and I nodded my head.

"Donald, Goofy..." I said, turning to face those two. "You guys ready to start apologizing with actions?"

"Since yesterday!" Donald exclaimed and his staff glowed with magical energy.

"We'll prove to you how sorry we are!" Goofy added, taking a step forth and raising his shield.

Wilheim was the first to attack. He charged at a wyvern that was flying at Sora with the strength of a bull and knocked him away from the battling kids. Some of the Heartless attacked him, but he defended himself effortlessly by swinging Renamark from one side to another. Some others, however, weren't willing to let Sora go; Donald, Goofy, and I ran at them and met them with magic, shield, and fists.

I grasped a punk by the neck and slammed him against the ground with great strength, killing him instantaneously. Donald cast a spell made out of wind about us that caused some of the Heartless to step back. He managed to knock down some of the little mages and a few wyverns with the force of the magical air he had quickly summoned. Goofy rammed his shield against some pesky acrobats before they could begin to do their annoying attacks, and had even managed to destroy two or three. We now had the Heartless full attention.

Meanwhile, Sora still defended himself against Riku's attacks. It was clear to us that Sora had become an incredible swordsman, for Riku had not touched him even once. Even so, the same was true for our friend's adversary. And it wasn't because Riku had also parried all of Sora's blows: the thing was that he had no attacks to stop. Sora was extremely reluctant to attack his former friend and hadn't swung his sword aggressively only once. Yet we all knew that sooner or later he would have to fight back, because Riku didn't look like he was willing to let him live...

I quickly took my eyes off this battle and focused on the Heartless. That's what I needed: focus, focus, focus... I had told this to Wilheim so many times that it was surprising that I was forgetting my own advice. I reacted in time to evade the attack of two acrobats: one had tried to knock me off my feet and the other had tried to jump on top of me. I leapt over the first and grabbed the jumping Heartless's leg before he fell on the ground. I swung him hard and threw him against his companion. Though I didn't kill them, it didn't matter much anyway. They landed a few steps away from Wilheim and when he noticed them lying on the ground, he finished the work with a quick swing of his blade.

Next, a magician tried his luck against me. He conjured a lightning spell and began to throw thunderbolts at me. I leapt back a few times and then rolled to my right, successfully avoiding all of his magic. When he ran out of bolts I ran at him at full speed, with my fist ready to pierce him through. I saw an aura of magic engulf him and knew that he was getting ready to teleport somewhere far away from me and to try to kill me again. Yet Donald noticed our fight and quickly conjured a spell that slowed the magician's movements. Before the magician fully disappeared, I punched him in the face as hard as I could. I suppose I killed it, because I never saw it appear before me again.

Three knights with magical shields challenged me right after that. The ones on the sides attacked me with quick fireballs while the one in the middle tried to freeze me with an icy spell. Rather than avoiding the fireballs, I performed a quick roundhouse that bounced them back at my attackers. They fell to the ground and stood still, dizzied by my counterattack. I then leapt high into the air to dodge the ice the third knight shot at me. I leapt so high that I even reached the ceiling. I used it to propel myself against my enemy with the speed and strength of a falling star and smashed his head with a fierce kick before he could even defend himself with his shield. The other two Heartless were still dizzied, but were slowly regaining consciousness. I threw myself against one and found his little head. I grasped it with my arms and twisted it as fast and as hard as I could possibly do so. Now there was only one enemy left, but he was back on his feet. I readied myself to battle some more. Nevertheless, Goofy, who stood behind the foe, noticed him and banged his head with his shield. The enemy became dizzied once more, and before he could recover, Goofy hit him again, this time successfully destroying him.

As we kept on fighting against the Heartless, I heard that Sora had begun to dish out some attacks of his own. I quickly turned to see the battle between him and Riku in time to see our friend hit his adversary on the face with the hilt of the Keyblade. Riku fell on his back, yet got up with great speed, kicking Sora as he did so. He then jumped at him, raising his sword high in the air, ready to bring it down on our friend's head. The boy dodged the blow and countered with a fire spell aimed at Riku's stomach. The enemy grunted as he flew away from our friend and hit a wall.

More Heartless came inside the room, forcing Goofy, Donald, and myself to retreat to a corner. Wilheim tried to come with us, but the enemies surrounded him. He swung his sword with great speed and force, and killed many opponents in a few seconds, yet we could see that he was being overwhelmed. We could defend ourselves just fine from where we stood, but he wasn't going to live much longer if he kept on fighting against such a horde.

"Damn it!" I muttered. "Can you guys fend them off by yourselves?"

"Just go and help him!" Donald cried.

I turned to the wall and jumped at it as fast as I could. I ran up, up, up the wall and leapt off it. While flying through the air, I took down a wyvern with a quick kick to the neck. I turned my head to Wilheim: he had already fallen down and was struggling not to get squashed by a couple of guardians that weren't letting him breathe. I dove at one with such strength and speed that I went through his armor with a single strike. The other one turned to me as I hit the ground and growled at me as he shot a stream of frozen air from his shield. I rolled under it and kicked the enemy's legs, bringing him to his knees. By this moment, Wilheim had already gotten up. He swung his sword at the creature's neck and... well, I guess you know what happened next. There was no time for him to thank me, as a group of punks had surrounded us and were trying to hit us with nasty chains. Wilheim helped me to my feet and immediately swung me hard against a couple of punks. I understood his move and kicked my enemies' faces. As I knocked them down and landed on the ground, I used the momentum my friend had given me to swing him against other two enemies. Wilheim went a little farther, though. Instead of kicking the punks, he unsheathed his sword and cut through them. Next, he and I made our way to Donald and Goofy, who had taken care of the rest of the army just by themselves. As we got to their side, we gave a quick glance to Sora and Riku, who where still at it.

Our opponent seemed really tired. Sora had managed to dodge most of Riku's attacks and was hardly even hurt. I could see in our friend's eyes the desire to stop the fight... but Riku's glance was completely different. I could see in his stare so much fear, desperation, and anger that I almost felt sorry for him. Almost, though. I still hadn't forgotten about what he had done to Cloud and the others...

"Riku... it's over." Sora said. "Please, just quit it... we can still save Kairi together!"

"I'm not a weakling...!" Riku growled. "Kairi... IS MINE!" he ran at Sora, aiming his sword at his stomach.

Sora dodged the blade and hit Riku on the back of his head with the hilt of the Keyblade. The boy grunted as he fell to the ground and his weapon slipped away from his hands. As it incredible as it seemed, Sora had defeated him. We had won this battle.

Riku laid on the ground, holding the back of his head with both hands, his face against the ground. Sora approached him slowly, as he lowered his Keyblade. He didn't put it away, though. Smart move, I must add. And as he walked closer to Riku, we also made our move. We didn't take our glance off the doors, either. We wanted to make sure that no Heartless came to attack us anymore...

"Riku, just quit it." Sora said. "That's enough. I have you beat."

"Get away from me!" Riku cried as he got to his feet and retreated to a corner much like a wounded beast. "Get away from me...!" he paused for a moment as his eyes shone with immense fury and then murmured in a low, angry voice: "I hate you."

"Riku..." our friend stuttered, taking a few steps away from the boy.

"I..." but before he could repeat those words again, the ground swallowed him.

"Wait... Riku!"

Sora didn't have a chance to go after him. At that very moment, the main door in the room slammed open. Donald, Goofy, Wilheim, and I turned to it, ready to fight any enemy that might dare come inside. Yet it was not an enemy that entered the room and walked to us, but Beast. He didn't look too happy. It was clear to me that I had been right. The Belle Beast had seen had turned out to be a mere illusion after all.

"They deceived me..." he murmured. He stopped when he rested his eyes upon Donald and Goofy and after a moment of staying still, he showed them his fangs with a menacing growl.

"No!" I exclaimed, standing between them. "No, it's okay! They're on our side!"

"Whoa! Take it easy, big fellow!" Goofy cried, leaping back. "We're all on the same team."

"That remains to be seen." Beast growled as he dropped his guard and moved closer to us.

"I... I can't believe he's changed so much..." Sora suddenly murmured. He abruptly fell to his knees. One would've guessed that such a fall had been due to tiredness. But Sora wasn't only tired... I had never seen him so depressed for as long as I had met him. "What...? What the hell is wrong with him?"

"Sora, please!" Wilheim exclaimed as he held Sora by his shoulder. "You must understand that the opponent you faced is not Riku."

"But he... he said he wanted to save Kairi, and..." the boy stammered. He did his best to keep his voice firm, even when tears started to roll down his cheeks. I sighed and stepped back, deciding that it was best to give them some time space. Donald, Goofy, and Beast quickly understood and joined me as I retreated to a corner. Still, we could hear everything they said...

"Riku is not himself right now." Wilheim insisted. "He is under the influence of an evil power."

"He said he hated me..."

"I do not believe the Riku you have spoken me about would have said something as hurting as that." He forced Sora to look at him in the eyes. "Do not be fooled, Sora. The Heartless are using a frightful weapon. But that is all that it is: a weapon. Your friend is not the foe you defeated. If you let this idea sink into your heart, it will drive you mad, and if such a thing happens... the quest will fail."

"I... I..."

"Be strong, my friend. I know that the weight these foul beings have placed upon your shoulders is quite difficult to bear. But I promise you that I shall help you carry it... No. Rather, I will help you get rid of it."

"I... I'll try." The boy muttered as he grasped Wilheim's hand and allowed him to help him to his feet. "Okay... I'll try."

"...Sora..." muttered Donald as he and Goofy got close to him. "It'll be okay..."

"Yeah, I know it will." Sora quickly said. He stared at them for a few moments, frozen like a statue, and then smiled. He hugged them and added: "It's good to have you guys back again."

"Friends never leave each other, Sora." Goofy chuckled, patting the boy on the back. "Either way, sorry about what happened back there."

"It's all right. I know you guys were just following orders... I can't tell you how happy I am that you decided to ignore them, though."

"For a moment we did. But now we're back on the right path." Donald laughed. "After all, you are the true Keyblade master."

"I know this is surely a most happy moment, but if I may remind you all, we still have some things to see to." Beast declared loudly.

"Oh, sure, sure..." the boy stuttered. "Hum... Donald, Goofy: Beast. Beast: Donald, and Goofy..." he said, pointing each one of them as he named them. He stopped for a moment to let out a sigh before he went on. "Anyways, it's best if we hurry up. Now that we've beaten Riku and the horde of Heartless, chances are they're not going to give us an easy time."

"And we still don't know if Maleficent has been able to open the final keyhole. I suggest less talk and more action." I said as I walked next to Sora and patted him on the back, managing to get a smile from him.

"Somehow, I do not think that she has managed to do such a thing yet." Wilheim intervened. "Otherwise, we would be dead by now. But let us make haste. I feel no anger at the moment, and I must take advantage of this."

"Oh, stop blabbering and let's go!" Beast urged as he lunged at a large door that had the Heartless' emblem carved on it. Somehow, it looked strange... as if there was something missing in it. Anyway, that's not important right now, as you'll find out later... He banged it with all of his strength, but bounced back as if had hit a rubber bed or something like that. We rushed to his side as he got up and held his head. "What the...?" he muttered. "Oh, this is impossible!"

"I suppose that it has some sort of magic field surrounding it." Sora guessed. He approached the door and quickly stepped back. "I don't know if it's magic... but there's definitely some sort of force field that won't let me go any further... I wonder if..." he raised his sword and swung it fiercely, but amazingly, it almost seemed as if he had it a solid wall of diamonds with it, for the blade bounced back at him and almost escaped his hands. "Whoa!" he yelled. "...Damn it! We'll have to find another way!"

"Either that or find out what's holding the force field in place." I said. "I noticed two more doors on the sides. There may be something there... OK. Wilheim, Goofy, and I will take the left. You guys take the right." I added, knowing that time was crucial and that we couldn't afford the luxury of deciding where each of us was going.

"Let's move, then!" Beast cried. He quickly entered the room on the right, with Sora and Donald following him closely.

"I say we do as our hasty friend and begin our search." Wilheim said. "Let us go!"

_(Change of scene)_

We entered a gigantic library. I could almost feel as if the books were watching us as we passed next to them. In fact, I was certain that there was something about, spying on us as we moved forth... I really could swear that it was the books.

There was one large bookshelf blocking our path. I was about to look for some other way, but Wilheim wasn't in the mood for subtleties. He held Renamark fiercely and stood still until it began to breathe fire. He merely grunted as he brought the blade down fast and sliced the bookshelf in two.

"Let's just hope that there was nothing important in there..." Goofy murmured as he and I followed our friend through the wreckage.

"I am fond of books, but I doubt that any of these will help us now." He replied as he glanced at his surroundings.

"What exactly are we looking for, anyway?" the soldier asked.

"I don't think that we're after a mechanism this time around." I answered. "I don't know if you guys noticed, but there was something weird with that door."

"I suppose you do not mean the force field." Wilheim said, without even turning to look at me.

"You men pay so little attention to details." I sighed, shaking my head. Remember the strange thing I saw on the door? I'm sure you do... "Something was missing. I think it was the emblem of the Heartless itself."

"I saw that on the door..."

"You saw an empty crest. Do you get my meaning?"

"...I believe I do..."

"Good. 'Cause that leaves us with one suspect. We'd better start looking quickly."

"What about Donald, Sora, and Beast?" Goofy asked. "We should tell them about that..."

"Unlike most of you guys, Sora does pay attention to details. I'm sure they'll come through."

We didn't speak again for some time. We found out some stairs that formed a spiral and went to the upper floor. Seeing that there was nothing to be found on the floor we stood, we went up the stairs as quickly as we could. There was no sign of the emblem of the Heartless anywhere in any shape, and I find this ironic, since we were in the lair of the fiends...

Then something caught my attention. It was a strange pillar, which had a hole in it. There was dust all over inside... except on the very center of it. The spot was clean and formed a square, as if something had been lying there until recently. I touched it and tried to push it down. Nothing happened. Nevertheless, I was still suspicious of the bizarre shelf.

"Guys, come and see this." I called. Both of them went to my side and looked at the hole carefully. "Don't you notice something strange?"

"Yes, indeed... Perhaps..." Wilheim muttered as he placed his hand on the clean spot and pushed to the left. And what do you know? The shelf moved and revealed a treasure chest, which was hidden on an analog compartment. The boy opened it and took out a piece of metal. As we looked upon it closer, we noticed that it was just a part of the emblem of the Heartless. It did seem that it would fit perfectly at the door, however... It was a start. "And you say men pay no attention to details."

"I'm so not in the mood for arguing, Wilheim." I grumbled, but quickly became alert as the boy's face turned into an expression of terror. I turned around and gasped at the horrible sight that was in front of me...

"Whoa!" Goofy cried, and leapt back.

There were three horrid spiders standing in front of us. The emblem of the Heartless was carved on their abdomens. They sort of reminded me of black widows, but instead of the red marking, they had that nasty symbol. That wasn't what worried me, though. They had eight eyes; all of them shone red and seemed like orbs of fire. But what wasn't the worst part. Their fangs seemed as sharp as blades, and were dripping lethal venom. But, again, that wasn't what scared me. What really scared me was the fact (as if you didn't know by now) that the goddamn spiders made Beast and Octavius seem like dwarves. It wasn't a pretty sight... It wasn't a pretty sight at all.

"Oh, crap." I blurted out. I gulped and got a grip on myself as I raised my fists. "I wasn't counting on this... Ready, Goofy?"

"I'm with you!" the soldier exclaimed, his shield at the ready.

"Wilheim, I want you to jump over us and slash the spider on the center. Goofy and I will take... Wilheim?" I looked at him and noticed that he wasn't even listening to me. I had never seen someone as scared as he was. The color on his face had turned completely white – not even when he was a vampire had he seemed as pale. He trembled more than a yellow and was clinching to the pillar like a cat. I bet you that if he had had sharp nails, he certainly would've buried them on the rock. "...You gotta be kidding me!"

"Um... Tifa?" Goofy muttered, forcing me to turn my head to where the danger was. "I think Wilheim's gone bye-bye... Could you think of a plan that didn't involve him?"

"A plan that doesn't involve him?" I murmured frantically, taking a step back. The spiders had begun their approach... "Yeah, I can think of something..." I took a deep breath and began to summon energy to my fists. "Tear him away from the pillar and take him somewhere safe. The spiders will probably try to follow you, so I'll take that opportunity to attack. But I'll only be able to handle two. Do you think you can take out the third one by yourself?"

"Gwarsh... I sure hope so!"

"Me too... GO!"

Without thinking about it twice, Goofy grabbed Wilheim by the waist, threw him into a corner and ran after him. All three spiders leapt after him very quickly. I didn't quite expect them to be so fast. Even so, I was still faster than they were, thank goodness. I managed to grab one by the leg and swung it as hard as my arms allowed me too. It was a good thing I had powered up before the fight... I spun the arachnid so quickly that I managed to hit another one with its companion. As soon as I felt the crash, I let the monster go and both spiders flew far away, falling down to the floor below. So far, so good. I could do nothing more for Goofy – he was on his own, now. I jumped onto the highest shelves of the library and looked down at my two enemies.

The spiders were seemingly pissed. They had already gotten up and were coming after me with frightening speed. They didn't look very injured, even though they had went through about three bookshelves and a wall. I waited for them to do the next move. It didn't take them long to reach the second floor. One of them stayed behind the other as it leapt at me, aiming its gigantic fangs at my stomach. I didn't have enough room to jump over it, so I had no choice but to dodge it by jumping down to the first floor. But the damn abominations were smarter than I expected. The spider that had stayed behind shot its web at me and managed to capture me by the arm. And again, thank goodness, despite their monstrous size, I possessed superior strength. As I felt the web about my arm tense up, I pulled it towards the ground. The spider was unable to hold its ground and crashed against the floor right beside me. I was just about to leap up and squash its head when I noticed that the other stupid monster had already lunged at me. I rolled over the ground just in time to avoid its fangs. I didn't let it go just like that, though. I did manage to give it a pretty nasty kick on one of its legs. So nasty, in fact, that I practically cut it down. The monster howled in pain as it took a few steps back and shook its body. I got back on my feet and waited for my enemies to make another move.

I then heard a loud hit that came from the floor above. I raised my head and gasped in horror as I saw how Goofy was struggling against the gigantic spider, which was trying to push him over the edge. He smashed the fiend on the face with his shield, yet the spider kept on pushing...

"Goofy!" I cried, cursing Wilheim on my mind, not being able to rid myself of the idea that this could be the perfect time for him to strike the enemy down. "...Hang on, I'll be with you in a moment!"

The knight, however, had other plans. He used all of his strength to push the spider back a few feet and then fell to his knees. The monster ran at him at full speed, its fangs ready to strike. But Goofy merely rolled on his shoulder and avoided the maddened abomination that fell to the ground on its head, unprepared for the soldier's maneuver. It actually fell right by my side. Since the other spiders hadn't done anything, I took advantage of this opportunity to drive my leg through the fiend's stomach. And it was a good thing that I did this, too, because otherwise, I would've had to fight three enemies instead of two... Or so I thought, for Goofy quickly leapt over the edge and banged one of the spiders on the head with his shield. The other lost no time to help its companion and shot a stream of sticky web at Goofy, who ended up like a sticker on a wall.

This was my chance. One of the spiders was distracted and the other one was still staggering back and forth from the tremendous blow the knight had given it. I ran at the spider that had attacked my friend, grabbed it by the leg and leapt as high as I could. I nearly touched the ceiling with my head... When this moment came, I threw down the spider as if it were a javelin at its companion. They both screeched in pain as both of their heads met. Suffice to say that I actually managed to provide the library with a crater with two lifeless giant monsters inside. Their legs shrunk against their bodies as they disappeared into nothingness. I fell to the ground and sighed in relief, knowing that the third abomination was also long gone.

"Whoa!" Goofy exclaimed. "That was amazing! You're a pretty good fighter, Tifa!"

"Thanks, Goofy." I giggled as I walked to him. "You didn't do so bad yourself. Now to get you out of there..."

"Yeah, I'd like that. This web is beginning to... Watch out, Tifa!" he yelled, as I heard a thunderous noise.

I turned my head just in time to dodge the lance that nearly pierced through me. I fell on my butt as the dark stallion ran past me... It had been a knight. It had a sturdy shield with the emblem of the Heartless in one hand and a fierce lance on the other. Its horse was entirely black. To tell the truth, it was more like the shadow of a horse. Except the eyes, as you might have already guessed. Both the rider and its horse had fell, yellow eyes that peered at me with hatred and anger... Good thing he didn't notice Goofy at that moment.

Knowing that the dark knight wasn't going to wait much longer before his next charge, I jumped at the wall and ridded Goofy of the web that caught him. We leapt to safety just in time, for as we fell to the ground, the lance of the knight pierced through the wall...

"Damn, I didn't see this one coming either." I grumbled. "Don't panic... We can use the bookshelves to hide..."

"That didn't stop him right now, Tifa..." Goofy interrupted.

"Oh, so that was the noise I heard." I murmured, turning my head back to the place from which the knight had come. The savage had actually charged through a bookshelf to get to me... "Um, I don't suppose that that shield of yours can resist a blow of the sort, right?"

"I'm not sure I want to find out."

"I thought so. We'll just have to figure something else-- LOOK OUT!"

Goofy and I leapt to the sides just in time to avoid the charge of the knight, which went through the bookshelf that was behind us. Before we had anytime to think of something to do, the Heartless charged again. This time he went after Goofy. Yet my friend did something that, although incredibly desperate and stupid, saved his life. He threw a book at the Heartless... I don't know how he did so, but he actually managed to make the fiend lose his balance and fall of the horse! Either way, he had to leap to the side to avoid the beast's charge... I ran after it and kicked its neck as hard as I could. Lucky me – it died instantly. Without even making a sound, the horse vanished into nothingness. One less, I thought...

The dark knight had already gotten up and had unsheathed a dark sword. I didn't like the look of him at all. Thankfully, though, we were two against one. The fiend got ready to unleash a tremendous blow and Goofy raised his shield to block it. But right then, our cowardly lion, Wilheim, showed his fangs as he leapt in front of Goofy, parrying the knight's blow with his sword. The knight got ready to strike again, yet our friend was quicker than him. As the enemy's blade stopped touching Renamark, Wilheim swung it with amazing speed at his stomach and ran him through. The Heartless dropped his weapon as he fell to his knees and then vanished. Wilheim let out a sigh of relief as he sheathed Renamark and faced us. Nevertheless, I wasn't still too happy with him at all.

"What the hell happened up there!" I demanded.

"Um... I apologize." He muttered, as his face turned bright red from embarrassment, I should hope.

"You apologize." I snorted. "Things would've been a lot easier with your help, you know?"

"What happened back there, Wilheim?" Goofy asked. He wasn't mad at all... rather than that, he sounded concerned.

"...I have a little problem regarding spiders." Wilheim answered.

"A little problem?" I intervened. "You practically turned into a statue! Why the heck are you so goddamn afraid of spiders, Wilheim?"

"I am aware that that deserves a more convincing explanation, but this is not the time." He said. "Let us leave this library. There is nothing more of interest here, I should hope. Let us go... before more of those monsters come here."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to be carrying your useless butt if you froze again." I grumbled.

"Come on, Tifa, don't be so hard on him." Goofy said as he and Wilheim started to go up the stairs. "He did beat that knight all by himself, didn't he?"

"Yeah, but we did play bait for a few moments."

Before I could add another remark, I stumbled over the book that Goofy had thrown at the Heartless. I was about to keep on following my friends when something written in it caught my eye...

"'I have been studying the Heartless for quite a while, now...'" it said.

I knew that that wasn't the time to start reading a book just to find out about something about the Heartless that we probably already knew. Our friends' lives were at stake. Either way, I wasn't willing to let it lie there, just so that the Heartless could tear it apart or something like that. I quickly grabbed the book and put it in my pocket, hoping that it was the only tome regarding the study of the Heartless...

As I followed those two to a door that most likely lead to the upper part of the great hall in which we had recently fought the Heartless and Riku, I stopped yet again right in front of the pillar that Wilheim had clung himself onto when the spiders appeared...

"Jeez, Wilheim, you're unbelievable." I said, shaking my head.

"What?" our friend asked as he looked at the pillar and turned bright red yet again.

The pillar had markings of his nails. Goofy had literally torn him away from the thing. I almost laughed, actually. It could've been something anyone could've seen on a Saturday morning cartoon.

"You're really something, aren't you?" I added. "Did you break a nail?"

"All right, that is enough." Wilheim said. "I know I did not act as the bravest person there is, but you have insulted me enough for the moment."

"No, I'm serious about that. Did you actually break a nail? I mean, look at that!"

"No, I did not." He answered, a little vexed, I must say. I almost giggled, but managed to keep the laughs inside me.

_(Change of scene)_

Just as I suspected, the door which was in front of us lead back to the great hall. To the upper part of the great hall, that is. As we studied our surroundings, finding out that there was nothing more than a couple of statues, we heard our friends' voices below. Goofy peered at them and waved with a smile.

"Hello, down there!" he cried.

"Goofy!" cried Donald. "How'd you get up there?"

"Through the library. It's on the door to your left... Or was it the one on your right? No, I remember! The door on your left!" Goofy chuckled.

"Hey, did you guys find anything?" I asked.

"Yeah, we found two pieces of the Heartless' emblem!" Sora answered. "The door we saw had an empty slot in it and it had the shape of the emblem. Maybe if we put all of the pieces together, it'll open up!"

"See? I told you he'd do fine." I said, smirking at Wilheim.

"We found a piece, too!" he yelled at them, ignoring me. "Here!" he then took out the piece and threw it at Sora. "Do you think they will suffice?"

"...No!" Sora answered. "It's almost complete, but not yet quite."

"From the look of things, it appears that we still need one more piece!" Beast declared.

"Hmm... I wonder if...?" I said to myself, mostly, as I looked at a gigantic platform that hung by the ceiling. It was right above us and we had still to search it. "Hey, Wilheim... toss me up there, please."

He first glanced at me with a puzzled expression on his face and then at the enormous platform. I saw in his eyes that he understood and he stepped back and lowered his arms.

"Put your feet in my hands, Tifa." He said. "I will do the rest."

"Okay, here goes."

"What are you guys doing?" Goofy asked, turning around to see me carefully putting both feet on Wilheim's steady hands and reading myself to be catapulted upwards.

We didn't answer, of course. In less than a second, I was already on top of the platform. That damn Wilheim... I nearly fell over the edge because he threw me so hard. Not that I would've injured myself or anything, but that wasn't very much gentleman-like of him. And yes, before you guys start wandering, I wasn't in exactly a good mood right then.

"Hey, watch it!" I yelled at him. "Next time try to be a little more gentle."

"I am sorry...!" Wilheim answered, exasperated. "I shall make it up to you, I promise... but, please! Right now just tell us if the last piece that we are looking for is there!"

"Stop bossing me around!"

"Oh, dear Lord...!" he muttered and nearly fell to his knees. Now that I think about that moment I laugh, but right then, I reckon that neither of us were very charming.

"Ah!" I said, with a triumphant smile as I looked at a treasure chest which lay on the middle of the platform. "And if I'm not mistaken..." I opened it without delay and giggled before retrieving the final piece of the puzzle. "There we go! Here it is!" I held it above my head so that Wilheim and Goofy could see. I suppose that neither Donald, Beast, nor Sora had a good view from where they were.

I leapt down and fell near the boy. Goofy and Wilheim followed me as I hit the ground with firm legs. I could feel Wilheim's angry eyes on me. After all, I had complained to him that he had nearly thrown me to the very place which I had jumped to. Nevertheless, and it seems that I don't get tired of saying this, I wasn't about to argue with someone as mad as me.

"So, what now?" asked Goofy.

"We fit the pieces of the Heartless' emblem into the empty crest." I answered. "Then we'll see what happens."

Without saying another word, we all headed to the large door with the emblem of our foes engraved in it. With great care, Sora and I placed the four pieces of the crest on the hollow wood and stepped back. The door seemed to cover life as a shadow came over the emblem and turned the four pieces into one. There was a large explosion of dark energy that made us fall on our backs, but nothing more. And then, when we lifted our gaze, we saw that the emblem of the Heartless had been shattered once again. Yet this time, the door lay open.

"Hey, it worked!" Donald laughed.

"Yeah, it did..." Sora muttered. "You know, all of this is starting to bother me. Why do you think the Heartless left all of these pieces behind? If they would've taken them across the door, we would've not been able to keep on going... that way, of course, 'cause we would've found another one, but still..."

"It is obvious. Those beings are just stupid." Beast growled.

"I don't think it's that." I intervened. "The Heartless are actually a lot smarter than they seem. Believe me, we can all tell."

"Then what's you theory?"

"It can be either one of two things; one: they're underestimating us (yet AGAIN, for that matter); or two: they are waiting for us behind that door to spring a trap on us."

"Trap or no trap, we cannot linger a minute longer." Wilheim said firmly, unsheathing his sword. "Our time is running out."

"I don't know... maybe we should wait for the others to arrive." Goofy suggested.

"I don't usually agree with Goofy, but this time he's right." Donald added.

"No way." Sora quickly said, standing by Wilheim's side. "Wilheim's right. We should keep on moving. We've made it this far... we'll surely make it to the top of the castle. I'm sure that's where they're holding the Princesses of Heart."

"Let's go then, lads." Beast said. "Let's go rescue Belle."

And so they ran through the dark, shattered door without even waiting for us. I let out a sigh and glanced at my other two friends. I knew time was pressing and all... but I just wanted to make sure that Cloud and the others were okay. Knowing that we had been left without a choice, however, we nodded our heads and ran after our friends and caught up with them moments later.

_(Change of scene)_

We came across a strange place that had lots of magical gondolas inside what appeared to be a giant cage. We hoped on the first gondola we spotted and were transported to higher ground and so we ran into the next room, which turned out to be the outer part of the castle, and kept on running without stopping to take a break, without stopping to talk between ourselves. From time to time, I glanced to the waters below, hoping to see the figures of my friends running under... But I saw nothing of the sort. They must've already made their way into the castle, I thought. Every time I stopped running one of them would go to me and pull me by the arm so I could keep on going...

We ran into many Heartless, of course. Yet their numbers weren't so high and we managed to slaughter them without much difficulty. Thank goodness, no other giant spiders appeared again. I don't know what we would've done with Wilheim if one of them had attacked us. As far as I know, he could've jumped off the edge of the castle due to fright. At that moment, I had no idea why he feared them so much. Eventually, I found out, of course, but not by him. I never got to find out many things of Wilheim from him, actually...

The Heartless fell to our fists and weapons like flies. It didn't take us long to reach the upper part of the castle and enter a long, dark hall, illuminated only by the light of a few torches. It was not until we reached this hall that we stopped running and became alert. There was a very powerful and very evil presence nearby. I could feel it chilling my skin. And by the look on my companion's faces, I could see that they felt it, too. Sora's hands gripped the hilt of his Keyblade steadily while Renamark began to breathe fire quietly. I studied the walls carefully, hoping that maybe there was a secret passage from which the rest of our friends could enter into the room and help us. Maybe the Princesses of Heart were hiding behind a wall, waiting to be rescued... but I saw nothing of the sort. To tell the truth, I didn't have much time to study my surroundings, for it was not before long that an evil cackle greeted us.

"...Well! I suppose that you must all be commended! I never expected that you would make it this far..." the voice said. It came from a shadow that approached us slowly.

I had half-expected Riku to greet us, but to my surprise, he hadn't been the one who had talked...

"Maleficent!" we cried as her evil face abandoned the shadows. Oh, well, I suppose I shouldn't have been so surprised, but anyway... "Where is Belle?" Beast demanded, taking a menacing step towards her.

"Oh, come on, now." She said with a wicked smile. "Try to control that foul temper of yours. It's not nice to speak with some one so full of rage."

"Cut it out, already!" Sora intervened. "Where are the Princesses of Heart? And what is it that you've done to Riku?"

"As for your first question, boy, let us just say that since you won't be seeing either of them again, it's a matter that simply does not concern you..." replied the evil sorceress. She paused for a moment and then said: "But I am being quite rude. I have come here to destroy you, so the least I can do is to answer your questions properly. If you manage to defeat me, an impossible task I might add, you'll get to see your precious princesses. Not that you'll be able to wake them up from the deep sleep they're submerged in, for that matter... And as for your second question, I have done nothing but to show him the darkness that dwells inside of him. It was he and he alone who found out that the darkness has much more strength than the light."

"Ah, phooey!" Donald grumbled. "We'll show you what kind of light we're made of!"

"As I've said before, you cannot defeat me. Remember that it is I who control the hordes of Heartless you've barely defeated."

"Barely?" Wilheim said, stepping forth. "We have all but cleansed the worlds of the Heartless. It matters not if you are their leader. You will fall to us, just like all your subordinates have. Yet I will have mercy if you tell me how to awaken my Ukyo from the sleep she is in. Reveal your secret, witch, or I will have your head."

"She and the others are well beyond your reach. You'll never get to them."

"Shut up! I've had enough of this!" I cried. "I'm going to count to three, and when I get there, you'd better not be here, got it?"

"Hmm. Your persistence and your foolishness amuse me." Maleficent replied with a cackle.

"One!"

"Do you honestly think that I am scared of a pack of pups that don't even know the meaning of the word strength?"

"Two!"

"You will fall to the darkness today, imbeciles..."

"Three!" Donald interrupted as he launched a powerful fire spell at the witch. Maleficent simply put her staff in front of her and the ball of fire vanished. She cackled maliciously as a piece of the floor beneath her was torn apart from the ground and begun to fly with her on top of it. Even so, Donald wasn't intimidated. "What's the big idea? Come on down and fight!"

"Fool of a duck! I don't have to be on the ground to kill all of you!" said Maleficent as he summoned a wave of dark flames that came crashing down upon us like meteors. We quickly hid behind Goofy, who used his shield to fend off most of the attacks. The ones he couldn't stop were taken care of by either Donald (who created shields of magic air about us to protect us), Sora, or Wilheim, who used their swords to rid us of the projectiles.

When the rain of dark fire was over, Beast smashed the ground with his fist, cracking it with his tremendous strength. He then grabbed a big piece of it and threw it at Maleficent. The witch didn't seem to be expecting and attack of the sort and nearly felt off her platform when she dodged Beast's furious projectile. Donald then summoned a rain of ice that froze the fires of the torches about us, leaving us almost in complete darkness, and I say almost because Wilheim's sword and Maleficent's staff illuminated the hall enough for us to know what we were doing. The duck succeeded in hurting one of the witch's legs, but that didn't do so good, since she wasn't walking. She did make her mad, though.

She pointed her staff at the floor and beneath us, appeared what seemed to be dark holes. I quickly leapt away from them, believing that it would swallow me or that a Heartless would come out of it. Nevertheless, that's not what happened. But it was a good thing that I leapt away, because if I hadn't jumped, I would've been sliced in two by a giant blade made out of shadows. We all evaded the attack in time, except Beast, who was gravely injured by one of the sharp blades. Luckily, Donald had plenty of energy and healed him as soon as the first drop of his blood hit the ground.

Sora lost no more time and threw his Keyblade at Maleficent using that infamous 'boomerang' technique of his. But our enemy was never touched by the sword. She hovered away from the Keyblade's reach at incredible speed. And when she found herself away from any of our attacks, she summoned a black hole from which a new rain of meteors came. Only that this time, the meteors looked like white ghosts that followed us to wherever we went. None of us escaped unharmed on this occasion. I got hit only once, luckily, but Beast nearly got killed by the terrible spell. Donald had to cure all of us once the attack had finished. Seeing that this new strategy had paid off, Maleficent summoned the ghosts once again...

"Hey, guys! Quickly, hide here!" Goofy cried from a corner that up to this point, had escaped my sight. We quickly went to his side and stood behind him. There was luckily enough room for all of us to fit in there and we were even luckier that Maleficent's projectiles didn't go through walls. The knight skillfully stopped all of the attacks with his shield. Since they only had one way to come in, it didn't turn out to be so hard...

"What are we going to do?" Donald asked. "She's too strong!"

"Then we have to be stronger!" Sora answered. "For our friends... we have to be stronger than her!"

"As soon as she finishes her attack, we go out." I said, as a plan came to my head. "I need you guys to draw her fire; since I'm the quickest of all of us, I think that I can run up a wall and kick her off the platform."

"...It sounds alright to me." Goofy said. "And we'd better start doing that real soon... the storm is about to end!"

"I'll take as much hits as you need me to." Beast said. "Just knock her off that platform. And when she hits the ground, I'll shred her to pieces!"

"Stay behind Goofy. If you are to be the one to make this witch fall into our clutches, then you cannot afford to take a single hit." Wilheim added. "Out of us, he will protect you best."

"Be careful, Tifa." Donald quacked.

"Boy, I never thought I'd heard you saying that..." I replied.

"Enough! The attack has come to an end!" Beast announced.

There was a brief moment of silence as we left our hiding place. I glanced at Maleficent and saw she was a bit tired. I started to run at her but the minute she saw my aggressive move, she snapped out of it and cast a rain of thunderbolts upon me. I turned tail and hid behind Goofy like a scared cat... The knight skillfully stopped all of the bolts with his shield. I let out a relieved sigh when the last lightning fell on his strong chunk of metal.

"Thanks a lot, Goofy...!" I muttered.

"No problem! Just be a little more careful next time." He answered. Magnificent. Goofy telling me to be careful. I suppose I couldn't have fallen lower.

Beast clinched to a wall and tore apart a piece of it. With great strength and fury, he threw it at Maleficent and, again, nearly succeeded in making her fall off her platform. The witch looked down at him with fury, nearly gritting her teeth.

"So, you like to toss rocks." She growled. "Then have a taste of this!"

She raised her staff high over her head, making thunderbolts of energy that came out of nowhere strike it. The lightning ran through her body and then hit the ground beneath her, shattering it into big pieces which began to float. Then, she pointed her staff at us and launched the pieces of ground forward with tremendous force and speed. Now those were true meteors, no question about that.

"I hate to say the obvious, but your shield isn't going to work against that!" I screamed to Goofy. "Jump!"

We leapt in opposite directions, barely getting out of the huge rock's way. Beast jumped high into the air and the meteor passed right underneath him. He almost didn't make it... Donald summoned a strong draft of wind and made the meteor crash against a wall. Sora rolled below the projectile aimed at his body and Wilheim cut through the rock with his sword. That thing was really something...

"If that's all you've got, then you're going down real fast!" Sora exclaimed and once again threw his Keyblade at Maleficent. The witch flew out of the sword's reach and got ready to counterattack with a new rain of thunderbolts. Sora rolled forth, hoping to catch the Keyblade on time, but I was sure that he was about to get fried...

"Sorry, Goofy!" I cried as I jumped on top of his shoulders and launched myself at Maleficent. She dodged my kick just in time, but I bought enough time for Sora to get to his Keyblade and parry the rain of thunderbolts with great skill. I had to stay clinched to the wall like a little kitten while the lightning ceased. I was lucky she didn't aim at me. Well, at least not with that attack. After all, she wasn't ready to forget about me – I had just tried to give her a nice kick in the face. She raised her palm of her hand and from it, came a stream of dark fireballs. I got hit by about three of them, luckily, for the others just crashed against the wall. Yet the ones that hit me hurt like hell. I fell on my back, nearly making a hole on the ground. Maleficent let out a cackle as she descended with her platform at an alarming speed. I suppose you can guess where she wanted to land...

I was too weak to move. All I could do was to hope that my legs were still strong enough to repel her. I raised them high and got ready to receive the hit. But luckily, I didn't have to endure it alone. Rather, I didn't have to endure it at all. Beast quickly stood by my side and stopped Maleficent right before she fell on me. The witch pressed on the attack, yet my companion held her firmly. Forgetting the pain that throbbed through my arms and back, I got to my feet and helped him. In a matter of seconds, Goofy joined us and used his shield to help us support the tremendous weight. During this time, Beast moved his hands from the base of the platform to the edges. I was about to ask him what the hell he was doing, since he was sure to add more strength from the center, but when I saw Donald, Sora, and Wilheim running at Maleficent with full speed, I understood.

The witch suddenly stopped trying to crush us with her massive platform and tried to flee into the high part of the room. Nevertheless, her plan had backfired, for Beast now held her tightly and kept her where she was. Donald used a fire spell to distract her (at least I believe he did. I couldn't see much of what was happening... After all, I was still below the chunk of rock). Maleficent managed to block it, but was left helpless against a kick coming from Wilheim. I don't know where she took it, but I know it hurt her a lot. With a scream of pain, she fell to the ground and hit a wall. Then, Sora used the platform on top of us, which no longer weighted as much, and launched himself up into the air, coming down on Maleficent with a lethal slash. The witch let out a gasp as the Keyblade sliced her body, making her drop her staff to the ground.

She crawled away from Sora while blood oozed out of her mouth. The boy got near her and put the blade in front of her so she wouldn't go any further. She looked at him with fear while his eyes gazed at her with compassion...

"Damn you... boy!" the witch growled and suddenly vanished out of sight.

"What the...?" gasped Sora, turning his head into every direction. We did the same, hoping to find Maleficent trying to escape through some secret route. Yet she was nowhere to be found. "Did she die?"

"Somehow, I do not think that she did." Wilheim said. "But at least she has been defeated."

"That's not good enough!" Beast roared, throwing the platform away from us. "She might be somewhere ahead, planning another attack. We have to hurry!"

"You know, you have a point there..." Goofy murmured.

"Okay, then let's go!" I said.

"Hold on. First, let me cure your wounds." Donald intervened. He walked to me and held his staff up. A warm wave of wind caressed my skin and I was healed. "There you go."

"Thanks a lot, Donald." I said, smiling tenderly at him.

"Come on, guys! There's no time!" Sora exclaimed. "There's another door, over there! Let's get moving!"

We ran as fast as we could to the door, but when we got to it and tried to push it, we could hardly even move it.

"What in the hell is wrong with this cursed place?" Beast screamed.

To answer his yell, a part of the wall on our right suddenly came crashing down. We all put ourselves on guard, hoping to see the Heartless or some other enemy. Nevertheless, we didn't hear or see anyone at all. Only a chilling wind that somehow invited us inside. Beyond the new, dark passage, I could feel an evil presence... And what freaked me out the most was that I had just felt this presence. Only that its power had not been as great...

"I knew she was not dead." Wilheim whispered.

"I bet the door won't open because she put a spell on it." Sora suggested.

"We kill the witch and we kill the spell." Beast growled.

"But she's so powerful..." Goofy muttered.

"She hardly even scratched us just now!" Donald cried. "Let's go get her!"

I couldn't help to let out a sigh.

"Okay." I said. "Let's finish her once and for all."

And so we went into the shadowy passage way, without having an idea of what awaited us...

_(Change of scene)_

The new room we had entered was very large and had a circular form. There were no paintings, statues, or any other sort of adornments on or in front of the walls of grey stone. It almost seemed to me as if we were at the bottom of the longest well in the world (I'm sorry; worlds). And as we walked to the center of the place and looked upon what irradiated that evil power, it almost felt as if we were indeed at the bottom of a forgotten well.

There was Maleficent on her knees, looking at Riku. The boy had changed his attire. He no longer wore a yellow shirt and blue pants. His new clothes were black and appeared to be... dark muscles covering his torso (and I'm not talking about pretty muscles like 'I like Cloud's muscles' or something like that: I mean the red bloody stuff we're all made off. I do hope you get my point...) with some blue linings that had the appearance of veins. He also had a white piece of cloth around the waist and a dark boots. And this time, his eyes were a whole lot different. Every one of us could see the stare of an even fouler being in his gaze... Even Sora this time didn't hesitate to take a step forth and ask in a demanding voice:

"Who are you? What have you done to Riku? Damn it! Answer me!"

"I have given him the power of darkness." Riku replied in a grave and evil voice that wasn't his own. "Let me demonstrate..."

He buried his sword on Maleficent's chest for a moment and then stepped back. None of us knew what the hell was going on, but as the witch turned to us with a wicked smile and a crazy stare in her eyes, we kind of figured out that none of this could be good... And just like that, Riku vanished into thin air.

"Oh, shocks..." Goofy gulped, almost shrinking his body behind his shield.

"Yes...!" Maleficent hissed. "Yes! This is the power I've been looking for! THIS IS IT! FEEL THE FEAR!"

A sudden explosion of green flames about her sent us flying back. The entrance from which we had come was lost under a pile of rocks that came crumbling down. We raised our heads and saw with horror how Maleficent turned into a shadow that grew up and up and then began to get fat... A paw hit the ground and made the whole room shake. And then another... and then, two more. The smoke that had risen from the explosion began to dissipate and then we faced the monster with great terror... Maleficent had turned into an enormous black dragon with two wings on her back and a purple stomach. Her scaly skin had become as hard as a diamond and from her nostrils, came out green flames. Her tongue had turned bifid and yellow; her paws had giant, sharp claws that shone as if they had a life of their own and a tail had appeared from her behind, smashing the floor behind her with great fury... I had faced some black dragons before, but this was unlike anything I had ever seen. Perhaps if Cloud would've been by my side, I wouldn't have felt so much fear. However, I kind of didn't have the time to think about that.

"...Oh, oh..." was all that Donald managed to say before the enormous dragon swung its tail at us. He, Sora, Goofy, Beast, and I managed to duck in time to it, but Wilheim wasn't as quick and got hit by the gigantic thing. He grunted as he flew against a wall and smashed it with the force of a meteor. A part of the wall shattered into pieces and fell over him, leaving his body out of our sight.

"Wilheim!" Sora cried and began to run to his side, but was stopped by Maleficent's tail, which had slammed the ground that was between him and our fallen friend. "You're going to pay for that!" the boy menaced and the fear on his eyes was lost.

"Beast, try to get Wilheim out of there! Donald, cure him!" I cried. "Goofy, help Sora and me distract the damn thing!"

"Okay!" the knight exclaimed.

"Hang on, Wilheim!" quacked a hysterical Donald as he ran at the rocks, followed closely by Beast.

The dragon threw his head against Donald and Beast, but before she could close her teeth about them, I leapt into the air and, like an arrow, kicked her on the face. I did this so hard that I actually managed to turn her head around. Nevertheless, her scales were so hard that I felt as if I had broken my foot. I had no time to sit and whine, because as soon as I hit the ground, she turned her head to me and leaned back. It didn't take me long to find out what the hell she was planning to do.

I leapt as high as I could just before Maleficent let out of her mouth a stream of green flames that scorched the ground below me. I fell right on top of her and jumped away right before her tail smashed me. I really pissed her off, since she kept shooting fire at me without rest. I ran as fast as I could, screaming for help at the top of my lungs; I'm not type of girl that usually does this, but when you feel that your butt is on fire, it can get to you.

Sora shot a burst of ice from the tip of his sword right at Maleficent's nostrils, making her stop shooting fire for a minute. It didn't keep her from attacking, though, 'cause she slice poor Sora as if he were recently baked bread with her sharp claws. Goofy got in the way and stopped her, but got thrown into a wall. He wasn't gravely injured, though, and quickly got up to continue fighting. Right about then, the dragon was readying herself to shoot another stream of flames at us.

The green fire was relentless. It took a long time for it to go off and it spread faster than the plague. It didn't take a long time for the dragon to trap us within a circle of flames. She raised her paw and brought it down upon us. But before it squashed us into jelly, Beast leapt into the ring of flames and stopped the paw from falling onto us. I couldn't believe how strong he was! However, I knew that, whether he could hold on a little while longer or not, it was just a matter of seconds before Maleficent roasted us with her breath. I gathered all of my strength and hit the paw with my fist. Though I literally broke my hand by hitting that wall, we became free for a moment. Without a second thought, we escaped the circle of flames right before Maleficent breathed a stream of fire into it... Now, that was close.

I really felt as if we were just six – sorry, make that four, since Donald was still trying to get Wilheim out of the pile of rocks – ants going up against a giant. We managed to hit Maleficent more than once and we didn't even manage to scratch her. I would've settled for a dent or two, but we hadn't even gotten to that! That's when it hit me that we've been doing this all wrong.

"Her skin is impenetrable..." I murmured.

"Yes, I believe we've all noticed that...!" growled Beast in a desperate voice.

"Would you let me finish?" I snorted but was cut short by Maleficent's tail which nearly smashed me to pieces once again. As soon as I got up I yelled to all of my friends, seeing that it would be impossible for us to get together and discuss the matter in secrecy. "Hit the damn beast in her stomach!"

Before Maleficent could cover her belly with her paws, Goofy ran at her straight on and smashed her with his shield. The dragon didn't seem to be very hurt, but at least Goofy didn't bounce back. The monster groaned as it took a swipe at our friend and smashed him against a wall. Yet again, the knight wasn't too injured. At the rate things were going, however, we would surely need Donald's help, and fast.

Speaking about Donald, he was the only one working getting Wilheim out of the pile of rocks, so we couldn't blame him for not healing us. No wonder you're thinking why the hell he didn't cure Wilheim at that time, but the reason was quite simple: he had to focus all of his energy in creating barriers of wind about him and our fallen friend so they wouldn't bet burnt to a crisp. I just hoped that he would free Wilheim as soon as possible, before we all got murdered...

It was a shame that I had to scream Maleficent's weak point, because now she had grown more careful and rarely left herself open to a punch. Sora did manage to get a hit or two by throwing his Keyblade at her when she was busy trying to destroy the rest of us. In fact, we weren't feeling completely discouraged, since Maleficent had started to bleed. Yet we weren't making that much progress. Little by little, the dragon's breath was wearing us down. It wouldn't be long before we would fall to her.

Suddenly, Beast ran at the dragon as quickly as he could. She tried to squash him like a bug with her giant paw, but he evaded her and launched at her stomach. With brute strength, he hit her belly with his fist and managed to put most of his arm inside the monster. Maleficent roared in pain, but wasn't at all defeated. She grasped Beast before he could run away and threw him at us. Sora and I managed to evade him, but Goofy didn't get so lucky. He and Beast crashed against a wall like two meteors. Beast managed to get up, but Goofy simply couldn't find the strength. And it still didn't go so well for Beast, for the dragon hit him with her tail before he could move. Our friend didn't hit any wall this time, yet he didn't get up again. With Goofy and Beast out of the picture, Maleficent's eyes shone maliciously as she glanced at Sora and me...

The beast got ready to let out a stream of fire from her mouth. Sora used all of his strength to summon a powerful ice spell that momentarily sealed Maleficent's mouth. He fell on his knees after that, exhausted. Knowing that I was the only one left to fight, I ran at the dragon and threw myself at her stomach as if I were a meteor. My energy flowed from my fist to my legs, giving me the appearance of a comet. I was about to go through her... when she grabbed me with her paw. I tried to free myself, but her grasp was too strong. Seeing that Sora had no energy left in him, the damn monster threw me at him. I hit the boy with great strength, practically knocking him out of consciousness. I raised my head and saw that we were going to hit the bricks. I curled myself into a ball and embraced Sora, hoping that he would come to no harm.

I swear I felt as if my spine had broken. I let out a yell of pain as I tried to get up, but fell on my knees. I looked at Sora and noticed that his eyes were still open, but he could barely move. I then raised my sight at Maleficent, who stood right in front of us and was getting ready to shoot a stream of fire. I felt a hole in my stomach as I closed my eyes and fell over Sora, embracing him again (as if that was really going to help him). In a second, I heard the dragon's breath and let out a groan of fright.

I didn't feel any fire burning my skin. I didn't feel Sora's body turning into ashes from an intense heat. Rather than that, I heard a familiar grunt. I dared to open my eyes and turned my head to Maleficent. Wilheim was standing in front of us and was actually repelling the fire with his sword. The power of the vampire's blade was truly something amazing. I let my jaw drop as the cured young man took a step forth without being burnt by Maleficent's fire. It was truly something unbelievable, something miraculous... Renamark had awoken.

Wilheim slowly moved forth without fear of the green fire which vanished under the flames of Renamark. The dragon didn't stop shooting fire, yet it was no use. The young man would not stop. Maleficent soon realized that her breath was completely ineffective. I couldn't see fear in her eyes, but I'm most certain that she felt fright as Wilheim walked to her like a ghost vengeful that can't be hurt by the living. I think that she became filled by dread and that's what caused her to stop spitting fire. She raised her paw and got ready to smash our friend into bits. Big mistake. For a brief moment, she had left herself completely open... and Wilheim wasn't going to have any mercy. Faster than the eye could see, the young man threw his sword at the dragon's chest. Renamark buried itself deep into Maleficent. This time, the monster did seem in horrific pain, for she fell to the ground and let out a chilling roar, to which Wilheim answered:

"Consume her, Renamark! Burn her flesh with your magical fire! Give death to that foul dragon!" and the blade obeyed.

Slowly, all of Maleficent's body began to catch fire. The monster tried to put it out with her tail and paws, but it was no use. The spectral flames she was trying so desperately to put out were unlike anything she had ever seen before. No spell or weapon would've been able to conquer them. Renamark was easing its thirst, and there was no stopping it. After a few moments, Maleficent stopped thrashing her body and became still. Her head fell to the ground while black smoke rose from the ground below her. We lost sight of her for a couple of seconds... but after that, when the dark cloud dissipated, there was nothing left of Maleficent, save for a black stain that covered nearly all of the ground, while Renamark stood still, buried on the ground, glowing with satisfaction.

Donald was exhausted, but that didn't keep him from getting to our side and Beast's. As Beast's last wounds closed, the magician fell on his butt, gasping for air. He had really proved himself right now. And to think that he could be so annoying...

I was ready to get back on my feet when I saw Wilheim's hand offering me to get up. I was really grateful to him. If it wouldn't have been for his excellent timing, we would've been turned to ashes. I smiled as I took his hand and got up. Next he aided Sora and looked at us both in silence.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah... thanks a lot, Wilheim." Said Sora, with a smile.

"You saved our lives." I added. "And it's not the first time you've saved mine."

"Oh, you speak about the fight against Sephiroth? You aided me too, Tifa." He replied, also smiling. "I am your friend. To help you is but my pleasure."

"Such a gentleman." I giggled.

"I cannot believe I have killed a dragon." Wilheim said as his eyes turned to Renamark. He slowly walked to it, with Sora and I following him closely. "Such a deed could be considered legendary." He turned to us and added: "I do not mean to brag... it is just that the only other being I have met who has slain a dragon is Demean. And he is a legend from where I come from..."

"Hey, I've killed some dragons, too." I said. "But then again, this was really something. I suppose you could become a legend, Wilheim."

"Yeah, I'm sure that you'll become a celebrity on your world!" Sora chuckled.

"In a way, I am..." Wilheim responded and his smile grew bigger. "I am well-known amongst vampires... But that is not important right now. Just wait until Ukyo hears about this." When he said these words, Goofy, Beast, and Donald also looked at him in silence. He let out a sigh and said: "Now I am sure, more than ever, that there is hope. I will get her back, no matter the cost."

"I know what you are saying..." Sora intervened. "And the sooner we get to her, the better. I'm sure that the spell on the door has already gone, now. Let's hurry and get Ukyo and Kairi and the other princesses out of here!"

"Right."

As they finished talking, I gave Donald a potion to make him feel better. He got up and spun his staff in the air.

"That's much better!" he quacked enthusiastically. "Thanks, Tifa!"

"Nah, thank you, Donald." I said. "Without you, we would've lost."

"Ah, you're just saying that." Replied the duck, his face blushing bright red.

"Come on, no time for chatter!" Beast urged. "Let's go!"

He, Sora, Goofy, and Donald quickly exited the room, with Wilheim and I following them. But before we left, I stopped him by holding his shoulder and said: "Hey, Wilheim... I'm sorry if I've been mean to you during these last moments."

"I paid no heed to that, do not worry." He replied and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "Let us hurry."

"Okay!"

And so we quickly caught up with our friends, not knowing what awaited us beyond that door, which hopefully, would be the last that we had to open before meeting our friends...


	33. Chapter ThirtyTwo: Ultimate Sacrifice

Hey, all! Thought I wouldn't update again this year? I'm glad that isn't true!

Once again (turns on tape recorder) : sorry I took so long, guys. The semester nearly killed me at the end, but I finally made it to vacation again, and with excellent grades, I might add :) .

Anyway, now that I'm done with my pathetic excuse again, I'll go into another matter: this chapter isn't as long as the previous ones, but I did start working on it about a week ago... Well, I think it turned out to be pretty good. I hope you all like it.

Oh, and in case I can't update again this year, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year:)

_Chapter Thirty-Two: Ultimate Sacrifice _

Narrator: Demean, Wilheim 

_(Demean)_

"I do not see them anymore." Tish said in a low, worried voice. I suppose she was just as concerned about Tifa, Wilheim, Sora, Donald, and Goofy as the rest of us. They had gone into the lion's den on their own, where surely the vilest of shadows awaited them. I could only hope that my good friend's reflexes were as sharp as ever... "We will not be able to follow them. This nasty chill nearly freezes my wings – I will not be able to fly for much longer."

"I cannot fly anymore, either." Camille added. "We have no choice but to find a way inside."

"Well, since the water isn't drowning us, do you suppose that there might a secret passage into the castle from below?" Merryck suggested.

"Of that you can be sure, young hobbit." Octavius said. "Let us make haste and much noise. With any luck, we might attract the enemy's attention to us."

"I know what you mean..." Sakura said. "But I'm not so sure I want to do that."

"We have to attract the Heartless to us." Cloud declared. "We have to. That's the only way we can protect them from where we are. I'll never forgive myself if any harm comes to Tifa... And we need Sora to get the Princesses of Heart back. I'm sure that he's the only one who can do it."

"As long as Wilheim doesn't screw it up..." Ryoga muttered, still seemingly hurt by his experience with my friend.

"Do not think about that." I quickly said, frowning. Although he could have been right, I did not like to have him speak about Wilheim like that. "Enough chatter. Lest we hurry and make a diversion, or our friends may not survive the oncoming wrath of the Heartless."

We made our way through the freezing water and finally reached a thick block of ice, which was not much warmer. At least we could stand again. We kept close to each other, for the foul wind that came from the deep halls of the castle was not of much help. Even I felt how the bones of my body were turning into mere sticks of fragile ice. It was clear to me that the ones suffering the most from the cold were my little Tish and brave Merryck. I delicately held the fairy close to my chest and put my arm around the hobbit's shoulders. But a few moments later, the rest of our friends had also joined us. Even Octavius embraced us with his enormous arms, though his teeth did not chatter and his body did not shake...

"We have to get moving soon." Cloud said. "Hopefully, it'll be warmer inside – look over there."

Our friend's sharp eyes had discovered a small opening at the base of the castle which most likely lead inside it. It was well hidden underwater behind a pillar that reached one of the balconies of the dark fortress.

"Aw, man!" whined Sakura. "Do we really have to go underwater again?"

"If we want to aid our friends, then we have no choice." Camille replied. "Fear not, girl. The chill of the waters will pass."

"Still, I don't like the idea."

"Quit complaining, girl." Octavius intervened. "If there was a door above the icy waters, no doubt we would use it. But such door does not exist: we must go into the castle without fear, especially if said fear is directed toward mere water."

"Icy water, were-bear." Sakura grumbled.

"Come on, fellows, there is no time to bicker amongst ourselves." Merryck interrupted. "There is little time to lose... So, do we really have to make much noise to attract the Heartless attention?"

"That's the plan." Cloud answered.

"Well, then I suppose I'd better make as much noise as I can." The hobbit and plunged into the water. I was surprised at his bravery: he had grown indeed courageous.

The rest of us said no more and followed him. The sound of the fantastic waterfalls died as soon as the shadows of the castle came over us. For a few instants, we saw nothing nor heard nothing. There was nothing to guide our way – only the chill of the water that drove us forward and our resolve...

We finally saw again. We had successfully made our way inside the cursed fortress undetected. Now it was time for us to make ourselves visible to the eyes of the enemy. I took out my bow and readied an arrow and for a brief instant, I felt the same anger in me that had burnt in my chest the day I had slain the dragon that had nearly destroyed my forest: I would not let any harm fall upon my friends, for they were all worth dying for...

It did not take long for us to realize that we had somehow come into what seemed to be a maze. The walls about us seemed to be very solid – I reckoned that even our powerful were-bear would have a hard time shattering them with his fists. In front of us was a metal fence that also seemed to be as hard as a diamond. Still, Octavius tried to bring it down with a furious punch, but the fence did not move an inch.

"Now, now, dear Octavius." Camille said. "Calm your fury. Not everything is fixed with brute strength."

"This is stupid." Ryoga added. "I'm going to make us a path with my Breaking Point technique."

"I do not think that would be very wise, Ryoga." Tish said from inside my pocket. She had grown too cold and could barely stand... "Suppose you destroy one of the castle's main pillars. Unless you are sure that we will survive the weight of the entire fortress falling on our heads, I would suggest that you stay your finger."

"HEARTLESS!" Octavius roared and we all put ourselves on our guards. Yet the were-bear's shout had not been a warning, but a challenge. "Come out from wherever you are hiding! We have suffered your vile curse long enough! Show yourselves to us! It is time you all had your heads cut off!"

"Yeah!" cried Sakura. "Give us back our friends, slimes!"

"Come and face us! We shall cast you back to the darkness whence you came from!" challenged Camille and soon Cloud and Ryoga started to call to our enemies as well.

"Demean... look at that!" whispered Merryck as he pointed at a blue orb which was embedded inside one of the walls that surrounded us.

"I wonder if...?" I murmured as I slowly approached the orb and pressed it with the palm of my hand. A strange sound startled me and made the rest of my friends raise their guards as they fell completely silent and alert. It did not take us long to realized that I had activated some sort of mechanism that had caused the gate in front of us to open. Yet as I turned back, I saw that a new gate had appeared behind us. It was an invitation for us to enter the wolf's den, never to come out again...

"It looks to me that the Heartless intentions are clear." Octavius said. "No doubt they have heard us... well done, my friends."

"Let us get moving." I said aloud. "And let them come!"

With a battle cry, we all went deep into the maze that lay before us. Our yells echoed on the cold walls ahead and traveled far into the chilling labyrinth. It did not take our enemies long to hear our challenge and answer it.

As we turned right in a corner, we ran into a group of tenacious Heartless, the kind of monsters that held shields with the heads of living dogs engraved on them. They greeted us with an icy spell, but we were quick enough to leap out of their way. Cloud and Octavius ran as fast as they could to them once they had finished casting the spell and went through three of them with a quick, deadly blow; not even those hard shields could stand the might of the were-bear and the terrible power of the soldier's massive sword. The rest of the enemies turned to our two friends and tried to smash them with their shields, yet they lowered their guards by doing this. I lost no time and shot an arrow at one of them. The projectile flew swiftly and pierced the monster's head. This caused the enemies to turn around once again with furious speed, swinging their shields in a wide arc, forcing Cloud and Octavius to take a step back. One of them shot a fireball at Camille. To counter this, the succubus turned one of her wings into a thick, solid shield and managed to bounce back the foe's attack back at him, knocking him to the ground. The other Heartless unleashed a chilling blizzard on us, hoping to freeze us to death before the soldier and the were-bear – who had taken advantage of this last move from our foes – killed all of them. Ryoga and Sakura answered this aggression with energy blasts, and while they struggled to keep the blizzard at bay, Tish (who was now a bit warmer and could fly again) and Merryck quietly walked behind the Heartless. My little fairy cast a fiery spell on the hobbit's blade and then Merryck swung his weapon at one of the monsters' legs. The foe fell on his back and screeched in agonizing pain as the fire consumed his body.

A few moments later, the blizzard had come to an end, for Octavius and Cloud had destroyed all the Heartless, but one. This had been the one Camille had knocked down... and the succubus was not in the mood for being merciful. Her wings turned into sharp tentacles that pierced the knight's armor as if it was made out of paper. The moment had passed quickly and the Heartless had felt our great wrath. Nevertheless, we were certain that there were more out there waiting for our friends: it would be illogical – or very stupid – of us to think that this had been all the army our enemies had at their disposal at the moment. And so, as soon as the last of our opponents turned to dust, we kept on running deeper into the maze, calling out to our enemies with angry cries.

After a few moments, we heard many footsteps that came from one of the corridors near us. We turned to it and discovered a large group of Heartless running through it. I took out my bow yet again and shot one of them, managing to catch their attention. And so the rest of the group of foes started to run at us. It was clear to me that our friends were nearby and that we had just saved them from a platoon of foes. At least partly. Surely they could handle the few Heartless that had escaped us. Yet that was not the time to think about Wilheim and the others, for I had other companions to take care of. Well, perhaps not to take care of, because all of them fought as fiercely as savage lions that prey upon hapless antelopes...

Cloud was the first to attack. He raised his sword above his head and filled it with energy. Then, he brought it down against the ground, making it shake as he hit it, and unleashed a beam of energy that cut through a great deal of Heartless. Those that managed to escape Cloud's attack were mostly agile foes of the very same sort that we had encountered on our battles in Gaia and those who had not yet arrived at the scene, for the corridor was not wide and kept our foes (and ourselves) close to each other. This would not help the nimble Heartless to act so freely, but it would not benefit us that much either.

Seeing that there was not much room for him to act with his full strength, Octavius took out his shotgun and fired at the acrobats. He hit only a couple of them; the rest of the foes dodged the bullets with ease and got to where we stood. Two of them managed to knock Sakura off her feet and kick her in the stomach, but before they could do any real harm to her, Ryoga and Camille rescued her by lunging themselves against the foes and destroying them before they could recover, Ryoga by hitting the one he had caught on the face with his elbow and Camille by breaking the creature's neck with a quick twist of her arms. The surviving acrobats met their doom at my hands: I unsheathed my daggers and slashed at them without mercy. They might have been agile, but the skills taught to me by the masters of combat at the forest of Feanorth proved their techniques to be worthless against me...

As Sakura got up from the ground, she began to gather all of her energy on the palms of her hands. She was obviously not happy about what the Heartless had done to her and I could see in her eyes the desire for vengeance.

"HADOKEN!"

The wave of energy slaughtered almost the same number of Heartless that Cloud had killed with his previous attack. But when the corridor began to look empty of Heartless, more foes arrived at the scene. This time, more of those relentless shield-carrying soldiers made their appearance, as well as a group of powerful wizards. Together, they cast a powerful icy spell to attack us. This time, we had nowhere to run, but Tish saved us from the chilling storm by creating a magical barrier in front of us. Still, the enemies kept casting the spell and my little fairy began to grow weak.

Tish would not last long against the combined forces of the Heartless. Though I was on the verge of desperation, I did not lose my head and quickly came up with a plan.

"Sakura, Cloud – I want you both to gather some energy." I said to my friends. "Fire swiftly when I say so, but do not use too much energy, or you will bring everything around us down."

"Okay!" both of them said and began to do as I asked them.

"Ryoga, I want you to use your Breaking Point technique on the wall on the right. As soon as you do this and Sakura and Cloud have unleashed their attacks, we will press on the offensive: Octavius and Camille should go after the knights, while Merryck and I will destroy the wizards."

"But I thought Tish said that breaking a wall could crush us all!" Ryoga yelled.

"We have been running through this maze long enough to realize that the walls that surround us are not the founding pillars of the castle, boy!" Octavius replied.

"Quickly, now! There is little time left!" Camille added.

"On the count of three, Ryoga!" cried Sakura, who had almost completed the energy wave on her hands, whereas Cloud was quite ready to unleash his attack at any given moment. "One... two... three!"

Without anymore hesitation, the boy buried his finger into the wall and made it burst in such a way that the rocks and dust fell on the Heartless, causing them to stop casting the icy spell on us. We quickly put our backs against the walls, giving enough room for Cloud and Sakura to fire their blasts. These two quickly unleashed their blows and devastated a large part of the Heartless. Luckily for us, the walls did not come down with their blasts. When their attack ended, Octavius, Camille, Merryck, and I rushed at our opponents fast. I knew that the wizards were weak, but their spells were not a pleasant thing to experience, not to mention the fact that the scoundrels could teleport far away from us and our weapons. Merryck and I were going to make sure they were the first to fall...

The little hobbit ran underneath the floating magicians, slashing them with his sword as he passed by them. He did not kill them, but he was quick enough to wound them gravely. They were unable to recover in time as I went through them with my knives. Their fragile bodies, already shattered by Merryck's quick attack, turned into nothingness with a quick twist of my wrists.

Octavius and Camille were not as fast in their attacks, for both of them preferred to use power rather than speed at that time. Octavius grasped one of the Heartless and managed to lift him above his head. With a cry of battle, he threw the enemy at the rest of the foes, making them stumble backwards and fall on each other. The succubus then finished all of them with a powerful strike or her needle-like wings. She pierced through all of them like an arrow passing through a thin, wooden layer. That was the end of the platoon.

But as we walked to the corner, we realized that we were far from done. More Heartless ran in our direction with a menacing roar. Although we were more than ready to battle them, another idea came to my mind.

"Ryoga, strike the ceiling in front of us!" I cried.

The young man asked no questions this time and did as I told him to. A large pile of rocks came crashing down, squashing a large part of the Heartless foes. Our opponents could not reach us, except the wizards, who quickly teleported to where we stood. Yet they met a quick death, for Octavius, Camille, Tish, and I were ready to give them a warm welcome. Tish cast a powerful spell on a few of my arrows, which I fired at the foes without delay, killing them instantly. Camille used her wings to bounce back the fireballs they had thrown at her, giving Octavius enough time to perform a quick, but deadly strike that eliminated our remaining enemies. This fight had at last ended.

"That should take care of them for a while." Merryck said, wiping off the sweat that had begun to cover his forehead. At least he was getting warm somehow...

"They weren't coming for us." Cloud declared. "You did notice, didn't you? They were running to some other place. That must mean that our friends are nearby! TIFA!" he yelled.

"Keep your voice down, dear!" Camille said as she quickly covered the soldier's mouth. "Hush!"

"What do you mean?" Cloud asked, this time in a low voice. "She and the others must be near!"

"Yes, but it is better that we do not go with them yet."

"What?"

"I understand your point, succubus." Octavius intervened. "It is best that we travel through the castle on our own, slaughtering as many Heartless as we can. It is best that they attack us and not them."

"But I thought we'd do better with the help of our friends..." Sakura murmured. "If we stick together, we'll be stronger."

"That maybe true." Camille replied. "Nevertheless, the sooner Sora and the others get to the Princesses of Heart, the better it will be. That is why we must focus our strength in removing the Heartless that dwell in their path."

"I agree, and we are only wasting our time and theirs by staying here." Tish added. "Let us make haste. There must be another way into the castle."

"And I think that I know where to begin our search for said entrance." The were-bear muttered as he stared at a wall on our right. It had many cracks on it and looked as if it would come crumbling down at any minute. Octavius decided to... lend it a hand. With a mighty punch, he shattered the stone and opened a path to a small room with a platform in its center. It seemed as if the platform led to the upper part of the maze... "We are in luck."

"Quickly, now." I said, entering the room with caution, both daggers at the ready. "And remember to be loud. We must attract as many enemies as we can."

"I don't like this plan at all." Ryoga murmured under his breath, while Sakura nodded solemnly. Even then, we paid no heed to them as the platform lifted us up...

We soon found ourselves in a much wider, yet darker area. We were inside a single, large room with only one door. Without hesitation, we began to run at it, but as we made our way to it, a group of Heartless appeared between us and the exit. This was partly what we wanted, however, and engaged battle with them instantly.

Now that he was sure that there were no pillars he could accidentally burst and cause the entire castle to come crashing on top of us, Ryoga used his Breaking Point technique as much as he could, mostly to confuse the Heartless with a rain of stones that clouded their vision. Meanwhile, Tish took the liberty to enchant all of our weapons with a spell of fire. Afterwards, she hid in my pocket and waited for the fight to be over. Octavius and Cloud went after the larger Heartless while, once again, Merryck and I attacked the wizards swiftly. Sakura and Camille concentrated on the more agile Heartless and on the flying enemies. The foes were numerous but lacked teamwork. We were fortunate we had not encountered any of those fiends from Gaia. Nevertheless, we were sure we would meet them again soon...

As I advanced at one of the wizards, he tried to drive me back with a blizzard spell (I was rather getting tired of having to deal with opponents that did nothing but to punish us with icy attacks). My daggers, which still have the spell of fire on them, cut through the spell as if I were cutting through tall grass. The wizard, seeing that there was no stopping me, tried to teleport away from me, but I got to him before he could do so and decapitated him.

Meanwhile, Cloud had found another use for the fire spell on his gigantic sword. Every time he struck the ground with force, a mighty pillar of flames emerged from it. He used this move as much as he could before the spell began to wear off and successfully destroyed lots of Heartless with it. Octavius gave a similar use to his katana: by striking the walls he had managed to unleash a rain of sparks that lit fire on everything they touched. He stayed close to the corners and incinerated all of the foes that stood before him.

Sakura, Ryoga, and Camille lacked a weapon, but they were not at all defenseless. The succubus used her wings to pierce through the wyverns that had appeared before us while the young lads unleashed a rain of punches and kicks on the acrobats that were still blinded by Ryoga's technique. They finished off their opponents quickly.

Merryck also ran into the same predicament I had faced earlier, that is, a group of wizards that attacked him with blizzards. He skillfully managed to evade the attacks and destroyed most of the magicians with quick movements, but he did get hurt by a couple of spells. Nevertheless, the brave hobbit did not yield and cut through the icy attacks with his fire-filled blade. Before long, he had eliminated an entire platoon of wizards, while I had already taken care of the rest. Once again, we emerged victorious from the battle.

None of us said anything. As soon as the last flames that consumed the Heartless disappeared, we ran at the door and exited the room. We now stood outside the fortress. The chill of the icy waters below us was carried by the drafts of the bizarre waterfalls that flowed upwards. I could see no other entrance to the castle where we were, but I did spot another door that was a few floors above us. In front of us, were magical gondolas operating without rest. It seemed that we were in luck.

"That big gondola seems to head up." I said. "Let us take that one, quickly, before it is too late."

We all climbed on board a large platform that begun to move up as soon as the last of us set foot on it. Our glances turned to the skies. We were well aware that the wyverns were quite capable of lifting various types of Heartless with their claws... it would not surprise me if they would attempt to drop off some foes on us – we had already experienced that when we had battled them on the Sanctuary of Athena. And, almost as if my thought had called them, we suddenly saw a vast group of shadows flying through the sky.

"Enemies." Camille growled. "Let us make short work of them."

As she finished saying this, the wyverns quickly descended upon us and released a new type of Heartless that we had not encountered until now... giant spiders.

"Oh, great, I just hate bugs!" Sakura cried. I expected her to coward behind Ryoga, but the brave girl attacked the nearest spider and knocked it off the platform. It was then that the other monsters leapt at us and some others tried to tie us up with sticky webs. They managed to wrap Octavius up, but only for a moment, for the were-bear simply had to extend his powerful arms to rid himself of the bonds around his body. He then grabbed the webs and pulled hard on them, taking a small group of spiders off the ground when he did, and then he threw them off the gondola and into a wall of the castle.

A giant spider attacked me, trying to bury its enormous fangs on my chest, yet I quickly sliced it with my knives as it ran at me. Those of us who had weapons did not have much trouble in slaughtering the creatures (even Merryck had destroyed a beast or two), but Ryoga and Sakura were not doing very well. Even though the girl had been the first to attack and had killed her first opponent with ease, the spiders (which had not ceased to fall from the wyvern-ruled skies') were quickly overwhelming them. Camille did her best to help them by driving her wings into the creatures that attempted to attack the boys from behind. That did not proof to be enough, however, as one of the spiders drove Ryoga to the edge of the gondola and charged at him fast, knocking him off the platform...

"RYOGA!" Sakura shrieked.

We all gasped in horror as the boy and the spider fell of the edge of the platform, but Cloud was close enough to dive for our friend and catch his hand just in time...

"Cover my back!" Octavius said to me as he raced to help the other two.

I stayed close to him while Tish began to conjure a spell that brought a cloud of mist above the gondola, making it almost invisible to the wyverns. When she finished casting the spell, many of the spiders still fell on top of the gondola and attacked us, but some others did not make it to the platform and fell into the freezing waters below. She had indeed come up with a fine strategy, I daresay...

While I fended off the arachnids that came after us, I noticed that Cloud barely had a grip on Ryoga's hand, and that the latter was slipping because the spider still held on to him and had already bit him many times. The poison running through his veins was seemingly weakening him, but Cloud would not release the boy, nor Octavius, who had saved both of them from falling down.

"You stupid, son of a..." muttered Cloud with anger as he swung his sword at the spider, trying to cut its legs off, but the monster did not let go of the boy. "Die already!" he then turned to Octavius and shouted: "You know, a little help with that shotgun wouldn't hurt!"

"Now, why did I not think of that earlier?" Octavius growled, trying to fight off some spiders with his other free hand. At least he did not tell me anything, for he saw that I was in much trouble already. Four spiders were attacking me and the rest of my companions were also busy enough with problems of their own... I had no choice but to trust that one of them would free himself from the spiders quickly so that he could lend me a hand.

And the help came. Little Merryck managed to sneak away from the monster that had engaged battle with him and stabbed one of the monsters from behind. The others turned to him with anger, giving me enough time to slash all of them while they were distracted. The spider Merryck had been fighting soon came back to finish him off, yet the hobbit skillfully leapt out of the fangs' way and stabbed the monster in one of the eyes. He then stayed close to me as I took out my bow and shot the two spiders that were after Octavius and the others. Now that there were no more monsters threatening him, the were-bear was free to get a hold on his shotgun and fire it at the spider that hung to Ryoga's legs. With a quick movement, the shotgun roared once and the monster vanished. Finally, he pulled up both Cloud and Ryoga back to the platform with ease. The young man was convulsing in pain as foam came out of his mouth...

"Come on, Ryoga, hang on!" Cloud yelled as he tried to steady him.

"Tish! We need your magic!" I shouted to my little fairy. She lost no time and conjured a healing spell that soon stopped the venom's effect on our friend. Ryoga got up from the ground and shook his head. He still seemed weak, but well enough to wage more battle, at least. He also seemed somewhat angry – and what better way to show this than firing an energy blast that killed five monsters in the blink of an eye.

At long last, we reached the upper floor and the door, but the wyverns with spiders kept on coming. We did want to help our friends to have safe passage through the castle, but this was too much for us to handle. While the rest of our friends raced to the door, Tish cast an ice spell on my arrows as I readied some of them and shot them at a few wyverns. Octavius did not leave me alone in this endeavor, as he quickly took out his shotgun and destroyed some more monsters. We did not do this for long, however: the wyverns with spiders were increasing at an extremely alarming rate.

"Get in, get in, get in!" Camille cried, holding the door open for us to come inside. We lost no more time and entered the castle again, leaving the monsters behind us. We all fell on the ground for a little while, exhausted from battle. Well, I was not exactly exhausted, but Ryoga had given me quite a scare... "That was close..."

"Goddamn spiders..." Ryoga muttered. "They better not come near me again, or I'll..."

"Take it easy, Ryoga..." Sakura interrupted. "Jeez, you had me worried sick!" she hugged him and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. "Promise me you'll be more careful next time!"

"I... uh... I will." The boy stammered.

"Well, I suppose that we were, in a way, rather fortunate not to bring Wilheim with us this time." I declared. "He would have been nothing more than a hindrance in this last battle."

"Why is that?" Cloud asked.

"He is terrified of spiders." I answered. "He freezes whenever he sees one, even if it is a tiny arachnid..."

"I suppose that that is because of your little adventure in the forest of Ungolin, is it not?"

"Yes, I guess it is partly my fault."

"You will tell us all about it some other time, elf." Octavius said. "We must make haste."

"The highest floor is not far." Camille said. "I managed to take a quick look at the castle just a few moments ago and we are almost at the top."

"Then let's not waste more time!" Merryck said. "Maybe if we get to the top, we'll find the larger part of the army... not that this thought thrills me, but..."

"Oh, but we don't need a much larger army." A sudden, menacing voice said from the deeper part of the castle. We all turned to it in alarm, raising our weapons as we faced the shadows in front of us... "It's not necessary – I can dispose of you myself." And then, the figure came out of the shadows and showed himself to us...

"...What is this power running through this boy's body?" I cried and then, the figure disappeared. I saw all my friends fall unconscious, one by one, and at last, I fell a strong blow on the back of my head, and everything went black...

_(Wilheim)_

Maleficent's spell was broken now that she was dead. The door that she had guarded so jealously swung wide open as we walked to it. We gave a quick glance to each other and nodded silently. With his weapon in hand, Sora went through the door first...

"Oh, crap!" he cried as he came out of the darkness.

"What did you see, Sora?" asked Donald as he raced to his side. "Oh, oh..."

As I got to where they stood, I nearly let Renamark slip right off my hands. The scenery was not at all a pretty sight.

At last, we had found the Princesses of Heart. Yet they were all frozen inside what seemed to be colored crystals. Their eyes were closed: they slept a dreamless sleep, and it almost seemed to me that they were not breathing. The crystals seemed resilient, yet none of us dared to strike them to find out...

Naturally, I began to search for my Ukyo, but she was nowhere to be found among the maidens locked inside the crystals. Nevertheless, I did find some one else, who I had not seen in a long time...

"Princess Jasmine!" I exclaimed. "Tifa, look!"

"What?" Tifa muttered. "She's here?" she stood next to me and looked at her carefully. "...I almost forgot that Riku had taken her away when we were in Agrabah. Wilheim, we have to take her back to Aladdin's side!"

"We have to free all of them, for starters." I said... "I wonder who else is here..."

"Belle!" Beast cried. We turned to him as he stood in front of a beautiful maiden with a yellow dress – she was the same vision that had appeared before us when we had battled against Riku a while ago, but this one was under the evil spell of the Heartless: she was not a Heartless herself. "Oh, no..." our companion said. "Belle, don't worry. I'll get you out of here even if it's the last thing I do."

"Gwarsh... look how many princesses the Heartless have caught!" Goofy muttered as he walked by the captured women, looking at them carefully. He walked by a maiden with white skin – whiter than I had ever seen in a human being – and lips as red as the petals of a rose; by a tall woman wearing a golden tiara and a blue dress; by a blonde girl with short hair and white, elegant clothes, and finally stopped as he reached a young woman with blue clothing and a white apron... "Uh? Hey! Donald! Sora! Look, it's Alice!"

"Alice?" asked Sora with a puzzled look on his face, as if he did not know what Goofy was talking about. But as he approached the girl and glanced at her, his eyes were filled with disbelief. "Oh, Alice! Now I remember her!"

"No wonder we couldn't find her after that stupid trial!" added Donald. "The Heartless stole her and brought her here!"

"I almost forgot about her... damn." The boy muttered. "Don't worry, Alice, we'll get you out... oh, no, you have got to be kidding me!"

"What now?" quacked Donald as Sora ran to see yet another maiden and when the duck recognized her, he gasped in horror. "Princess... Zelda!"

"What?" Tifa and I yelled. "Princess Zelda as in the princess of Hyrule?" she added. "Link's princess?"

"But how could that happen?" Sora said. "I sealed the keyhole on Hyrule! This isn't possible...!"

"Unless Riku went after her." Donald grumbled. "Aw, phooey!"

"Say, Donald... isn't that the girl Seyia and the others were talking about?" Goofy asked, pointing at a lovely young lady with long, purple hair and a white dress.

"The reincarnation of Athena." I murmured to myself. "That must be her..." then another Princess of Heart caught my attention. I had also seen this one before, but only on a picture. "Dante's mother is here, also." I said as I put my hand on the crystal. "This is so terrible."

"How do we get them out?" Beast asked, filled by despair.

"I really don't know..." Sora muttered, walking about the princesses nervously. "Damn! Where the hell are they?"

"I know what you mean." Tifa said. "I haven't seen them, either..."

It was then that I turned my head to the stairs that were in front of me. They led to an upper floor, where a door to the abyss lay. The emblem of the Heartless housed infinite darkness and I could feel an evil presence coming from the other side of it. But that was unimportant. For at the edge of the floor, I saw two immobile figures. One I knew quite well and I was certain of who the other was...

"Sora...!" I cried. "There they are!"

"Where?" the boy asked, frantically turning his head to where I looked. "KAIRI!"

"UKYO!"

We all began to run to them, but Sora and I ran faster than the others and quickly got to our two princesses first... I held my dearest in my arms and looked at her in silence. I held back my tears of both joy and fear as I gently caressed her forehead... she seemed to be sleeping so soundly. I embraced her and held her head close to my heart.

"Do not worry, my darling." I whispered in her ear. "I will find a way to bring your heart back to you, even if it costs me my life..."

"Kairi!" Sora cried as he shook the other girl gently. "Come on, Kairi! It's me, Sora!" but the girl did not respond to his calls. He let out a sigh and held her in the same way I was holding my Ukyo. "It's okay, Kairi. I'm here, now."

"Wilheim! Sora!" Tifa yelled as she and the others caught up with us. "Are you all right, guys?"

"We will be, once we remove this vile curse from them." I said and got up.

"There has to be a way to do it." Sora said. "We're not leaving this place until all of the Princesses of Heart are back to normal."

"Oh, I doubt you'll ever be leaving this place at all." Said another voice, one we had hurt just minutes ago... just before the battle against that foul dragon.

We all turned to face Riku, who was engulfed by a dark aura of power. The sword he held now was filled with power: I could feel it brushing against my skin and it was cold like snow come from the highest mountain. We put ourselves on guard while Sora took a step forth and demanded:

"Give Riku his heart back!"

"Fat chance." The boy replied. "Rather, I need your heart, Keyblade master."

"Like you said, fat chance!"

"You'll have to come over us, first!" Tifa challenged.

"That can be arranged!" Riku replied and vanished into thin air. Sora and I barely saw him as he flew at an incredible speed among our companions. In the blink of an eye, all of our friends had been knocked unconscious... I did not know how he had done that. I had been unable to see his moves! Such was his newfound power... At last, he hit all of them once and sent them flying into the floor below.

"Guys!" Sora cried. "...No!"

"So, I suppose it is just you two and me." Riku cackled.

"I... I won't be defeated!" the boy said. "I'll win, no matter what! For Ukyo and Kairi, I'll win this!"

"You'll only succeed in losing your heart." The enemy replied. "Come now, and feel the power of my blade. For this weapon, unlike yours, is used to unlock people's hearts. And now, I shall have yours."

"So, in that sword lies the secret to awaken my Ukyo again." I said. "You may be strong, but I will not lose my heart to you, fiend!"

"Wilheim..." Sora said, turning to face me.

"For Ukyo and Kairi and the rest of the Princesses of Heart, my friend." I murmured, nodding my head. And so, with a battle cry, we charged against Riku with fury. We leapt high into the air and landed on him with a mighty strike, but the enemy pushed us back with a swipe of his weapon...

I thought I would land on the floor below, but rather than that, I hit a wall and fell on the ground with pain throbbing through my back and moments after, Sora fell by my side. As I looked up, I realized that I had hit no physical wall, for I could still see what was below us. It seemed to me that the fiend had created a magical barrier about us...

"That's just in case you were thinking about running away." Riku said, confirming my beliefs.

"Are you okay, Wilheim?" asked Sora, who had already stood up and was on his guard.

I quickly leapt back to my feet and nodded without saying a word. Then, I looked at Riku and said: "No one will be running away."

The fiend smiled and began to circle us, while pointing his blade at us. Sora and I slowly moved to our right and kept a close eye on every movement he made. He was not going to attack us. Rather, he was merely waiting for us to go at him. Before long, both of us got tired of his little game and rushed at him. Sora was the first to attack. He swung his blade quickly at the fiend's body, but the enemy was very quick and parried every single blow. Then, without any advice, he unleashed a mighty swing that pushed Sora back. It was then that I leapt high into the air and attempted to fall on him with Renamark. Nevertheless, the enemy was ready for my attack and parried my blow with his sword, keeping me airborne. Before I fell to back on the ground, Riku swung his sword again, attempting to cut off my legs. Yet I was quick enough to deflect the blow with Renamark. He tried to hit me again and again and never gave me a chance to counterattack or to touch the ground. I was lucky to be quick in my reactions, for I stopped all of his attacks without getting hurt. Soon, Sora attacked the fiend again. He ran at us with a battle cry and while holding the Keyblade high above his head. Riku heard him and leapt away from both of us, thinking that Sora would strike anyway and that I would receive the attack. The boy, however, did not mean to do this. As Riku leapt high into the air, Sora threw the Keyblade at him. The fiend tried to fend off the hit, but was not quick enough to stop the weapon, which hit him on the head once. He fell on the ground headfirst, but quickly got up and gave us an enraged glance with panther-like eyes. He then gathered dark energy into the palm of his left hand and unleashed a dark fireball attack with alarming speed. The fireball was heading straight at me... I managed to block it with my sword but was sent flying against the invisible barrier. I managed to bounce off it with my feet without any harm and landed right next to Sora.

"Nice block." My friend said to me in a low voice.

"Great move." I answered.

"Hmm. I see that you two are stronger than I first thought." Riku laughed as his eyes returned to normal. "This will be much more fun than I expected." And so he leapt high into the air and fell on us with a mighty swing of his dark blade. We both blocked it, but lost our balance and fell on our backs. This foe's strength was even mightier than that of an ogre...

Riku went after Sora, who stood up fast and parried the deadly blow that nearly cut off his head. They both swung their swords against each other with amazing force and speed. Their strength and skill with the blades was remarkable. Riku's blows were faster, but Sora's Keyblade was wider and he did not have to move it much to parry all of the fiend's attacks. Even so, my friend slowly began to grow weary from the enemy's restless attacks. As I readied myself to enter the fray, I thought about how to use Renamark. I could not use it as a rapier, because even though I would turn faster, I would not stand too many blows from Riku's strong weapon. To use it as a two-handed blade was not an option either, for as strong as I could be, I would not be able to parry even a blow from that quick blade. My best choice was to use it as a katana: swift and powerful, but not too much. I grasped it firmly and tried to hit Riku's head with a quick chop, yet the fiend stopped my blow. During this time, Sora attacked at the fiend's chest. The enemy's speed was amazing: he reacted quickly and pushed the Keyblade aside with his weapon. Meanwhile, I had begun another attack, but again failed in hurting him. Soon, we were both attacking as quickly as we could, getting all of our blows deflected by that incredibly fast opponent.

Suddenly, Riku swung his blade with great strength and made Sora fall on the ground far away from us. I then tried to hit my adversary in the face, yet he stopped my fist with his hand and began to crush it. I did my best not to scream as I tried to pull my arm back to me. Riku cackled as he got ready to drive his sword into my chest. I used Renamark's hilt to turn aside the attack and then I hit the enemy's chin with it. Riku grunted and let go of my hand. I turned back and leapt into the air as I turned my lower body at my enemy and delivered two powerful kicks at his face. The foe fell away from me and was received by Sora, who had already gotten up from the ground and had swung the Keyblade at the fiend's back. The enemy bounced off the blade as if he were made of rubber and fell to the ground away from us. Again, he got up with rage in his eyes and unleashed two fiery projectiles at us. We rolled away from them and rose up only to face another pair of projectiles headed our way. I managed to leap over the one that headed to me, while Sora let himself fall to the ground again so that the ball of incandescent fire would pass right over him. Riku fired a third pair of fireballs at us. I cut through this last projectile with Renamark and did not get sent flying far away, while Sora tried to bounce it back at his opponent, not to avail. At least he got rid of the attack. The menacing glance on Riku's eyes once again vanished and he smiled confidently.

"Excellent!" he cried. "It looks to me that I'll have to use my all of my power to get what I want..." as he finished saying this, the room turned darker and blue fire began to burn from within Riku's chest. It got colder as he let out an evil roar that began to echo on the room's walls.

"Dear God..." I muttered.

"It's okay, Wilheim." Sora assured. "We can take him. Come on, he's hardly hurt us."

"But we have hardly hurt him as well..."

"There's two of us, Wilheim. Don't give up! We have to do this for them!" he concluded, giving a quick glance to Ukyo and Kairi, who still slept heavily under the curse of the Heartless.

"...You are right." I murmured.

"Now, this is true power..." the fiend finally said as he began to float in midair. "Get ready...!" he added and suddenly disappeared.

I knew what he was up to, and I reckon Sora was also aware of his intentions. We had seen this attack once and knew it was accurate and deadly...

"BEHIND YOU!" we both cried to each other as we put our blades at our backs. Riku teleported right behind Sora and his swords crashed. Sora fell to the ground but was unharmed and after less than a second, the very same thing happened to me. Riku had attacked us from behind, but we had successfully parried the first, fatal blow. Still, the enemy's attack was far from over.

Riku disappeared and reappeared everywhere and flew at us with the speed of a hawk trying to destroy us with every blow. This time, he did manage to hurt us a few times. But strangely enough, whenever he cut us with his sword, our wounds did not bleed. Rather, a strange, black fire began to burn inside them... We quickly put it out with our hands whenever it began to crisp our skin and did not become gravely injured. After what had seemed to be an eternity, Riku appeared in the center of the room and buried his sword on the ground with tremendous force, causing a stream of dark lightning to emerge from it. Sora managed to get out of the attack's way, but I was not so lucky. The rays of evil energy passed through my body and I let a pain-filled scream. The attack was quick, but brutal. I fell on my knee, gasping for air, resting my arm on Renamark's hilt. Seeing that I was weak, Riku tried to impale me from behind, but Sora saved me by throwing a fire spell at our opponent, who fell right next to me with a hurt arm. Renamark quickly gave me back my strength and without wasting any time, I grasped the fiend by the neck and threw him away from me, onto the invisible barrier that surrounded us.

"Magnificent!" Riku exclaimed, as he got up from the ground. The hit had barely wounded him. "You two are the first to stop my Dark Aura. I must commend you!"

"Any bright ideas, lad?" I asked my friend, beginning to despair.

"Yeah, keep attacking until we figure something else out!" Sora exclaimed as he threw himself against Riku.

Riku stopped the blow, but Sora did not let himself be driven away. They both struggled fiercely, trying hard to push each other's blades against them. I decided to intervene and aimed at our fiend's feet. The foe smiled as he saw me run to him and parried my blow with both his weapon and Sora's. Before either of us could do a thing, Riku grabbed Sora by the neck and threw him against me. I hit the wall with my back and if it had not been for my friend, perhaps I would not have been hurt too much, but with his additional weight, I did suffer a rather painful hit. Though the wound was not fatal, it did ache much and I had trouble standing up right away. This is why Sora had to push me aside as Riku launched a dark fireball at me. I got my face cut as I hit the ground, but I reckon it was better than getting hit by that tremendous attack, which nearly destroyed the entire wall. Despite the throbbing pain in my back, I jumped to my feet and raised Renamark just in time to avoid getting my head cut off by the enemy's steel.

As our swords crashed, Riku teleported out of sight. Instinctively, I put Renamark behind me and stopped his stab, which was aimed directly at my heart. In the blink of an eye, I saw him standing before me again. He tried to pierce my heart once more and thank goodness, failed yet again. This time, I was not going to let him teleport. As I pushed aside his blade with Renamark, I grabbed his arm and smashed his nose with my forehead. Dizzied by the attack, Riku took a few steps back. Sora walked up behind him and slashed him with the Keyblade, causing him to step towards me. I received him with a mighty move Ryu had taught me and sent him flying high into the air.

"SHORYUKEN!"

Riku fell headfirst against the floor, but got up fast. The terrible anger and hatred of the Heartless got into his eyes yet again, and this time, they did not go off. He disappeared out of our sight and attacked us by teleporting several times yet again. Since we had already seen his attack power, he did not hurt us this time... much. By the end of his technique, I already knew where the lightning would strike and leapt to safety. Sadly, Sora was not quick enough on this occasion. He yelled in pain as the rays of the enemy passed through his body and fell down on his knees. Now it was my turn to save him from Riku's attack. I got to them just in time to stop the fiend's mortal blow. As our two blades connected, he teleported behind me and swung his steel at me very fast. I began to have trouble parrying his attacks and got cut a few times. At last, he kicked me in the stomach with terrible strength and knocked me against a wall. Thankfully I did not break any vertebrae, but as soon as I hit the obstacle, I became nearly useless. The already increasing pain became too much for me to stand and I was unable to get up. Sora stood far away from me, so there was no possible way for him to save me. I only thought about letting myself fall on my side, but before that happened, I felt a horrible pain in my shoulder and screamed.

"WILHEIM!" Sora yelled, horrified.

Riku had managed to drive his sword through me. The cut was deep and had left my right arm completely immobile. As I lifted my head to gaze upon the foe, I saw him smiling wickedly. His eyes had changed – they were no longer blue or cat-like; they had turned yellow and menacing. The iris in those eyes was not Riku's... But I did not have much time to think about that. At that moment, I was the luckiest being on that castle, for the dark blade had not touched my heart. I was still in once piece and could still do something desperate, yet most likely, useful for my friend...

Not letting the evil in his eyes frighten me, I summoned what little energy I had left. I had dropped Renamark and could not reach it, but there was still some strength within me. I grasped my foe's arm with my left hand and held onto him firmly and said aloud:

"Now is our chance, Sora!"

Riku's face turned from a confident, triumphant expression to a surprised and worried one. I felt how he tried to teleport away from me, yet I did not let him do that. He desperately tried to free himself from my grasp by kicking my face. Although the pain throbbing through my cheeks and eyes was terrible, I did not let go off him. In fact, the more he hit me, the more my grasp on him grew...

Suddenly, Sora let out a rage-filled cry and Riku turned to look at him. He had jumped high into the air and was ready to unleash a powerful, merciless blow on our foe. This was our last chance...

The boy swung the Keyblade fiercely and I let go of Riku. The fiend took a few steps back, his sword still in my shoulder, and then fell on his knees. He tried to gasp for air, but the cut done to him had been fatal. After a few moments, he collapsed on the ground and vanished. No flames engulfed him nor his blood cooled upon the floor. He just disappeared without leaving any trace...

"We... we did it!" Sora cried, without breath, and fell on his back, exhausted.

"Yes... we made it..." I added, as I carefully removed the dark blade off my shoulder. I grunted as it fell to the ground and reached for Renamark. Placing my own sword carefully in my back, I reached for Sora. Then, both of us helped each other to our feet.

"Are you OK, Wilheim?" the boy asked with concern. "That cut looks pretty nasty."

"It is pretty bad." I admitted. "But it seems I am spilling no blood. I should be fine, I suppose. Right now, we have more important things to take care off..." I concluded, as I eyed the dark blade and Ukyo and Kairi...

"I get it... I suppose the others will be fine." Sora said. "But first..." he raised the Keyblade and aimed it at the Heartless emblem. The dark abyss looked back at the sword menacingly and did not leave. The boy tried to seal it a few times and then turned to me with a puzzled look. "I don't get it. It should already be sealed..."

"It is not sealed because it simply hasn't been finished." A dark voice suddenly answered. Sora and I turned to face it, but saw nothing.

Yet after a few moments, a man appeared from the nothing. He was tall and muscular and had dark skin. He wore a grey coat with black shoulder reinforcements over his strong torso and black pants and boots on his tough legs. White gloves covered his hands. He had long, silvery hair, similar to that of Sephiroth, but not as glistering. His expression was stern and his eyes were... yellow. Yes, it was the very same glance I had seen on Riku an instant ago. And most importantly, the emblem of the Heartless lay almost engraved on his chest. I say "almost", because the enemy's symbol seemed to float just a few millimeters away from the man's skin...

"Who... who are you?" Sora demanded. "How did you get here?"

"Foolish boy. You understand so little... One who knows nothing can understand nothing..." the man replied with an evil smile.

Sora's face was filled by amazement as he took a step back, practically carrying me with him.

"You... You're the same person I saw on my island the day it disappeared!"

"Good memory." The man said. "I am the one who connected your world so it could be completely eclipsed. I am the true ruler of the Heartless... I am Ansem."

"You were controlling Riku!"

"Hmm. I suppose your not as foolish as I thought."

"What... what have you done with the princesses' hearts, fiend?" I demanded. Yet I did not sound very menacing, for after I finished speaking, I began to cough loudly.

"The keyhole is incomplete because simply, not all of the princesses' hearts are in my possession." Ansem said, giving me a partial answer to my question.

"WHAT?" Sora and I muttered.

"And now I have you two at my mercy..." said the enemy as he approached us menacingly. We both did our best to stand up straight and raise our weapons, but we were too weak. We could not even lift up our torsos. Ansem smiled wickedly, seeing that we were utterly defeated. But suddenly, his expression changed. He stopped walking and looked at his emblem. It seemed to me as if something from within him hurt. The pain soon began to grow and Ansem's face reflected this. "No...! NO! HOW?" he yelled frantically.

And then a blinding light exploded within him. Sora and I turned our heads away as we heard a familiar voice shout: "I won't let you do this!"

We stopped feeling the light. Slowly, we raised our heads and opened our eyes. To our surprise, where Ansem had stood moments ago was what seemed to be Riku's ghost, dressed in the very same clothes I had seen him with when I met him. I stood still and looked at us with shame...

"...Riku?" Sora ventured to ask. "...Are you...?"

"Dead? No." he quickly answered. He was about to say more, but stopped and sighed. He kept quiet for a few seconds, as if he were ashamed to speak to us. Yet finally, he talked. "Listen, I don't know how much time I have, so I'll be brief, okay?"

"...Okay." my friend replied in a low voice.

"The keyhole can't be sealed because it isn't complete, and this is because not all of the princesses' hearts are within the realm of the Heartless." Riku explained. "There are two missing..."

"Theirs?" I asked as I turned to see Ukyo and Kairi.

Riku nodded in silence and lowered his glance.

"If that's true, then why aren't they awake?" Sora asked.

"The Heartless did take their hearts." Riku answered. "But they couldn't keep them in their realm. You see, that's why Ansem tried so hard to get to you by controlling me. That's why he made my battle the two of you by yourselves... Because..." he paused and took a deep breath. For a moment, I felt as if he were about to say something terrible. "Their hearts are within yours."

"What?" we muttered.

"I don't know why it happened and I don't know why it only happened to you." He said. "I don't know if it had something to do with your swords and the bond that is between your hearts and theirs; I really can't tell you why that happened... But what I do know... is that if you free their hearts, then the Princesses of Heart, all of them, will recover that which was taken from them."

"Their hearts will return to them?" Sora inquired.

Again, Riku nodded in silence.

"But, how do we free their hearts?" I asked.

The boy opened his mouth, yet before any sound could come out of it, Sora cried:

"Riku, you're disappearing!"

The boy turned to see his legs and noticed they were slowly vanishing. Seeing this, he looked at us and spoke with determination.

"Listen, I'm running out of time. I won't be able to tell you how to free their hearts... you'll have to figure that one by your own... and I hope you'll find out what the best choice is." He then lowered his head for a moment and his eyes reflected shame once again. "Sora..." he said, looking at my friend. "No hard feelings, alright?"

"...No way, Riku." Sora answered and smiled.

The boy then turned to me and I could see in his glance that he had repeated the question. I was immobile at first, but after a few seconds, I nodded without saying a word, and my eyes told him that I forgave him.

"Thanks, guys." Riku said, giving us one last sad smile before he faded away into nothingness...

We stood still and thoughtful for a long while. The battle was over and we had won. There were no more Heartless left to battle. The enemies had all been defeated. But our mission had not ended. We were still missing something. And I could not figure out how to return my darling to her old self. I stumbled across the floor and got to her side. I slowly lowered my head and kissed her cheek tenderly. No thought came to me. I was beginning to despair and, once again, I felt how I was falling into madness. However, Sora suddenly interrupted my thoughts.

"A sword that unlocks people's hearts..." he mumbled. I turned to him and saw him staring at the dark blade the enemy had used a few minutes ago. "I wonder..."

"What are you thinking?" I asked.

"I... I think I know how to get their hearts back, Wilheim." He declared. Yet his voice had reflected little enthusiasm and his face did not reveal much joy.

"How?" I said in a frightened whisper.

"Their hearts are within ours, right?" the boy explained as he walked to the sword. "So, suppose we unlock our hearts. That'll free their hearts, right?"

"Yes, but..."

"Then, that's what we do. We unlock our hearts to free theirs."

I feared he would say that. I tried to get up, but fell down on my knees as I felt how my heart suddenly stopped. No breath got inside my lungs for quite a while. Dread took a hold of me as I struggled to get back on my feet. Finally, I gathered all of my courage and asked:

"That... that means...?"

"I... I guess so." Sora replied with a smile. But soon his face changed into a sad expression and his eyes began to shine as he struggled to keep his tears for himself.

"Sora... do we...?" I stuttered as my voice nearly changed into that of a terrified child. "Will we die?"

"I... I suppose."

"No..."

The boy turned to me and, unable to hold his tears any more, walked towards me. He put his hand on my shoulder and said:

"There is no other way."

"There must be...!" I insisted.

"You... you know there isn't, Wilheim." Sora said, calmly. "If we want to get the princesses' hearts back, then we have to do this." He walked at Ukyo and Kairi and took a deep breath as he rested his eyes upon them. "I want to get them back, Wilheim. I know Kairi's heart is in my and Ukyo's heart is in you... I want to see them alive again."

"But we won't see them!" I exclaimed.

"...I know." Before he went on, he dried his tears. "But we know they'll be all right. And that's what'll be important. Won't it?"

"I..."

"I'm sorry, Wilheim." Sora said. "I'm sorry I got you mixed up in all of this. I wish both of their hearts were within me so you wouldn't have to do this... You know... you know I'd die for you, man."

His words were full of bravery and tenderness. At that moment, I admired him more than I had admired anyone before. His voice did not shake. He spoke firmly. And for a moment, he reminded me of Siegfried, when he was not afraid, when he became stronger than me, even if it was for a brief moment. Trembling with fear, I realized he was right. Yet his courage gave me valor, even if it was a little bit. With tears in my eyes, I grasped him by the shoulder and said:

"I'd die for you too, my friend."

He faced me and smiled and then we hugged. I was the one shaking and he calmed me down. We soaked our shoulders with our tears as we wept for a long while. At long last, we stopped embracing and dried our eyes. He then turned to Kairi and kneeled by her side. Doing his best not to sob, he kissed her forehead and said:

"I'll see you later, Kairi." He looked at Ukyo and caressed her hand as, with trembling lips, added: "Bye-bye, Ukyo."

I did not have the courage to do it first. He walked at the sword and raised it with both of his hands. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes...

"Sora?" suddenly said Donald. I turned to his voice and noticed that all of our friends were back on their feet and were ready to battle. Only that there were no enemies left...

The boy looked at them and after a few moments, smiled at them tenderly. And then, he buried the dark sword deep within his chest.

"SORA, NO!" they all cried and ran at him as fast as they could. But it was too late. Sora fell on the ground and he slowly vanished into thin air... A bright light illuminated the spot where Sora had stood for a few seconds and then broke up into thousands of little pieces...

Tifa fell to her knees as Beast, Goofy, and Donald frantically looked for Sora, thinking that he might have teleported to some other place. Meanwhile, I stood still, looking at the blade in silence...

I... I have never felt so afraid before. As I stop looking at the blade and raise my eyes to where the sky should be, I realize I am terrified. I have killed many people and some of them with the rage of an assassin. What will happen to me, when I leave this world? I always knew that I would die sooner or later, but I did not expect this to be the day. If only I could have had more time to make up for my faults... Yet that is of no importance now. If this is my final hour... then I can only pray that God will forgive me for what I have done...

_Our Father, who art in heaven,_

_Hallowed be Thy Name;_

_Thy kingdom come,_

_Thy will be done,_

_on earth as it is in heaven. _

"How could you let him do that?" wails Donald, not noticing my agony. I pay no heed to him and continue the prayer.

_Give us this day our daily breath,_

_and forgive us our trespasses,_

_as we forgive those who trespass against us... _

"Why didn't you stop him, Wilheim?" demands the duck, but I quickly go back to praying.

_and lead us not into temptation;_

_but deliver us from evil... Amen. _

A final tear escapes my eye as I took a deep breath with my trembling mouth.

"...Wilheim?" asks Donald, no longer mad, but with concern in his voice... I look at him with my sad eyes and do my best to smile. Somehow, being near him and the others makes me a little bit less afraid... At least Ukyo will be in good company after I am gone... I hope that she will think of me not with sorrow in her eyes, but with that lovely, mesmerizing glance that captured me... I do not want her to be sad, ever.

_(Demean)_

I slowly opened my eyes and rubbed my head as a throbbing pain shot through it. The hit had been devastating. I was lucky to be alive, still. To be honest, I was more concerned about Tish, who still lay unconscious on the ground. I knew she was not dead, for her magical glow had not gone out. Little Merryck also seemed alive, as his stomach slowly moved up and down because of his breaths... And the rest of my companions did not seem in critical condition, either.

"What... what the hell happened?" murmured Cloud as he slowly got to his feet.

"That little brat has immense power..." Octavius replied. He picked himself up and helped Ryoga and Sakura to do so as well. All of us were conscious again.

"I never thought he'd be that powerful..." the girl said.

"He caught us off guard." Camille declared. "That is all. Next time, we will not let him get us."

"Hoping that there will be a next time, Miss Camille." Merryck said. "We first have to make our way to him, wherever he is."

"I do not think that we will have to travel much." Tish murmured and we all fell silent. And after a few moments, I understood what she meant.

"I can feel his power." I declared. "He is fighting... against..."

"Oh, God..." Camille gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. "Sora! Wilheim!"

"We are wasting our time here!" Octavius roared. "Let us go swiftly to their aid!"

None of us said another word. With a battle cry, we ran swiftly into the dark path that lay before us, hoping we would soon find a way to reach the upper level, where the energy of our foe and our friends came...

Some Heartless appeared before us as we desperately ran to Sora and Wilheim's aid. We cut through them mercilessly and moved on. We soon reached a gondola that, luckily, lead to higher ground. Without thinking about it twice, we stepped on it and waited eagerly for it to take us to where the battle took place.

We soon reached the upper floor. But to our dismay, there was still one more floor that we had to traverse in order to get to our friends. I feared for Sora and Wilheim... we could not delay much longer, or it would be too late! We ran into a strange room filled with gondolas which had erratic movements. We felt all hope leave us as we watched the cursed platforms move in patterns none of us could decipher. But then, I lifted up my head and saw another door, one that we could reach by jumping high...

"Look!" I cried, pointing at the door.

None of us wasted a moment. Camille grabbed Sakura and flew into the door as quickly as she could, swinging it wide open as they went through. Meanwhile, Octavius had taken a hold of Ryoga and had thrown him at the door. The boy did not even yell as he flew through the air. Sakura grabbed his hand and took him inside. They then disappeared in the darkness of the room...

"Demean, leap here!" Cloud yelled as he placed his sword behind him. I knew what he was going to do and quickly did as he said. The soldier quickly swung his blade and my feet soon touched the steel. Cloud propelled me at the door with great strength and I landed inside the room safe and sound. Ryoga, Camille, and Sakura were just a few feet away from us and were waiting eagerly for Cloud and Octavius to get to where we stood. Tish got out of my pocket and nervously began to fly about as the power of the enemy grew while our friend's energy turned weaker...

Octavius quickly tossed Cloud at the door and then used his powerful legs to lift Merryck and himself at the door. Cloud and I got a hold of his left hand and pulled them up. We were all together again...

There was a weak wall in front of us. Ryoga did not hesitate and used his Breaking Point technique to shatter it into a hundred pieces so all of us could get through. We then saw another door, one which was party open. But as we were getting to it, a new wave of Heartless appeared from the nothing and stood between us and the way to our friends.

"Goddamn it!" Cloud cried as he unleashed a powerful wave of energy from his blade, which killed many enemies, but not enough to clear a way for us to go inside the room.

Most of the opponents in front of us were composed by spiders, but some of them seemed to be dark knights riding shadows of horses. I fired at them with my arrows, yet the fiends carried shields and stopped my attacks effortlessly. Yet I was not willing to let them stop me.

Merryck threw himself at the spiders with great rage and slaughtered many of them. His small size allowed him to pass underneath the enemies before they could bite him. As soon as he got back to his feet, he stabbed them in the back, killing them instantly.

Ryoga and Sakura both used energy waves to stop the charging knights. While they did succeed in destroying a few of them, most of the foes got through their attacks and tried to pierce them with long lances. The boys got out of their way and knocked the warriors of their horses. Camille quickly aided them by eliminating the horses with her needle-like wings, while Ryoga and Sakura engaged the fighters in close combat...

Octavius and I fought side by side, slaughtering every spider that came our way. His katana and my daggers sliced through dark flesh every time they were swung. But suddenly, we all stopped fighting... even the Heartless.

The power of the enemy had vanished. But most importantly, Sora and Wilheim's energy, although weak, could still be felt by each and every one of us. Our friends had won the battle! With renewed strength, we kept on attacking the Heartless, whose movements began to grow slow and clumsy.

Once again, Tish cast a fiery spell on all of our weapons to aid us and cast a protective enchantment on Ryoga and Sakura. With this new magical armor, the two boys made short work of their enemies, who simply could not pierce through the mystical barrier created by my little fairy.

Little by little, all of the Heartless fell. Camille slaughtered the last of the beasts and then we all remained still. We looked at each other with smiling faces and then started to laugh – except for Octavius, who only seemed to be at peace. Victory was ours. Now, it was all only a matter of rescuing the princesses... Yet... just when we began to think that things could not be simpler, we heard a heart-piercing shout.

"SORA!"

The boy's energy suddenly vanished, along with his life-essence. Our faces turned into an expression of shock and terror. We could not believe our hearts... It did not take us long to get a hold of ourselves and race through the door...

There were all of our friends... except for Sora. Not even his Keyblade was in sight. They were all on another floor and seemed just as desperate as we felt at the moment...

"Tifa!" cried Cloud as he reached her companion, who had fallen on her knees and was speechless. "Tifa, what happened?"

"Cloud..." the woman replied, with tears in her eyes. "Sora... he..."

"What... what happened to him?" I stammered as I looked at everyone's faces. But then, I noticed Wilheim... He did not look surprised in anyway... It was as if he knew all of this was going to happen.

"...What happened?" Tish repeated in a low voice, unable to contain the anguish that tormented her.

Wilheim raised his eyes and looked at us with a tear-filled glance.

"Sora only did what he had to."

"What?" Goofy asked. "What... what do you mean?"

"He stabbed himself with a sword!" the creature we had seen earlier fighting against Riku cried.

"WHAT?" we all shouted.

"Please... Beast..." Wilheim stammered. "Do... do not make me... any more n-nervous..."

"Huh?" Donald quacked. "What are you saying?"

"Sora... Sora did what he did because..." our friend explained. "Because... it was the only way to save Kairi..."

"Wilheim... you are not making sense..." Tish said in a broken voice. I suppose that she felt the same thing I was feeling...

"I... I have been thinking. I... I do not think that you will never see Sora again." He said, as we all looked at him in horrified silence. "His heart is very strong. It is my guess... that he will find his way back to the light. Besides, he is the master of the Keyblade. That sword has mysterious power over the Heartless... surely it will call him back... Yes. It will." He assured and his eyes got lost on the ground which we stepped.

"...And... and what about... you?" asked Tifa in a nearly inaudible voice. Nevertheless, Wilheim heard her and faced her in silence. With tears in his eyes, he lowered his head again, and when he did, I felt how my heart came to a sudden stop.

"Wilheim, no." I said, trying to sound firm, yet my voice came out as a scared plea.

"It is the only was she will have her heart back." Wilheim said, turning to Ukyo. I had not noticed her or the girl next to her until now. To tell the truth, I had not noticed any of the Princesses of Heart about us until he had looked at her. "There is no other way."

"I cannot let you do this." I declared, again, doing my best to be firm.

"Please, Demean, do not make this more difficult than it already is."

"No, stop." Tish intervened. "Just stop, Wilheim. Let us think this through. There has to be another way to get Ukyo's heart back."

"There is not. Do you think that I have not considered all of my options, Tish? This is the only way." Wilheim assured.

"No..." Ryoga suddenly muttered.

"My friends..." Wilheim said, but stopped speaking as a sudden sob escaped his mouth. He kept silent for a couple of moments as I felt how my chest was invaded by an indescribable pain... "You all know that I would give my life to save my Ukyo. And now the time has come to proof that I mean these words. Do not stand in my way, for if you do so, I swear that I will go through you."

Neither of us could think of an answer to that. I began to feel a sadness I had not felt in all of my life. Tears escaped my eyes. And soon, I realized that all of us were crying. Even Beast... even Octavius.

"At least... at least I will be able to say good-bye to some of you." Wilheim said, trying to smile.

"Wilheim..." Camille sobbed. She was unable to contain herself. She burst into a heartbroken weeping and embraced Wilheim. The young lad hugged her back and kept her head close to his heart. "I... I... oh, Wilheim! My child!"

"I love you, Camille." Wilheim sobbed as he kissed her cheek tenderly. "I will miss you always..."

They wept together for a long time. Camille refused to let go of her dearest friend... At long last, Beast gently grabbed her by the shoulders and took her away. But before that, he extended his arm at Wilheim and the boy shook his hand. They both nodded their heads and said nothing.

Sakura was the next to say good-bye to our friend. She embraced him and wept inconsolably while he rubbed her back... And as I saw them, I thought about what would happen when my turn came. I did not want to say good-bye... And during all that time, I also could not stop thinking about Sora. Every time I shed a new tear, his heroic, smiling face appeared on my head...

Donald approached Wilheim as Sakura stepped away from him and buried her face on Ryoga's chest.

"...I'm sorry... for everything I said." The duck murmured.

"I'm sorry too, Donald." The lad replied. He kneeled and they both hugged... Every time I saw that, I felt as if an arrow pierced my heart...

"Tell that to Sora too, when you see him." He said and wept even more. "Tell him... he was my good friend."

"I promise I will."

Goofy took a step forward. As Donald sadly walked away from our friend, the knight took off his hat and said:

"We sure are gonna miss you, buddy... Take care of Sora, please. I'll also miss him a lot."

"I will miss you too, Goofy." Wilheim said.

As they finished embracing, Cloud and Tifa both came near him. Not minding the tears getting into her mouth, she said:

"I wish it didn't have to be like this..."

"I'd wish that, too." The lad replied.

"You mean a lot to us, man." Cloud added. "Tell... tell Sora that we love him and you... you take care of yourself, you hear?"

"I will, wherever my fate lies."

They both embraced the boy and Tifa let out a heart-breaking moan as Wilheim kissed her forehead while Cloud grasped his head and shook it gently.

Ryoga slowly approached the lad and they stood still in front of each other for a while. At long last, Wilheim said:

"Forgive me, Ryoga. I'm sorry I treated you so meanly..."

"It's... it's okay." Ryoga replied. Then he looked at him in the eyes and added in a broken voice: "I'm going to miss you a lot..."

Octavius then walked near them as they broke the hug. He looked at the lad in silence for a few moments and then... his lips formed a sad smile.

"You see, this is why I do not want to make friends." He said. "Over time, I see them die... and I stay alone. I tried not to befriend you... or anyone else for that matter. But my heart betrayed me and now it aches again."

"You have more friends to look after, Octavius." Wilheim answered. "You will be just fine..."

"You are irreplaceable, my friend." The were-bear interrupted. "I care for you. And it destroys my heart to see you go like this, but fear not – brave lads like you and Sora live forever."

"...You don't know how much it means for me to hear you say that." Wilheim said, and his face was filled by both sadness and happiness. Octavius embraced him with his enormous arms as he wept in silence, breaking our hearts more and more with every sob...

"Mister Wilheim..." Merryck muttered as he approached the lad. "I... I never thought I'd see the day..."

"Me neither." The lad replied. He stopped looking at him for a second as Tish flew near him as well. I had never seen my little friend's glow as sad as it shone now... "You two were very good friends. I will remember you always... Be brave."

"Good-bye, Wilheim." Tish said and placed her little arms about Wilheim's cheek while Merryck wept on his chest... "I love you...!"

"Me too, Tish... I love both of you."

"I... wish I could've said good-bye to Sora..." Merryck sobbed.

"I will let him know if I see him, my brave hobbit."

My turn had come. I was the last one to say good-bye. I fear and sadness dwelled in my heart and could not be overcome by any other feeling. I thought Wilheim would die an old man, sleeping in his bed, surrounded by a family... But his fate lay somewhere else, next to Sora. They were meant to die a more glorious death... saving their beloveds. I stood in front of him for a long time, staring at him in the eyes. Although I saw fear in them, he had never looked so courageous... And for an instant, I felt the same way I had felt when I had gazed upon Tullharieth, the greatest of heroes of Feanorth...

"I do not think she will be too pleased with this, my friend..." I said.

"It isn't her choice." Wilheim replied. "If she stood where I stand now, she probably would have made the same choice, for she loves me. Yet it is not her call..."

"You are my best friend, Wilheim. I am sure you will be fine."

"I am not so sure about that... I killed a man in cold blood in this battle. How can I be spared?"

I did not want to go into detail over this. I merely asked: "Are you sorry?" to which he nodded silently. "Then God shall have mercy."

"...Thank you, Demean... for everything." He then hugged me and we both wept over each others' shoulders for a long while. "You're my older brother..." he declared.

"As you are my younger brother, Wilheim." I answered, with a broken voice.

The hug ended at long last and Wilheim wiped his tears. But he did not sacrifice himself right away... He kneeled beside Kairi and Ukyo and held the younger girl's hand. She kissed it tenderly and then laid her on the ground. And then, he embraced Ukyo and kissed her on her mouth. Then she rocked her from one side to another tenderly for a long while. And finally, he let her rest on the floor again as he stood up and walked up to me.

"I... I could not have done this without your aid, my friends." He said. "Sora is much braver than I am. I hope I can be like him..." then, he took off his headband and gave it to me. "I want her to have it. And Renamark is hers, now. I do not want anyone else to have it, but her..."

"I understand." I muttered.

"...Thank you, my friend." He said.

He slowly walked to the blade and picked it up with his left hand. As he turned it against him and pointed it at his chest, Tish and Merryck ran up to me and hugged me fiercely, burying their heads in my cheek and my hips. Morrigan turned around and quietly wept on Beast's chest, who held her quietly. The rest of us looked at Wilheim with tear-filled eyes, but without making a sound. The brave lad needed all the courage he had left in him... and we had to aid him in what best way we could... And at long last... he closed his eyes and with a grunt, drove the sword into his chest.

"...Ugh..." he muttered as he fell to his knees and began to disappear from our sight. "I..." and finally, opened his eyes and drew a triumphant smile on his face. "Ukyo... there you are...!" and then he was gone.

I could not help it. I had been brave long enough. I fell to my knees and started to weep like a little child. I could only hear my own sobbing and the rest of my friends'. How...? How could we lose him like that? How could we have lost both of them? Sora and Wilheim had gone...

Suddenly a light appeared above our heads. Its glow blinded us as it broke into several tiny pieces. Like fireflies, the shards of light flew at the women inside the crystals... and at Ukyo and Kairi. I stopped weeping as I looked at them in silence. All of my friends stopped crying as well and approached the two girls... Then, we all raised our heads as the door that had leaded us into the room swung open. The rest of our friends had arrived. But just then, we heard gasps, followed by coughs... and glanced at Ukyo and Kairi, who had finally opened their eyes...


	34. Chapter ThirtyThree: Farewell

Hey, all. Happy New Year! Hope you had a great time.

Sorry I took a bit longer than usual (when I'm on vacation, that is), but I went out for vacation for a week. Heh, I didn't know how beautiful my own country was... :P

Anyway, I finished writing the chapter just on Sunday, but I had to ask Kiosce to check it out for me because Dante is the narrator here. Well, now that it seems that everything's alright, here it is.

Until next time, enjoy:)

_Chapter Thirty-Three: Farewell, Dear Friend_

_Narrator: Dante_

You know, when you kind of invade the city of the enemy army you expect it to be packed with warriors of every rank defending it desperately. I thought that Hollow Bastion would be no different. But amazingly, I had been mistaken. Sure, we encountered a few Heartless along the way, yet we didn't have that much trouble taking them out, 'cause they weren't that many. We ran into some new type of Heartless: giant spiders and dark knights riding horses. They caused some problems, but weren't something spectacular. Also, I think that the desire to save our friends and the Princesses of Heart kept us moving no matter what... I guess it's no secret that I was really, really concerned about my mother's sake. That's why I beat the living tar out of my opponents with such ease... I needed to know she was all right.

From the looks of it, most of the fighting had already been done. We simply followed the trail our friends had left, that is, some Heartless bodies (which were pretty scarce, but remember that there were some that didn't disappear – the ones from my planet, specifically), scratches on the walls, small craters on the ground... Luckily, we didn't find any nasty trails to follow, like blood or even worse, one of our friends' bodies. As we went forward, following the trail of mayhem left behind by them, I began to think that all of them were safe and sound... But sadly, I... anyway... we'll get to that part later.

We got to the highest part of the castle and saw a door which was half-open. We all stopped for a moment and listened carefully. I don't know why we did that, actually. What I do remember is that I felt a chill, as if my heart had suddenly been hit by a small, icy sting. In other words, I had a bad feeling. And I guess some of my other friends had the same bad feeling too, for I wasn't the first one to run to the door like crazy... Felicia was the one who lead the way, with Vincent and me following her closely.

The room we had entered was pretty big. We saw the shapes of our friends standing in a higher floor which was right in front of us. Something else caught our interest right away, though. To our left and right, there were lots of lovely young women trapped in crystals. As soon as we looked at them, they opened their eyes and gasped for air, just like someone that has wakened up from a nightmare. My friends quickly dashed to them and got them out of the crystals by breaking them carefully. Seyia and the other saints spotted their goddess and cried: "SAORI!" as they raced to her aid. Link looked upon a golden-haired woman and with surprise and fright in his face, he ran to her and freed her from her prison with Aeris's help. Naturally, I began to look for my mom... and didn't take long to find her.

"Dante... Dante, is that you?" I heard her voice ask and my heart began to leap with joy. I turned right and saw her staring at me with happy eyes... "Dante!"

"Mom!" I cried and ran to her. I quickly got her out of the crystal and then held her in my arms for a long time. She kissed my forehead and I licked her cheek (I was still in my Lucien form, remember?), doing my best not to start weeping in front of everybody. "Mom, I'm so glad you're safe! For a moment I thought I'd never see you again!"

"How did you get here?" she asked, and studied my face carefully. No doubt she was looking for cuts and other injuries... "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, mom, don't worry about me." I replied. "What really matters is that you're alive and well... dad and I were really worried about you."

"I was worried about you too, my Dante." She said and hugged me again. "I thought Digaia would kill you..."

"See all these people, mom? They helped me fight against him, and they've been helping me in my travels throughout many worlds... rather, I've been helping them. They're all very nice people." I paused and held her, still unable to believe she was alright. I felt her heart pounding against my chest and let out a happy chuckle. "I'll get you back home, mom. Don't you worry about a thing now."

"If you say so, honey." She answered, lovingly rubbing my mane.

It wasn't until then that I looked at my friends on the floor above and saw they were helping two other girls to their feet... I didn't know who the first one was, but I sure as hell recognized the other one. Ukyo was okay! It seemed to me that the mission was a success... But right then, something unexpected happened...

"So, the hearts of the princesses are finally all in place..." thundered an unknown voice, echoing on all the walls, practically making them shake. We all raised our guards and looked for the one who had spoken without saying a word. "Behold! The keyhole is now complete!" a figure then appeared in front of our friends. It was a man in a grey coat, with dark skin and white hair. I really didn't pay much attention to him at first, but then, I noticed the emblem of the Heartless on his chest...

"Mom, stay here. We're going to have to bust this guy up." I said to her in a low voice.

"...Be careful, Dante." She replied, nodding her head.

Soon, all of us were running up the stairs, ready to face him, whoever he was. Only a few stayed behind to look after the princesses...

"Hah! Pathetic." The man snorted as all of us faced him. "Do you really think you can defeat me?"

"You Heartless have underestimated us too much." Octavius growled. "We will erase you from existence, demon!"

"I'd love to see you do that..." the man challenged. Yet something, his face changed. He seemed to be in a lot of pain and was struggling to overcome it... "What the hell...? No! Damn you boy!"

"I won't let you do this, Ansem!" cried a second voice, one which was awfully familiar...

We all leapt back as a sudden light blinded us. I soon turned back to face the man and found that a boy was standing in front of him, his arms stretched to the sides, keeping him from coming near us. It was quite a shock, since that guy was the same one that had sided with Maleficent on the video we had seen back in my world...

"Get out of here!" he yelled at us. "Go on! The Heartless are coming!"

"Riku..." the girl that had just wakened up muttered. "Riku!"

"Get out!" he repeated and then, he and the man let out a pain-filled cry as both of them disappeared in an explosion of light.

"Riku!" the girl yelled.

"Come on, there's no time to lose! You heard the man!" Sakura exclaimed as she grabbed the girl by the waist. Something in her face called my attention... her eyes were sore. She had been crying...

I really got worried when I saw this. However, there was no time to start asking if she was emotionally alright. If that Riku character was right, then we had to work our way out of there, fast. I leapt to the floor below, put my mom on my shoulder and started to run after Shiryu, who was carrying a young gal with blue dress and golden hair... Back to the ships, again, I guessed.

For a moment, though, I started to think that there was something not right. The man had said that the Keyhole had been completed... if that were true, then why didn't Sora seal it with his Keyblade? As I thought of this, I began to realize that I hadn't seen him standing next to the guys... This was when I began to get real worried. But whatever the case was, I had to worry about getting my mom out of there before anything was to be said.

We reached a great hall, which we had already seen on our way up. The exit was right in front of us. Shiryu dashed to it but stopped short as suddenly, a small Heartless emerged from the ground. I caught up with him and stopped short as I looked upon the enemy.

"Dante? What's going on?" my mom asked. She couldn't see a think, because of the way I was carrying her.

"There's a Heartless right in front of us." I answered.

"Is it a big one?"

"Not really... I'll let you on the ground just for a second, mom. I'll take care of him right away."

"Hang on, Dante." Shiryu said, raising his hand in front of me. "Something's not right about all of this..."

"Nothing is right about all this!" the girl on his shoulder cried. "Let's just please get out of this awful place!"

"Easy, girl... what's your name?" the saint asked.

"...Alice!"

"Alice, calm down, okay? Nothing's going to happen to you now, I promise."

"Hey, what's going on, guys?" asked Cid, who had lead the rest of our friends to where we stood. "Come on, get through the door already!"

"I remember you!" Alice cried. "You were the ones who tried to save me from that terrible trial! You weren't too numerous, though..."

"Huh? Oh, it's you!" Cid exclaimed. "Yeah, we remember you too, Alice. Don't worry about a thing. We'll get you out of here in no time." He then looked upon the Heartless and spun his spear. "You are dead, little freak!"

"Wait a second, damn it!" Shiryu said. "There's something not natural about this Heartless..."

"Yeah, he's lived long enough." Seyia declared, as he got to our side and carefully lowered the girl he had been carrying to the ground. "It's alright, Saori. This is just a minor distraction..."

"Seyia, stop!" Shiryu shouted, seeing that his friend had begun to gather much energy to his fists.

"Seyia, stop!" intervened the girl. This time, Seyia did quit what he was doing and turned to the weak woman as she struggled to get to her feet. "...Listen to Shiryu. I sense an aura about this Heartless that isn't actually aggressive..."

"...What do you mean, Saori? Listen, you're too weak... I just want to get you out of here as soon as possible."

"I know, but..."

"Confounded Heartless!" cried Donald as he ran past us and knocked the Heartless to the ground with a swing of his staff. I didn't even see him coming... "Get out of here before I fry you with a fire spell!"

"Donald!" Shiryu, Cid, and I cried, making the duck stop. Jeez, he could really be a pain.

"What?"

"...Sora?" the girl who came with Sakura asked in a soft voice.

We all turned to her with confusion in our eyes and the glanced at the Heartless, not knowing what to think. She slowly let go of Sakura, who was too surprised to hold her firmly, and began to walk at the little Heartless. He had already gotten back to his feet and was slowly advancing at Kairi. It was so strange... I felt no aggressiveness in him, just like Saori had said. I never thought I'd say this... but the Heartless actually seemed friendly.

"Sora, is that you?" asked the girl.

"What is she talking about?" Hyoga muttered. "How can... hold on a second. Where's Sora?"

"He's not with us?" asked Shun, looking around with worried eyes.

Now that he mentioned it, I noticed there was another person missing... But before I could announce it, Vincent shouted:

"Heartless!"

I really don't know where the heck they came from. But the room had suddenly been filled by Heartless. I couldn't believe we hadn't sensed them before. Those things were like cockroaches that come out of their hiding places as soon as you turn the light off. I growled at them as I showed them my fangs and began to move my tail from one side to the other. Contrary to that of their lost companion, these Heartless seemed like regular shadows: aggressive and eager to bite our heads off, that is.

"Let's tear them apart!" exclaimed Ikki and without any other warning, unleashed a potent attack that scorched about five Heartless.

I was about to leap at the Heartless and slash them to pieces, but something the girl said kept me in one place...

"Don't worry, Sora. It's my turn to take care of you."

I really couldn't figure out how Sora had turned into a Heartless (if the girl was right, that is). It was something that I simply couldn't process at that moment. But if she was indeed right, then she would need help in protecting him, 'cause somehow, Sora had picked the weakest incarnation of the Heartless. My mom got to her feet and ran at her... same thoughts, I guess. She was very weak, but her fighting spirit was still whole. Yet another reason to go help the girl.

I slashed many foes that threw themselves at my mom and the girl with my tail. Some others I bit and some others I slashed with my claws. Our main goal was to protect the princesses at that time, no matter what. Most of my friends stayed close to them and beat the living tar out of any foe that dared come near them. But there were still a lot of Heartless to deal with. Surely, it would be easier to handle them if we didn't have to worry about protecting the princesses...

A fat, big Heartless charged at me and managed to knock me on my back. I didn't even see that idiot coming...! I raised my head and saw that many acrobats had already leapt at my mom, the girl, and the little Heartless.

"NO!" I cried, getting back on my feet and slashing the fatso with my claws.

But before I could do anything else, a bright light shone fiercely. I nearly went blind this time. With a cry of pain, I covered my eyes and turned my face away. As strange as it may sound, I couldn't hear the Heartless anymore. I dared to open my eyes and managed to see that we were by ourselves again. Most of my friends still covered their face, but those that weren't, were looking at the place where my mom, the girl, and the little Heartless stood with happy smiles on their faces. I quickly turned... and smiled as well.

The girl had been right. The little Heartless had ceased to be and had become Sora once again. They both held each other firmly and rested their heads on their shoulders. I don't know how he did it... but when he had changed back to his older self, he had destroyed all of the enemies about us with that blinding flash...

"Kairi..." he murmured happily. "You... you brought me back... thank you."

"You're okay, Sora...!" she giggled.

"...Sora... You're all right!" Ryoga cried happily, his eyes shinning as he struggled not to shed tears of joy...

"...Hey, guys." Sora greeted happily. "I'm glad you're all here."

A sound made us all stop smiling and turn to the door which we had come from. There was no doubt... an army of Heartless was coming after us.

"There's no time!" Ryu cried. "We can't win here!"

"Let's get out!" Ken added.

Shiryu nodded his head and blasted the main door open with a powerful attack. Then, he carried Alice and ran out of the castle. I grabbed my mom and followed him closely, but not before looking at Sora and saying to him: "It's good to have you back, Sora."

"Thanks, Dante." He replied.

I was so relieved and so happy to see him back that as we all exited the castle and made our way back to the ships, I momentarily forgot that I still hadn't seen Wilheim at all...

_(Change of scene)_

Our ships weren't far. We had landed at the lowest part of the strange waterfalls that surrounded the castle. Getting there didn't prove to be a problem, nor it took us too long (when you know you have an entire army of enemies on your tail, it kind of helps you to run faster). However, by the time we had gotten to our ships, we were so tired from running so swiftly through those cold currents of air that we practically fell on our knees, gasping for air. We all got close to each other so we wouldn't be as cold, and smiled triumphantly. The princesses were safe: our mission had been a success.

"We did it, mom." I said to her, unable to contain a chuckle of happiness. "Now I can take you back to Gaia... everyone will be glad to see you're OK."

"Thank you so much, Dante." She replied, laughing as well. "I'm so proud of you. My brave, little warrior..." she hugged me and tenderly kissed me.

"Mom..." I whined in a low voice. "The guys..."

"Oh, so it's okay to kiss your girlfriend in front of your friends, but it isn't okay to be kissed by your mother?" she asked, without stopping smiling.

"Something like that." I answered, laughing again as she playfully slapped my face. "You should get inside the ship. It's really cold out here, mom... Oh, do you think you'll be able to turn me back into a human any time soon?"

"Surely, Dante..." she paused for a moment and then added: "I'll go inside as soon as you do."

"All right."

Meanwhile, some of my other friends were also expressing their relief to their princesses... namely, the five bronze saints, Link, and Sora.

"I'm sorry we couldn't get here any sooner, Saori." Hyoga said. "We had to do some other things first."

"We had to protect the Sanctuary from the Heartless." Shun intervened. "All of them helped us." He concluded, as he eyed all of us with a smile.

"I'm glad you all made it, saints." Saori said, with a tender voice. "Even you came, Ikki. I'm surprised."

"Well, I might be a lone wolf, but I'm still a saint of Athena." The man answered. "And this time, the guys did need my help."

"I promise that I'll never let anything like this happen to you again, Saori." Seyia suddenly said. "I won't abandon you ever again."

"But perhaps you will have to, Seyia, if that is where your destiny lies." Saori replied. "I believe you should all continue to travel through the worlds with your new friends... they have helped you and you have helped them, I believe. You should go with them and put an end to the Heartless... Just take me back to the sanctuary. I'll be fine under the protection of the golden saints..."

"We'll do that, if that's what you want, Saori." Shiryu quickly replied, before Seyia could say anything, leaving him no choice but to smile and nod in silence...

"I am sorry I could not be there when you needed me the most, princess." Link meanwhile said to Zelda. "I... I did not think that the Heartless would return to Hyrule..."

"It was not them." She explained. "A boy under the influence of dark powers came for me... the same boy who warned us about the coming of the Heartless just a few moments ago."

"You mean Riku?" Aeris, who stood near Link, asked.

"Yes, the very same one. I can only hope that he is all right, now..." she paused for a moment as she gently tilted Link's head up, who until now had been staring at the floor in shame. "Do not be troubled, link. You came for me again, and that is enough. Thank you, Hero of Time." She concluded with these encouraging words, to which both Link and Aeris smiled.

As for Sora and Kairi, I'm sorry to say that I didn't quite listen to what they said to each other, since they were standing somewhat far away from where my mother and I rested. Nevertheless, I could see Sora had a really big smile plastered on his face, and tried to stand in a... "cool" pose, while the girl giggled shyly at practically everything he said.

But then, I turned to Ukyo. She was sitting down against one side of one of the ships, with her back turned to us. It almost seemed to me as if she was... sad... And it was at that very instant that it hit me. My smile quickly faded as my heart almost leapt out of my mouth. But I wasn't the only one to notice it...

"Where the hell is Wilheim?" Felicia cried aloud, making everyone fall silent.

"Isn't he with us?" asked a worried Morrigan. No one answered her question. Most of us could only look around with fear-filled eyes, only to see he was nowhere in sight.

"Oh, crap." Cid exclaimed. "He must have fallen behind... Vincent, I'll need you there – we have to go back for him!"

"I'm on it." Answered Vincent, trying to sound calm, yet I noticed fear in his voice.

"I'm going, too!" Ryu declared.

"Let's go!" Ken added.

"Come on!" Ariel joined in.

"No, you're staying here, Ariel." Cid snapped. "It's too dangerous for you. Stay behind with the rest of the guys!"

"I'm not doing that, and you won't talk me into it this time!"

"Argue about it later!" Shiryu intervened. "We have to hurry if we want to save him!"

I was about to say "count me in". I was about to tell mom to go inside one of the ships and to stay there while I went to look for my friend. But all of a sudden, we all heard a faint murmur and became quiet.

I don't know how we heard her, because her voice nearly got swallowed by the noise the waterfalls made. She hadn't sounded like in the tape we had seen back on Gaia... she wasn't concerned or angry... she was heartbroken. And yet, she wasn't sobbing... she knew. I... I think she had known all along, from the first moment she had opened her eyes to the world again.

"Wilheim..." Ukyo said, slowly turning her head to the elf. Fat, round tears rolled down her red cheeks, and with trembling lips, she forcer herself to utter those terrible words... "Wilheim is dead... isn't he, Demean?"

All eyes turned to the elf. He was crying silently, as were the rest of our friends who had arrived with him. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath... and nodded.

I dropped my sword. The chilling air got a hold of me and nearly made the blood in my veins stop running. Soon, I heard many other noises... for all of my friends had also let go of their weapons. All thought escaped my mind... I only felt pain. My eyes began to burn, but disbelief held my tears back. And after a brief instant, nothing but questions invaded my confused head.

"...What?" murmured Vincent in a low, shocked voice. "...What?"

"That... that can't be right..." added Ariel, and let out a sudden, heartbreaking sob.

"Are... are you sure?" I asked in a murmur, still unable and unwilling to believe those words.

Demean and the others nodded in silence. Some of my friends gasped, while others kept silent and while some others started to weep...

"No..." Sora suddenly said. "That's not true... that's impossible! Why the heck I'm I still here, then?" he demanded, angrily.

"You... you are the Keyblade master..." Cloud replied in a low, sad whisper. "Your weapon saved you. You are the chosen one... but he wasn't..." and as he finished saying this, Sora's eyes were filled by despair, and he fell to his knees.

"Oh, God..." murmured Felicia, covering her mouth with her hands as she began to shiver.

"We must go." Octavius suddenly declared, trying to sound firm. "The Heartless will soon be here. There is no time to lose..."

"But what about...!" Seyia began to yell, yet found no more words to speak.

"We must go." The were-bear repeated. "We will mourn Wilheim later." And so he entered on of the ships and turned on the engines. Demean gently helped Ukyo to her feet and escorted her into the ship, while Tish slowly turned to face us and said in a broken voice:

"Let us leave."

Though they surely didn't want to, our other friends knew they had to set some sort of example. Cloud placed his arm around Tifa's waist and walked with her into another vessel. Merryck went to Camille and stared at her for a few seconds. She was still hiding her face behind her hand, and hadn't stopped trembling. The hobbit tenderly reached for her elbow and when he touched her, the succubus knelt and hugged him. Merryck held on to her firmly as she lifted him up. Then, they both went inside a third ship, but even them, their sobs could still be heard. The humongous creature that had been by their side during all that time quietly took one of the princesses with him and they both entered an aircraft. I saw sadness in his eyes and confusion on hers... Ryoga put his hand on Sakura's shoulder and they slowly walked into one of the ships. But before they entered, Ranma and Akane caught up with them and then he asked:

"Ryoga... how?"

And Ryoga just turned to him with pain in his face and answered:

"Come on, Ranma."

"Oh, no..." Akane murmured and began to sob loudly. Ranma quickly embraced her and then the four entered the ship with tears in their eyes.

And finally, both Donald and Goofy walked up to Sora and, with Kairi's help, lifted him to his feet. He didn't say anything else. My guess was that he felt just the way I did: too shocked and heartbroken to think any questions, in too much pain to say anything.

Once Sora was taken away by Kairi and our two friends, one by one, the Princesses of Heart began to board the vessels. They did so quietly – none of them dared to express a word of joy or relief because of their rescue. Only Saori, Zelda, and my mother remained behind. But as soon as the last of the girls entered the aircrafts, my mom gently caressed my arm and murmured:

"Dante... let's go."

"Okay..." I replied in a whisper. "Okay..."

We helped each other to our feet and entered the ship I would be piloting. As soon as I crossed the door that lead to the cockpit, I looked at my hands and sighed. Again, they were human hands. My mother's power had changed me back into my human form. She knew I didn't exactly enjoy my Lucien form, plus I had asked her to transform me as soon as she could. I suppose she did it to cheer me up. But if that was truly her intention, it didn't work.

I sat at the controls and patiently waited for all of our friends to board the ships. The engines were turned on; I was ready to get out of there just as soon as the last one of them got on. Slowly, they came inside weeping. Some of the cried in silence and some others sobbed uncontrollably. This was Ariel's case, who practically had to be carried by link inside the Gummi ship. Aeris and Zelda came with them, and the sorceress wasn't so quiet either, even as the princess did her best to comfort her. On the other hand, Link did not make a sound... but his eyes were red from shedding many tears. Alice, who had entered before all of us had done so, sat in a corner without speaking a word. Morrigan then came inside. She seemed to be all right, but as soon as she took a seat, she covered her face with both hands and started to sob. Finally, Shun and Ikki joined us. The younger saint wept on his older brother's shoulder while the latter tried his best to console him, even though Ikki himself wasn't doing so great. And so far, I hadn't shed a single tear.

I glanced outside and saw that there was no one left. Yet suddenly, I noticed a large shadow approaching. They were Heartless, lots of them. Still, I took my time. I calmly extended the wings and slowly took off. They were still too far away to catch up with us. Besides, there were no more Heartless' ships left to fight. We had already destroyed them all.

In a matter of minutes, we left Hollow Bastion. It seemed to me that Octavius was the one leading the way and so I programmed the ship so that it would follow the were-bear's Gummi to wherever it went. I wasn't in the mood for flying...

I took a deep breath and leaned back on my seat. All those questions that had left me momentarily suddenly came back, striking my chest like a thunderbolt. There was nothing I could do to answer any of them... not even one.

"Damn." I muttered and softly banged my chair's arm. "Son of a bitch." I said in a louder voice and hit the chair's arm again, this time not so softly. Then, I began to rub my face and let out a long sigh. My friends' sobs invaded my thoughts and began to drive me crazy. I felt a soft hand on my shoulder... surely that had been my mom. Yet I didn't turn to see her. Instead, I let out another sigh and banged both of the chair's arms hard.

"Honey..." she whispered tenderly, trying to calm me down.

"...Why?" I asked in a nearly inaudible voice.

"I don't know, baby." She replied.

"Why did he have to die?"

Of all the questions that lingered on my mind, this was the one that hurt me the most. It stabbed my heart again and again like a sharp, burning hot dagger. And each time it echoed in my mind, it wounded me deeper. And at last, I couldn't stand the pain.

"WHY DID HE HAVE TO DIE?" I yelled as loud as I could and started to pound the chair just like I had pounded the snow back on Gaia. Back then, I cried because I thought my mom was dead and Wilheim comforted me. But now, I wept inconsolably because I knew he was gone, and it became my mother's turn to console me.

"Dante, please calm down!" she exclaimed as she put her arms around me and forced me to stop thrashing.

It didn't take her long to do this. I finally gave into her hug and held on to her arms as I let out a loud, long moan. I really cared for him... I cared for all of them... but out of the whole group, he and Sora were my best friends. And now he was dead.

"Why?" I repeated, this time in a lower voice.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart." My mom said and gently kissed my brow.

I wept for a long time, and she didn't leave me for a second. And the more I cried, the more I thought of Wilheim's last words to me: "I shall give my life for her if it comes to it. You have my word..."

_(Change of scene)_

Our trip lasted an eternity. We were in no hurry to get to wherever it was that Octavius was leading us. None of us spoke. We had been left without words and could not find anything in our minds that was worth telling. It was almost like being in a dreamless sleep, but the anguish and pain in our hearts constantly reminded us that we were awake. That was probably the longest trip I have ever taken in my life, even though my mom was by my side.

That didn't mean that I hadn't forgotten about all those questions I had asked myself, however. I still wanted to know why he had died and how he had died. But as time passed by, another question popped into my head. This one wasn't exactly about Wilheim's dead, yet it had grown too powerful – even more than the ones I have already quoted... What would happen to the group now that he was gone? How would his closest friends behave from now on...? What would happen to Ukyo?

Wilheim had been our good friend and we all had cared much for him. But he had been Ukyo's companion and they had loved each other very, very much. Although her heart had been restored to her body, it had been broken, and I suppose that none of us knew if she would be able to recover from such a terrible loss. I was sure that, in time, I would learn to live with it. In time, I would remember Wilheim with a smile in my face; I would remember what a fierce warrior and a good friend he was when he lived – I wouldn't recall the tragedy of his death. But would she be able to pull herself back on her feet? Or would she fall to madness? Because Wilheim nearly went mad when she was taken from him...

During the final stage of our trip, I learned that I wasn't the only one thinking about this... It had been... I don't know... perhaps three days since we had left Hollow Bastion. I was piloting the ship quietly, following Octavius' Gummi closely. At that moment, I did feel like flying the vessel, because I really wanted to think about something else other than our lost friend. All of my friends sat behind me, along with my mother, and all of them kept still and quiet. But all of a sudden, Ikki gathered enough courage to break the ice and said:

"Contact Octavius. And if you can, do it on a private channel."

"Why?" I asked.

It took him a moment to reply. Yet he realized that now that he had opened the door, it would be impossible to close it.

"I want to know how he died."

"Ikki, please...!" Morrigan uttered, covering her face, nearly breaking into tears. "The grief is still too near, too embedded in my heart... I do not want to..."

"But we should all know." The saint interrupted. "We were all his friends. We at least deserve to know how Wilheim died."

"It doesn't matter! He's dead and I don't want to think about it anymore!" Ariel exclaimed on the verge of tears.

"Not now, Ikki..." Aeris murmured, yet Link was on the Phoenix's saint side.

"He is right." The Hylian declared. "I too want to know how he passed away. It would be an insult not only to us, but to his memory, if we do not know how he died."

"...You've got a point there." I said.

"So, let's do it." Ikki insisted. "Come on, Dante. Contact the were-bear, will you?"

"Okay. I know you're right and all, but I still don't like it." I confessed, as I slowly pressed the button on the control panel that would allow me to speak with the ancient warrior. "Octavius, we all want to ask you a question... but I don't know if the rest of our friends will want to hear it or the answer."

"Ask. No one else is listening." He replied in a low, dry voice.

"How did Wilheim die?" I asked. As I finished the question, I noticed that Ariel had covered her ears and had gone to Aeris's side so that she would hug her. She was trembling... But she was the only one that didn't want to hear about it. The rest of us kept quiet and listened carefully to what Octavius had to say.

Nevertheless, his thoughts had been similar to ours...

"You all deserve to know." He replied, letting out a sad sigh. "We will tell everyone when we get to Hyrule."

"Hyrule?" asked Zelda.

"Yes, that is our destination... But that is not the point. We are still grieving his loss, and we do not wish to tell the tale more than once."

"I see..." I muttered.

"Octavius, what about Ukyo?" quickly asked Aeris as she let go of Ariel. Seeing that we had gotten no answer to our previous question, the girl decided that she did want to know how Ukyo was doing. "Is she all right?" We all took a deep breath as Octavius stopped speaking for a few seconds...

"She is locked inside a room. She has not left it and all I can hear from that place is sobs and sad moans." The were-bear said, to our discontent.

"Oh, God, no..." the sorceress uttered, covering her mouth with her hand as she and Ariel began to weep.

"Is anyone with her?" exclaimed Shun.

"Yes, Demean and Tish are by her side, but I do not know how helpful they have been." Octavius replied.

"Damn it..." I cursed in a low voice.

"Let us wait until we get to Hyrule. We are all very depressed and need to rest a bit before we resume our quest... With your permission, your majesty, I believe I speak for all of us when I say we will be very grateful if you let us stay a few days within your castle until we have shed enough tears."

"You may stay as long as you want." Zelda answered. "You can mourn your friend in piece inside the safe walls of Hyrule. Depart when your hearts are at ease and remember that you are champions of Hyrule – we shall always welcome you with open arms."

"Thank you, your highness... Farewell." Octavius said and spoke to us no more.

_(Change of scene)_

We arrived at Hyrule early, before the sun came out. As we disembarked, we saw the rest of our friends. Not one of them smiled. Not even the Princesses of Heart, who were free from the Heartless' grasp. As for Ukyo, I didn't see her. I don't think that any of us did. I later learned that Demean and Tish had taken her to a room inside the main tower of the castle. I let out a sigh and lowered my head as I began to think that chances were she would stay there.

Our friends let us settle down and rest for a while before they called us to the throne room. There, Zelda stood next to us as another member of our group, and not as the princess of Hyrule. All of the Princesses of Heart came also. But in the end, there was no sign of either Ukyo, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, or Sora. As if not having her around was enough. Luckily, it wasn't what I thought...

"Hey, Cloud..." I asked the soldier as he walked right past me. "Where are Ukyo and the others?"

"She didn't want to come." He answered. "Sora decided to stay with her, and Kairi wants to keep both of them company. Donald and Goofy remained by their side to tell them how it happened."

"Do you think it's wise to tell her how... you know... considering her state?"

"To be quite honest, my guess is that she already knows."

"Cloud..." Tifa intervened. We turned to her and after a small pause, she said: "We're starting."

"Right, I'll be there in a moment." He replied. "We'll soon let you know, okay?"

Demean, Tish, Octavius, Merryck, Ryoga, Sakura, Cloud, and Tifa stood in front of us quietly, waiting for all of us to sit down on the ground and to listen carefully to what they had to say...

"Do we really have to do this?" Ariel suddenly asked, breaking the silence that had begun to reign over the throne room. "Is it really necessary that we... listen to this? Don't you think it'll just be... torture?"

"You are free to go if you do not want to hear about Wilheim's death." Demean said firmly. "But we will tell the story either way."

"It's only fair for all of us and for him that you all know how he died." Merryck added. "Even though it pains us to tell what happened."

Ariel closed her eyes and after a brief moment, took a seat. She stayed close to Link and Aeris and held their hands.

"The story is short." Tish said aloud. "Although we all want you to know how it happened, we do not mean to burden your hearts. This will not take long."

"As you know, the Heartless captured the Princesses of Heart one by one and stole their hearts." Octavius boomed, making all voices disappear. "This also happened to Ukyo. However, according to Wilheim and Sora, her heart had some special strength within her, and was not captured by the darkness. This was Kairi's case as well. Their hearts were not trapped by the darkness... they remained safely within Sora and Wilheim's hearts."

"In order to open the ultimate door of darkness, the Heartless needed all of the princesses' hearts. So, in the end, they needed to unlock both Sora and Wilheim's hearts." Merryck continued. "Without them, the final keyhole couldn't be completed... Sora has told us that the fiend he and Wilheim faced..."

"Sora has spoken with you?" Ryu intervened. "How's he doing?"

"He's not doing too bad." The hobbit answered. Ryu nodded his head and after a few seconds of staying quiet, seeing that there weren't any more questions at the moment, he went on. "The fiend they faced told them that Ukyo and Kairi's hearts weren't in the realm of darkness. Later, Riku appeared before them and revealed them the place where they dwelled..." but then, no more words came out of his mouth. At that instant, Demean took a step forward and continued the story.

"In order to free Ukyo and Kairi's hearts, Sora realized that they had to unlock their own hearts with a dark weapon the enemy had used against them. Sora did this quickly, but even though he fell into shadows for a while, he returned to us, for Wilheim believed (and I agree with him) that his heart would not be lost to darkness, thanks to the Keyblade and his own strength..." he sighed and lowered his head momentarily. We all knew which the part that came next was... "But Wilheim was not the chosen one. Like Sora, he stabbed himself in his heart to free Ukyo from his slumber, as well as the hearts of the other princesses. He released them from their dark prison... yet he gave his life in doing so."

We all lowered our heads and remained silent. So that's how it had been... He had simply sacrificed himself to save Ukyo and the rest of the princesses. Honestly, I didn't know what to think or feel. For one part, I was happy that Wilheim had died so courageously – he had died in order to save his beloved. But on the other hand, he had died to save the rest of the Princesses of Heart, too... including my mom. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that, in a certain way, I felt partly responsible for his passing.

"This man... he died to save us?" asked one of the Princesses of Heart, one that had long, golden hair and a blue dress.

Our friends nodded their heads without saying a word.

At that moment, Vincent stood up. All eyes turned to him as he raised his head and stared at the ceiling for a long while. At last, he let out a long sigh and turned his back on us. He slowly began to make his way to the exit of the throne room. Some of my friends called his name in shock. Of all people, he was the one we all thought wouldn't do something of the sort. But he didn't...

"So, he died to save them." He said, glancing at us. And then, a sad smile appeared on his face... "They are to be admired... Even though, thankfully, Sora returned, he had been willing to give his life... I will miss him very much. He was a good friend and a good man." And with that said, he left. For a moment, I felt less sad, and I think that the rest of my friends felt the same, small light shinning within their souls with Vincent's words.

"...Was... was he scared?" asked Felicia.

"Yes." Demean replied, yet before the were-cat could start crying, he quickly added: "However, he defeated his fear and decided that he die with the knowledge that Ukyo would be fine."

"...I'm going to miss him so much." She murmured and dried a single tear that escaped her eye. "He was a very good friend of mine, as well."

"He was friend to us all." Morrigan said. "Some knew him better than others, but I don't doubt that all of us cared for him..."

"But... but what are we going to do about Ukyo?" asked Ariel abruptly. "I've heard she's very sad... Do you think that she'll be able to carry on?"

"That is entirely up to her." Demean said. "I will comfort her and help her as much as she needs, but I cannot help her escape the dark pit she has fallen into. She has to find a way out by herself."

"Either way, I think we could all use some rest." Ken intervened. "You know, to try and assimilate it... in whatever way we can."

"I agree." Camille said. "Even though I am proud of what Wilheim did, I am still too sad to press on. I need to mourn him a bit more... he was too dear to me. I simply cannot keep on fighting out of a desire for revenge. I need my heart to be at ease."

"Ryoga...?" said Ranma, standing up. "Did you two...?"

"Yeah." Interrupted Ryoga, already knowing where Ranma was going. "Yeah, we did. He apologized before it happened... I'm glad we became friends again."

"If I may, I'm going to change the subject for a moment." Leon announced, and all heads turned to face him. "You said the enemy had told Sora and Wilheim that the final keyhole was incomplete because the hearts of the princesses were not all there... but now that they have all been freed, what will happen?"

"Well, they... they aren't within the realm of the Heartless." Tifa answered. "I suppose that the darkness can't come out of the ultimate door... yet something tells me it can still be sealed."

"I see." Leon sighed. He got to his feet and added: "Well, I suppose we have to return to the worlds we haven't freed of the Heartless..." he headed for the exit and before he left, declared in a loud voice: "He was a good man."

"Let's go rest up." Cloud suggested. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm really tired. I know depression has something to do with it, but right now, I just want to sleep."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Ken said. "...Court adjourned?"

"Yes. Let us all get some rest." Tish said.

"We didn't know him, but..." suddenly announced one of the Princesses of Heart as we all were beginning to leave. It had been the one Tifa claimed was princess Jasmine. "We will remember him and honour his memory always."

"...Thanks..." I muttered, along with some of my friends. My mom then put her arm around my shoulders and walked with me out of the throne room.

We came to a place where a beautiful, green garden lay. There were many flowers in its center, dancing peacefully with the wind. The sky was blue and there were hardly any clouds. The sun was still hiding behind one of the tall walls that were around us. I could see that it was slowly coming up and would soon pour its entire splendor into the garden... It really felt like a peaceful place.

"Mom, you go on ahead." I said to her softly. "I need some time by myself... is that okay with you?"

"Sure, Dante." She replied. "Take as much time as you need."

"Thanks... I'll see you later."

She kissed my cheek and left. I let out a sigh and sat near the flowers. It was not until then I noticed a small moat that surrounded the little garden. The sound of the tranquil water had just come to my ears. I looked at the flowers and lay down. Not a single thought passed through my mind. I felt at ease. I wasn't happy or sad or anything. I simply... was there. Nothing more.

It wasn't until the sun began to blind me with its light that I heard someone approach the garden. I quickly sat down and shaded my eyes to see who it was. The Dragon's saint then appeared on the entrance to the garden and waved at me. He had already taken off his armor and seemed more relaxed.

"Hey, Dante." He greeted.

"Hey." I replied.

"How are you feeling?"

"Not too great, but I'm much better now. What about you?"

"I've definitively had better days." Shiryu answered as he sat by my side. He kept silent for a few seconds and then said: "Shun told me you got pretty upset back when you guys were on the ship. I just wanted to make you were feeling better."

"So he told you that, huh?" I muttered. "Well, he was my friend, after all. But I'm better now, like I said."

"Good."

"Any news about Ukyo and the others?" I asked and held my breath.

"Not really. They still haven't come out of their room." Shiryu said. "To tell you the truth, I'm really worried about her."

"Well, who isn't? It was like... I don't know how to explain..." I remained thoughtful for a few seconds before the right words came to my mind. "Everything was all right when they had each other. No matter how hard things could turn, they always trusted in a light that would lead them and us to victory. But now that Wilheim's gone, I don't know if Ukyo will ever find that light again..."

"I understand what you mean." He got up and his eyes got caught by the tranquil current of the moat. He walked to it and got his hand into the water. Then he sighed and said: "You know, Jiminy is thinking about writing a poem about him in his journal."

"Jiminy? Oh, you mean Jiminy Cricket."

"Yeah. We don't get to see him much, but he's always recording everything we do... Donald and Goofy never let him miss anything."

"That'd be nice." I murmured, tilting my head back to the sky. "Maybe that would cheer her up a bit."

"Well, one can only hope, I guess." Shiryu said.

"How are the rest of the guys doing?" I asked. "Heard of anyone else that's especially depressed?"

"You've seen Ariel." He replied. "Akane isn't doing too good... Yuffie is also pretty sad... and I think you already know about the rest."

"Yeah... So, do you know when are we going to leave this place?"

"Why? Are you in such a hurry to go?"

"Come on, you know I don't mean that." I said, nearly offended by his last words.

"Sorry." He said, noticing resentment in my voice, I suppose. "Well, I really can't tell you. I guess that we're just going to stick around as long as possible to see how Ukyo and the rest progress. Either way, we can't leave without Sora."

"Yeah, that's true."

"Anyway..." he got up and walked to me. He put his hand on my shoulder and added: "It'll all be fine, Dante. It'll all turn out fine."

"I really want to believe that." I answered.

"That's good to know. Well, I'm going to go back to my room and sleep a bit. Seeing that we're not moving today, I guess we can all use some sleep."

"Yeah, a good rest never heard anybody."

"I suggest you go and do the same, Dante." Shiryu said. "Take it easy, pal."

"See you later, man."

He smiled and then took off. I sighed and stayed in the garden for a while longer. The smell of the soft air and the warmth of the sun made me forget about everything bad that was happening and made my heart beat with ease. The sun past over my head and began to hide under the wall that was opposite to the one it had emerged from. It was not until then that I got to my feet, headed to the room that had been assigned to my mother and me, and fell on my bed like a sack of potatoes. My mom was already sleeping like a baby... seeing her so calm and unharmed brought a bit more of peace and even a little joy to my heart. My lips formed a faint smile as I then yawned and fell asleep.

_(Change of scene)_

It was already late in the night when I woke up, I guess. I yawned and turned to my mother. She still slept. She must've been through a lot, I thought. Either way, I wasn't sleepy anymore, even though I had a hard time getting up. The bed was really comfortable. But at last, I found the strength to get back on my feet and to go out of my room. It was time to wander through the castle a little bit more.

There were many guards standing watch. They all remained still like statues as I passed by them. None of them spoke a word to me. They seemed like good, serious fighters and that put me at ease. I wasn't really in the mood for fighting and I'm sure that all of my friends felt too depressed or too tired to even lift a finger should the Heartless or another enemy arrive (of course, when you don't have a choice...).

I went down the stairs of the castle and into a corridor with only one thought in my mind: Where the hell was the kitchen? My stomach was grumbling and I had to feed it right away. Once I had eaten, I would surely start asking myself some important questions again... perhaps I would even feel sadness again. But at that time, I just wondered if they would have some kind of midnight service going on. I was willing to just settle with a bowl of hot soup, nothing too fancy. Of course, a nice, juicy stake would've been welcomed all the same.

Yet I suddenly came to a halt. As I walked through the corridor, I noticed a door was opened. It lead to a room with a big balcony sticking out of it. There stood Sora, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, Demean, and Tish. They were all looking at the nocturne sky and talked among each other. I couldn't listen to their words, but just to see them talking was really encouraging. The door was opened... so I supposed they wouldn't mind if I joined them.

"Hey, guys." I greeted as I let myself into the room.

"Hi, Dante." They replied, turning back to face me.

"You don't happen to know where I could find a kitchen around here, do you?" I asked.

"Oh, I think it's in the lower floor." Kairi said. "The princess said to us that we could eat whenever we wished."

"That's good to know. By the way, nice to meet you, Kairi." I said, gently shaking her hand. "I suppose you already know, but my name's Dante."

"Yeah, nice to meet you, Dante." She replied, shyly.

Then, I looked at Sora and put my hand on his shoulder.

"How are you feeling, man?" I asked.

"Okay, I suppose." Sora said, smiling weakly. "Guilty, in a way, but okay."

"Guilty?"

"Yeah. I made it and he didn't. It's that simple."

"But it wasn't your fault..."

"That's what these guys have been trying to talk into me for a while now, but it isn't working. So don't even try, Dante." He said, but he did so chuckling.

"But... okay, I suppose I'll save the lecture for another occasion." I said.

"How about you?" he asked. "You okay?"

"So-so."

"Maybe you should stick with us for a while. Demean was telling us some stories about Wilheim."

I couldn't help to let out a laugh. They were right. We were better off remembering him with stories than with heavy hearts and broken spirits. I let out a sigh and nodded my head, but quickly said: "I've got a better idea. Why don't we go down to the kitchen and grab a bite?"

"I suppose we could accommodate to your stomach, Dante." Demean chuckled.

"Now that he mentions it, I'm a bit hungry myself." Goofy confessed.

"Yeah, I agree." Donald added. "Let's go to the kitchen and get something to eat."

"Yes, let us take a walk." Tish said. "Yet keep telling us the story about the archery contest, Demean."

"The archery contest?" I muttered.

"Yes, an archery contest." Said the elf as we all exited the room. "Every ten years, there is an archery contest in the forest of Fingoth. Elves from that forest and from my own home get together and compete for a terrific prize. But that is not all. Several vampires join us as well."

"And I suppose Wilheim was one of those vampires." I guessed.

"Yes, but he was not with any clan." Demean explained. "Wilheim had come to the forest of Fingoth some months ago. Actually, he arrived the hidden woods forty days after I had done so."

"He decided to go on ahead and beat the rest of his companions, huh?" I inquired.

"No. Wilheim came into the forest by accident. He was running away from the vampire who created him, Magnus. He was amongst the vilest vampires I had ever known... a traitor to the brotherhood of the Children of Cain, chased by his cruelty, his madness, and his maliciousness. Wilheim had suffered very much because of him... and that night, he arrived at the forest of Fingoth with a broken heart, for in order to save someone very dear to him, he had to leave her behind. Magnus had practically forced him to do this."

"Did he leave Ukyo?"

"He was not in love with Ukyo at that time. That happened nineteen years before he met her, I believe. No, the girl's name was Elizabeth. Magnus had told Wilheim that he would kill her just to make him feel miserable. But our friend knew too well that Magnus would not resist the temptation to follow him wherever he went... so he left her. He did not have the strength to defeat him at that time, and he knew it. Both of them said good-bye to each other with tear-filled eyes and my friend entered the forest of Fingoth with a shadow over his spirit."

"That's terrible..." I murmured as we found a set of stairs and began to descend to a lower level. "How come was this Magnus guy such a jerk?"

"He was a self-proclaimed leader of vampires who was exiled from the Nosferatu clan because of his lust for power and evil ways." Demean said. "A disgrace to the Children of Cain, he was. Yet none of his crimes had ever been confirmed, for none had survived to tell the tales... Wilheim and Siegfried found a way to..."

"Wow, stop right there... who's Siegfried?" I interrupted.

"He was Wilheim's best friend." Tish answered. "They grew up together and were turned into vampires by Magnus at the same time. They became brothers, united by the darkness that had been brought upon them. They took care of each other for a long time, until Magnus murdered Siegfried..." she paused for a moment to let out a sigh. "Strange as it may be, Ariel had a picture of them in her grotto. It was a time when they were still together and they were trying to escape the fiend. He was a handsome, young man, like Wilheim..."

"Either way, like I was saying..." Demean intervened. "Wilheim and Siegfried managed to make him so angry that he only destroyed one of them so that he would make the other one miserable for the rest of his life. Wilheim was the strongest of the two and the one who had came up with the plan that nearly brought an end to Magnus. That is why he chose him to live. Yet there was a fatal flaw in his plan... Wilheim was a survivor to Magnus's cruelty and the entire vampire community soon found out about this. Magnus became a fugitive, for the brotherhood, at long last, had begun to look for him like a hunter with a gun looks for a lion."

"I see..." I mumbled, with a sigh. "Anyway, you were saying about the archery contest...?"

"Yes, I got a bit off track, did I not?" he chuckled. "Yes, he came into Fingoth with sadness clouding his eyes. He nearly got shot by one of the guards, for no one can enter Fingoth without prior consent of the king of the woods. I saved him from the arrow and took him under my wing, so to speak. That was when I met him. We quickly became very good friends."

"What about you, Tish?" I asked.

"Oh, I was not with Demean at that moment." She replied. "I was actually helping Merryck's parents to take care of him. At that time, he was just a little baby."

"Weird, isn't it?" Sora intervened. "He never looked like it, but he actually was one of the oldest among us."

"He always acted like a seventeen-year-old lad." Demean said. "He did so because he always hoped that the day in which he would turn back to a human would come. And when such day came, he still wanted to be innocent, in a way. I believe that, when Gabrielle turned him back into a human, he was ready to grow up."

"Gabrielle was the lady we met back at the Sanctuary, right?" Goofy asked.

"Yes. I first told him about her when I parted from his side... But I digress again." He cleared his throat and went on. "One night, I took him to meet others of his kin. We had to go through the forest of Ungolin to get there before sunrise... that is when he became afraid of spiders. I will tell you the story another day... He met an elder of the Brujah clan; an old, wise vampire named Joseph. We had a warm welcome. I had taken him with me because there was a secret meeting of magicians taking place... Since Wilheim had already become sort of a celebrity, no one opposed to have him sit down at the table with the sorcerers. That is when he learned of the archery contest. I was going to tell him the next night, but when we spoke again, he had already decided that he wanted to participate... only that he did not know how to use a bow."

"Hold on, Demean." Donald interrupted. "You didn't tell us why Wilheim was a celebrity."

"Oh, amongst the vampires." The elf explained. "He had been the one who had survived Magnus's wrath... No one else brought to the world of _Vampyrs_ before him had done so... not even his brother. That is why all of the vampires in the world had heard about him and admired him. He had brought the light of hope to them in the darkest hour..." he paused and sighed before continuing. "Either way, we returned to the forest of Fingoth with many vampires the following night. Wilheim had already become a good friend of a young Child of Cain called Sebastian. He helped me to teach him how to use the bow and arrows." Again he stopped. Then, he tilted his head back and laughed. "He was terrible at the beginning! The first time he tried to shoot an arrow, he nearly broke his hand! I really had a hard time trying not too laugh too loudly... And so did Sebastian..." he became silent for an instant as he ceased to laugh. He opened a closed door for us to go through it. I really hoped it was the door to the kitchen... yet we still had some walking to do. "But he learned quickly. When the tournament came, he did really well. He almost made it to the finals... but a young elder of the clan of the Toreador defeated him. A good friend of ours, by the way: Rofell."

"And who won the tournament?" asked Kairi. I take it that, like the rest of us, she was really interested in Demean's tale... he was a really good storyteller.

"I did." The elf chuckled. "Wilheim said that it did not come to surprise him."

"What did you win?" asked Sora.

"A bright red rock that looked as if it had the flaming feather of a Phoenix inside of it." He answered. "A beautiful adornment, I daresay."

"Did Wilheim ever challenge you again?" I asked.

"No. He left the forest a few days after that, blaming his feet for that... He always claimed that his feet were cursed, for he always wanted to walk more, to see more. He was a wanderer, and never ceased to be... until he found Ukyo."

"I see..." I sighed. "And what about this Magnus guy? Did he ever get what he deserved?"

"Yes." Demean answered. "Actually, Ranma, Akane, Ryoga, and Ukyo might tell you about it better than I could. They fought against him in a last, desperate attempt to free Wilheim from the evil vampire's clutches... Ultimately, I believe that it was Ukyo who scored the fatal blow. Yet Wilheim was the one that definitively killed him."

"That's good. I mean, I don't want to sound cruel, but..."

"We understand perfectly, Dante, and I agree with you." Tish said. "You need not say more."

"Okay..." I muttered. "That was a nice story, Demean."

"I daresay it is better to remember him like this." He said.

"Yeah, no doubt about that... Hey, where's the damn kitchen?"

"It should be right through that door." Kairi declared, pointing at a large, wooden door that was at our right.

"Thank God, I'm starving."

I was so hungry that I forgot about my manners. Stepping ahead of everyone, I opened the door and entered the kitchen. Well, it wasn't the kitchen, exactly. It was the dinning room. There were two very large wooden tables with lots of chairs. One of them was obviously princess Zelda's, for it was adorned with gold and silver stones and had the emblem of the royal family on it. On one of the tables there were many different plates with fruit and drinks, milk and juices, mostly. There was some bread and what seemed to be a selection of cereals. Nothing too fancy, but there was enough food to shut my stomach up. And at the other table... sat Ukyo. She was eating some fruit and had poured herself a bit of cereal, milk, and juice. I froze when I saw her, like the rest of my friends. And when she lifted her face up to look at us... she smiled.

"Hey, all." She greeted. It was amazing... her voice didn't sound euphoric, obviously... but it hadn't been the heartbroken murmur I had expected to hear. "There's still plenty to go around. I take it you're hungry."

"Well, we... yeah..." I said in a shocked whisper.

"Then come on and take a seat."

"...Y-yeah...! Sure...!" I stammered.

"Ukyo?" asked Sora, unable to contain a huge smile. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Well, I'm not exactly blazing with happiness, but I'm not as depressed anymore." Ukyo answered.

"...Really?"

"Yeah." She said. "It's quite simple, Sora. It really doesn't matter if you're the master of the Keyblade and he wasn't. Deep in my heart I know... he's here." She added with a giggle, touching her chest. "I don't know when, but... if you came back, I'm sure he'll be able to return as well. I don't know when, but... I'm sure I'll meet my Wilheim-honey again."

I really didn't know what to believe. I didn't know whether to feel happy because she was already feeling better or even sadder because she was in denial...

"I cried for a long time, feeling sorry for myself and for him." She continued. "But not anymore. My baby did what he did so I could be safe again... for that, I love him more than ever. He gave his life for me. And he surely wouldn't have liked to see me as sad... he gave his life so that I could be happy again. And I won't let him down." She assured. "I won't let my baby down. And mark my words: I will see him again."

There was silence among us for a while. I guessed my friends were thinking the exact same thing I was thinking... Ukyo didn't want to admit that Wilheim was gone for good. She had found momentary happiness believing that he would return to her... but Wilheim wouldn't come back.

Yet suddenly, I heard a laugh. I turned to it and noticed it had been Sora. He had let out a loud, happy laugh. Then he slapped his forehead with his hand and exclaimed: "Why didn't I think about that before?"

"There you go!" Ukyo giggled.

"Yeah! You're right, Ukyo. We will see him again. We just have to believe!"

"I'm glad to see you guys are happy again." Kairi added, laughing as well. "That's the spirit, guys. You just have to believe, like you said, Sora."

"Gwarsh, that's quite a relief!" Goofy chuckled. "I didn't think of that either. But now that you mention it, it doesn't sound too crazy!"

"Ukyo's right." Donald intervened. "Wilheim will come back. And when he does, we'll be waiting!"

"Ha! I'm glad we had this talk!" Sora exclaimed. "So let's sit down and have something to eat, eh?"

"O-Okay..." I stuttered. We all went to fetch some fruit, cereal, and juice. Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy barely grabbed anything and quickly went to sit by Ukyo's side. I stayed alone with Demean and Tish. Since they were the only ones who hadn't said anything, I thought that speaking my mind might be a good idea. "Do you really think we should let them believe that?" I asked. "Do you really think that it's healthy for them to think that Wilheim will return? What will happen to them when they realize the truth? What will happen to Ukyo when she wakes up from this fantasy?"

"What is the truth, Dante?" Demean asked, with a smile.

"Oh, God, you believe it too." I muttered.

"If there is something that we have learned in this adventure, it is that everything can come true with a bit of hope." Tish said.

"Wilheim taught me that as well." The elf added.

"Have faith." The fairy went on. "And you might just find out something extraordinary."

"But..." I started to say, but Demean quickly interrupted.

"Have a seat, Dante. Rest and eat to your heart's content... for I believe we will not be staying in Hyrule for long." He concluded and he and Tish laughed as they happily sat down next to the others and started to talk with Ukyo...

I grabbed what I was going to eat and then sat beside them, yet I barely talked. Demean and Tish's words had left my heart in doubt. Could it be possible to return from the darkness? At first, I thought that it was an impossible task... but Sora had managed to return to us. Could Wilheim truly come back? Could he find the light to life? Or had all of this just been a really awful thought about something that would never happen?

When we finished eating, we walked Ukyo to her room. As we entered, Demean stood in front of her and said:

"I did not give this to you earlier, because I did not believe it would be wise to do so." He reached into a bag which I hadn't seen earlier and pulled out two things... Wilheim's headband and Renamark. "Before he died, he told me to give you this. He said he did not want anyone else to keep it..."

"Oh, Wilheim-honey..." she murmured with a sad smile as she quickly grabbed the headband and rubbed her cheek against it.

"Even in the end, he always thought about you." Donald added. "He was a very good friend."

"And a good boyfriend." Kairi intervened. "And I can say that even without knowing him..."

"We'll all miss him a lot, until he comes back." Goofy said, optimistically.

"I love him so much..." Ukyo whispered, kissing the headband. Some tears escaped her eyes and she dried them with the bandana. "He always used to do this... you know? To dry his tears with this whenever he cried. That's why it's so red... I suppose I'll do the same from now on."

"Renamark is yours, now." Tish said. "Now that Wilheim has given it to you, it will awake whenever you call for its aid."

"And if what Wilheim said is true, imagine what kind of monster you'll turn into if that sword really enhances your strength." Sora said, with a chuckle.

"Yeah..." Ukyo mumbled, grabbing the sword from its hilt and pulling it out of the bag. As she held it firmly, Renamark's blade began to shine as if it were on fire. Ukyo's face was filled by amazement, but I don't think that it was due to Renamark's glitter... I suppose that she now felt as strong as Wilheim... if not that she felt stronger... "No wonder he was so brutally powerful."

Sora chuckled as he put his hand on her shoulder. She turned to him and smiled. "I'll honor his memory in whatever way I can." She declared. "I'm going... I swear I'm going to be worth it."

"...You already are." I said, feeling a mix of emotions in my heart that suddenly made me shed a tear. Ukyo giggled and patted my back.

"Thanks, guys." She said.

"There is no need to thank us." Demean replied. "We will be with you forever... and if it comes to it, I daresay that all of us would give our lives for you... as we would have given our lives for him."

"Thanks... I'm also willing, should the case be, to die for each and every one of you, guys." Ukyo said. "I love you all." She added, with tears of joy running down her cheeks.

I can only say a few things... The following morning, when we told the rest of the group about Ukyo's state, none of us said anything about that matter afterwards. She wasn't there when we told them: she slept until late and woke up in a very good mood... I could see in some of my friends' eyes that some of them believed that what Ukyo thought was true, and that Wilheim would eventually show up again. Yet some others felt what I had thought when she had first said these things... that she was holding on to an impossible dream that would surely make her crumble once the truth came to her. Either way, I didn't see Wilheim again for the rest of our journey. Yet some things happened later that made me believe that he could still be alive somehow... somewhere...


	35. Chapter ThirtyFour: Incredible Miracle

Hey, guys! How're you all doing? Still on vacation? I am:D

Well, actually, I still have a few more weeks left of vacation, so that's why I'm almost sure I'll be able to publish yet another chapter before I start going to the University again. I know I always say this, but I'll try to make the next chapters short so I can update more often. Besides, I've got to be honest: we're almost done here.

I'm still not sure if I'll write a sequel or not, but chances are I probably will, though I'll try not to make it as ridiculously long as this monstrosity. Either way, I've got to play Kingdom Hearts 2 first... And before that, I have to save some money: I don't have as much as I'd like to...

Anyway, I apologize if there are spelling or grammar mistakes in this chapter. I usually give my chapters to Kiosce so he can check them before I upload them, but I really wanted to update quickly this time around, because I have another special surprise coming for you in the next chapter. Sorry, Kiosce:)

Well, that's it. I hope you like the new chapter. By the way, this chapter has the answer to one question you once asked me, KeybladeBlacksmith. Enjoy:)

Oh, before I forget, I just wanted to ask tanoshi-no-requiem, what's up with that review? I can't read a thing of what it says, except for UkyoRafa-san and I'm really curious about your opinion. Please clarify this for me if you can! Thanks!

_Chapter Thirty-Four: An Incredible Miracle_

_Narrator: Sakura_

I didn't know whether to be upset or very happy about Ukyo and some of my other friends. I mean, there I was, nearly thinking that we were about to... call off the mission, so to speak, because they were so depressed. I'm sorry, let me rephrase that: WE were all very depressed. I actually still didn't feel entirely up to the task of taking down the Heartless... But Ukyo and the others had gotten the strange idea that Wilheim could actually come back to life somehow. I could only sigh and fake a smile to them when they started to get their hopes up. Even Ryoga was falling for that... Well, after all, denial is one of the oldest self-defense mechanisms we have at our disposal. I, however, chose not to use it.

Whatever the case was, I pretended to like the idea and to accept the fact that Wilheim could revive. Nevertheless, there were others who didn't stay as quiet as I did. For instance, Octavius did express his feelings toward this "Wilheim-resurrection" matter to Ukyo and, for a moment, I thought about seconding him. Yet he too fell in the trap: Ukyo replied that, after all, Sora had come back to life. Octavius remained silent and actually nodded his head. Perhaps he too was faking, but the look on his eyes told me otherwise. Sure, Sora had come back to life, but like Cloud had said in the heat of the moment, he was the Keyblade master.

Anyway, I decided that it would be best to let them believe whatever they wanted and to go with the flow, even though my heart still ached a bit. Though I wasn't in the mood for fighting the Heartless, I knew we all had too as soon as we could. Who knows what other plan they might've been brewing up during our few days of absence. So, on the dawn of the third day, we decided to leave Hyrule... unaware that something miraculous was waiting for us on a place which we had already laid our eyes on.

The Princesses of Heart had all somehow been connected to the shadows of the Heartless and could even feel their power. They all said that the presence of evil on Hollow Bastion was growing. The Keyhole was completed and the enemies were pouring into that world like water, but the Princesses of Heart also told us that this was all they could do. By rescuing them from the clutches of the Heartless, our friends had broken the spell that this guy, Ansem, was conjuring to cover all the worlds in darkness. At least that was sort of encouraging...

"The evil emanating from Hollow Bastion is terrible." Princess Zelda said. "It must be brought to a halt... However, I do not believe that you will be able to conquer it at the moment."

"Wait a minute!" Seyia exclaimed. "Only a group of us entered there last time and defeated the enemy without too much trouble, as far as I've heard. You mean to tell us that not even all of us together can counter the forces of the Heartless right now?"

"Listen to princess Zelda, Seyia." Athena said. "She speaks the truth. The Heartless are too powerful for you to stop them at the moment..."

"Great. So what now are we supposed to do?"

"I don't think it's too difficult." Sora intervened. We all turned to him as he smiled and explained: "Remember why the Heartless needed to capture more than seven Princesses of Heart in the first place? Because we had sealed so many keyholes. I know there are still many worlds out there with unsealed keyholes. I bet the Keyblade that if we close more of those things, the power of the Heartless will begin to fade."

"You think that would work?" Shiryu asked.

"Sure!" Sora assured. "We should return to the worlds you guys visited before we met in Atlantica and kick some Heartless butt... 'cause I'm also sure that the little twerps have invaded those worlds again."

"I see... well, at least I suppose that it's nothing we can't handle." Ryu said confidently.

"Um... I know I'm new at this, but could I ask something?" Kairi asked, shyly raising her hand from behind Sora. We looked at her and waited for her to go on. "I really want to tag along with you, guys, and I hope you'll let me do that... But I can't speak for the rest of the Princesses of Heart. What are we supposed to do with them?"

"That's a good question..." Sora mumbled.

"I have an idea." Felicia intervened.

"You?" Morrigan muttered, smirking at her. "I did not believe that I would hear something of the sort coming from your mouth, my dear _Bastet_."

"Oh, buzz off." The were-cat answered, sticking out her tongue at the succubus.

"What's the big idea, then?" Donald asked.

"Well, we know where Agrabah, Gaia, and the Sanctuary of Athena is, right?" she said. "And you guys said that you had already met Alice before. So I guess we can take them and drop them off on their worlds..."

"I really don't believe that's a good idea, at least in my case." Alice interrupted. "I wouldn't like to face the Queen of Hearts again. I believe those who did meet me before know what I speak of."

"How could I forget?" Ryu said. "But if that's the case, then where do you want us to drop you off?"

"Actually, now that Miss Felicia was speaking about it, I thought that perhaps the other princesses and I could stay here... That is if..."

"If you desire to stay within the walls of Hyrule castle, I have no objection." Zelda quickly declared. "On the contrary. You are all most welcome."

"So it's not such a stupid idea after all." Felicia meowed as she eyed Morrigan, who merely chuckled in a low voice.

"Excuse me... If I may interfere..." shyly said a princess with long, brown hair and blue eyes... I hadn't noticed her until now. "I appreciate the invitation, but I don't feel like staying here. I have a home... You see, I was taken a prisoner back at the foot of mount Olympus, and..."

"Oh, you're Meg!" Tifa exclaimed. "I know who you are! Hercules told us about you."

"You know him?" she asked and drew a smile on her face.

"We'll take you to him if that's what you want."

"Sure! Thank you very much!"

So in the end, we did follow Felicia's idea, as well as Sora's. Alice and the rest of the princesses none of us had met or heard about before decided to stay within Zelda's castle. Link nearly decided to stay, but Aeris sort of changed his mind. Don't ask me how; I'm still a newbie at this girlfriend-boyfriend thing... Either way, we spent just that one more day in Hyrule in order to plan our journey. We all suspected that there were lots of other worlds out there (and it was only natural), but we had to seal the keyholes of the ones we had already been in. Perhaps, if we were lucky enough, we wouldn't have to get to every single world out there in order to secure our landing on Hollow Bastion... I know I wasn't the only one who thought this: I just wanted all of this to be over and to be inside my own house again, on my own bed... And this was not just because I was really, really tired... It was also because I was beginning to grow afraid... What would we all do if somebody else died?

_(Change of scene)_

"So where are we stopping first, guys?" asked Akane as she went inside a Gummi ship along with Ranma.

"We are heading to the Sanctuary to leave Athena at the care of the golden saints." Link answered. "After that, we shall travel to Gaia to leave Dante's mother with his father. We will then go to Agrabah to deliver princess Jasmine to the Sultan and finally to the Olympus Coliseum to give Meg back to Hercules. Then we will decide what to do after that..." he paused for a second as he approached Zelda and kneeled before her. "Are you certain that you wish for me to go with them, highness? You know I will stay here if you just say the word..."

"There is no need for you here, Hero of Time." She replied. "Other worlds need you more than Hyrule at the moment. Your friends need you. And so does Aeris. Go with her, brave Link. May the Goddesses be with you."

"Thank you, princess. I shall leave, then." He kissed her hand and she kissed his brow. Then he went next to Aeris's side, who waved at the princess with a smile. She held his arm and let her head rest on his shoulder as they entered the vessel.

"Come on, Akane. Let's go." Said Ranma and took Akane inside the Gummi...

"Sakura?" Ryoga muttered as approached me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I replied.

"Come on, Sakura. We should get inside the ship... We're the last ones. Everyone else is waiting for us."

"Okay... let's go." I sighed.

The hatch closed behind us and the Gummi took off. We had already said our good-byes to everyone and most of my friends seemed eager to resume the quest. I wasn't exactly enthused about that and it showed. Ryoga kept asking me if there was something wrong with me every five minutes, to which I always responded: "I'm fine." I suppose that all of this was fueled by the fact that I wanted to get those false hopes out of my head (yeah: by that time, even I had begun to believe them, though not willingly) and that was simply something I couldn't do with Ukyo, Sora, and Kairi hanging around the ship...

Plus, there was another problem. It didn't exactly depress me, but it did get me worried. Why, you ask? Let me put it this way: there were eight people in the ship and can you guess who took the controls of the Gummi? I'll give you two guesses, but chances are you'll only need one.

"No enemy ships on the horizon... It's all quiet... too quiet... Perhaps they're waiting somewhere near. I'd bet my blaster they want to ambush us. But not to worry. We've got the fastest ship on the galaxy on our hands. Just wait until they've seen a glimpse of the Millennium Falcon..."

"Felicia!" Ukyo cried. "Don't you dare fly this thing as if it were a heavy cruiser, because it isn't! My Wilheim-honey warned me about your craziness, so please do your best not to get us killed... And the Millennium Falcon isn't the fastest ship on the galaxy: that's the Outrider."

"Okay, okay." The were-cat sighed. "I promise I won't get us killed. You're such a party-pooper... When did you and Vincent start getting along?" Well, at least she promised she wouldn't kill us. That meant that the chances of her doing anything stupid had just dropped about thirty-percent.

"Come on, girls, don't fight..." Ryoga said. "Please, Ukyo, don't push her..."

"What do you mean 'don't push her'?" Felicia demanded. "What, do you think I'm a danger to all of us? Do you think I'm going to crash the ship into an asteroid or something of the sort because I'm, uh, what do you call that... Oh, right... STUPID?"

"And here I thought that this was going to be a boring trip." Kairi intervened, with a giggle. There was silence for a few moments as the three turned to her and then they all burst out in laughter. I merely rolled my eyes and lay down on the bed I had been sitting on up until that moment... yeah, the rooms were kind of close to the cockpit on this thing.

"So, Ukyo..." Sora said when they calmed down. "Do you know how to use that?" he asked, pointing at Renamark, which now hung on her back, while Wilheim's bandanna was now firmly tied to her right arm...

"Well, I do know a move or two..." she replied. "But nothing really extraordinary. Wilheim never taught me to use it... he said he wanted to. Too bad we never got the chance, huh?"

"Yeah... you know, if you want to, I can teach you some moves."

"Thanks, Sora. I'd like that a lot."

"Really? I thought you had already asked Link to teach you how to use the sword." Goofy said.

"Yes, but there's nothing wrong in learning different techniques from different teachers." Ukyo answered. "Besides, Link isn't here right now, so Sora can help me out while we get to the Sanctuary."

"I didn't know you'd become such a skilled swordsman, Sora." Kairi giggled.

"Heh... yeah... um, actually, Link helped me learn some things as well." Sora said. "As did Wilheim... But the one I really have to thank for all of my skills is Riku. We fought each other a lot back on the islands, and I learned a lot from him. I guess I wouldn't have survived five minutes if it wouldn't have been for him..." he let out a sigh and looked away from Kairi.

"Don't worry, you lazy bum." The girl said with a smile, gently grasping Sora's hand. "We'll find him. And when we do, he'll be all right. You know that, don't you?"

"Yeah... you're right, Kairi. I knew that. I was just thinking." He answered, smiling back.

"About what?"

"Oh, you know. I was just thinking, that's all."

"You've changed, Sora. You're weirder than usual."

"Hey!" he exclaimed and they all laughed again.

They kept on talking without minding me for a long while. They laughed and played and whispered among themselves... I don't think that they said anything about me. And if they did, I really didn't care that much. I just wanted to get off the ship. Even though I didn't feel like fighting the Heartless (like I've already said countless times), I began to think that maybe that was the thing that I needed to do the most. Perhaps kicking some enemies on the butt could prove to be a good therapy. Whatever the case was, I wasn't at all comfortable in the ship. The way I figured things out, my best choice so far was to sleep through it. I let out a yawn and tried to fall asleep. But after a few moments, I felt how Ryoga gently touched my shoulder and shook me.

"Are you awake?" he murmured.

I pretended as if I had just wakened up and stretched myself.

"I am now." I replied.

"Are you okay, Sakura?" he asked. I don't suppose that he felt too ashamed for 'waking me up'.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Come on, Sakura. I may be a little slow sometimes, but you know I'm not stupid."

I remained thoughtful for a time. Ryoga seemed real happy and confident that someday Wilheim would return... I didn't think it was the best moment to shatter that dream of his. Yet I knew that I wasn't going to get him off my back by just staying quiet and trying to go back to sleep. In the end, I thought of something to say. I took a deep breath and asked:

"How long was it before Ukyo and Wilheim kissed for the first time?"

"Huh? You mean, after they became boyfriend and girlfriend?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Um... They sort of kissed right away." He answered, without questioning why I had asked him that.

"Uh-huh. And was it a quick kiss or like... you know... a French kiss?"

"Um... it was the second. I know, because I was there when it happened, you know."

"Right... So what about Aeris and Link? How long before they kissed after they became a couple?"

"Uh... I'm not really sure. I don't know when it happened, if it indeed has happened." He stuttered. He was a bit slower than I thought... The talk I had prepared to get him off my back suddenly made me forget about my depression. I suppose that the matter was a bit more serious than I gave it credit for.

"And what about Cloud and Tifa?"

"Those two? Yuffie once told me that she, Vincent, and the rest of their friends once caught them... you know... Well, they didn't exactly catch them; they just saw them from really far away... But the thing is that they already did something more than just kissing."

"No kidding..." I went on and sat on the bed. "And what about Ranma and Akane?"

"...Um, what's your point, Sakura?" he asked, beginning to get nervous.

"My point is, how long have you and I been together?" I said and looked at him in the eyes.

Ryoga blushed and gulped. I could see that I had completely caught him off guard... Well, to be perfectly honest, I didn't think I'd say that. I was just looking for something else to say other than my depression issue. But this little problem was also nagging me...

"Is that what's up with you?" he asked. Jeez, he was really slow... Now that I think about it, however, we were both new in the couple business, so neither of us should expect much from each other. But I didn't exactly think that at the moment.

"Well, duh!" I grumbled. "It's been about two or three weeks since we started hanging out. During all that time, you've just hugged me. Hugged me! And I mean the sort of hugs you give to all of your friends, Ryoga. So far, you haven't even approached my lips. It's like you're terrified of them. I'm most definitively not a man-eater, Ryoga. It's not like I'm going to eat you if you kiss me."

"Um... d-do you want me to k-kiss you now?" he stammered, smiling very shyly. That wasn't exactly the answer I was looking for. At least he could've tried to appear a little less scared.

"You know what? Never mind." I said, turning my back on him and laying back on the bed again. "It's okay. Just... go with the rest of them and have fun."

"What? Why? I mean..." he muttered, still with that nervous voice of his. "Come on, Sakura, it's not like I don't want to... I just didn't really know when..."

"Good night." I interrupted harshly. I was no longer depressed. I was really upset. Don't ask me why.

"But Sakura..." he insisted, but I wasn't in the mood any longer.

"I said 'good night'!"

The jackass didn't even try. Instead, he let out a sigh and returned to the cockpit, where he was received by lots of questions. Before I could hear his answers, I covered my head with a pillow and forced myself to fall asleep. Amazingly, a few moments later I was snoring like a baby... I could really have used a good-night kiss. But poor Ryoga was really timid and a nice gentlemen. I don't suppose that's something you find everyday. Yet being a little stronger in that area wouldn't have hurt either of us. What can I say? Thank God for the girls on the ship...

_(Change of scene)_

I woke up in the middle of the night (um... we were in space... never mind). Ryoga's voice had roused me. Yet he hadn't spoken to me; he had asked something to the people on the cabin.

"Can I speak with you for a second?"

I heard three different affirmative replies. The first came from Ukyo, the second from Kairi, and the third from Felicia. There weren't anymore voices of anyone else after that. I didn't turn my head, but it was very obvious so me that Sora, Donald, and Goofy were sound asleep at that very moment. This might be interesting, I thought. Something told me that he hadn't spoken to them about us when he had come out of the room and that he had waited for the girls to be the only ones left in the cockpit so he could ask for some advice. Lucky him – the others had already gone to bed. At least he was trying... hopefully.

"I didn't tell you this earlier, because I wanted all of us to be alone." Ryoga said. Bingo.

"What's on your mind, Ryoga?" asked Ukyo. They all remained silent for a while and then she inquired: "It's about Sakura, isn't it?"

"Yeah... yeah, that's right." He confessed.

"What's wrong with her?" questioned Felicia.

"It's just that... it's weird. She got mad at me a while ago. You know, when I went to have a word with her... she says she's upset with me because I haven't kissed her."

"Lately?" Ukyo and Felicia asked.

"No... I mean, I have never kissed her on the lips. You know, your typical boyfriend-girlfriend kiss." He declared.

"Never?"

"Not really..."

"Ryoga, I know I've said this to you before and I hope you don't get offended but, are you stupid or did you just grow that way?" Ukyo suddenly snapped. I couldn't help but to smile at her words.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, sounding offended indeed.

"Come on, Ryoga!" added Felicia. "I mean, how long have you two been together? A week?"

"...Actually it's going to be about three weeks soon, as far as I know."

"That's even worse!" she meowed. "You should have already kissed about... I don't know... well, at least three times per day!"

"Come on, Ryoga, how long did I wait for Wilheim-honey to kiss me when we became a couple?" intervened Ukyo.

"...About three seconds." He answered shyly.

"See? Case closed."

"I know I'm still very young and all, but the way I see it..." Kairi said. "It's just a kiss. I don't think there's anything wrong with kisses... I mean, she got upset because of that? Because you haven't kissed her?"

"It's not like I haven't tried!" he complained.

Oh, yeah? Name one time you've tried to kiss me! I thought angrily.

"There was this time, when we were at the Sanctuary..." Ryoga said. "We were about the face the dark golden saint. We were sitting outside the temple because it got very cold thanks to Hyoga's ice blasts... Her legs were very cold, so she sat at the stairs and tried to warm them up. I got next to her and held her... well, actually, she told me how to hold her." He stopped speaking as someone suddenly hit something. My guess was that one of the girls had slapped her forehead. "It's not funny, Felicia, I'm new at this." He grumbled. Again, I was right. "Anyway, she put her lips together and so did I. We were about to kiss when the fire of Aquarius went out. Next thing we knew, we were back at the temple, fighting for our lives."

...Oops. I thought. I kind of forgot about that. Thank God I wasn't there to end up making a fool out of myself. Yet after a few seconds, I thought of something else. But it was I who started it, you oaf!

"And since that time, you haven't tried to kiss her again?" asked Ukyo.

"It's not like there's time to just hang around and kiss." he replied.

"Then make time, Ryoga!" she cried. "It's not just a matter of putting your lips together. She needs to feel loved. Kissing her isn't that big a deal. Heck, even Camille has less trouble with that issue."

"What?" Ryoga exclaimed. Even I had been somewhat offended by that remark.

"I'm sorry; I kind of went overboard with that." Ukyo muttered, while Felicia desperately tried not to laugh, though she didn't quite succeed. "It's just that it's very important for a woman to feel important. I know you're a gentleman and all, but it's okay to be a bit aggressive sometimes, Ryoga. She'll thank you for it."

"Yeah, and I suppose Wilheim was very aggressive with you."

"Sugar, you have no idea." She answered and her voice turned... a bit naughty. I really don't know how else to put it.

"...What about Ranma and Akane?" he asked, trying not to mind Ukyo's last words. "I haven't seen them kissing and she doesn't complain."

"Oh, please!" Ukyo cried.

"No way, Ryoga!" added Felicia. "Where have you been during the trips? They've kissed, alright. And there's nothing wrong to, Ryoga, really. Come on, you're a guy! I can't believe you're that scared!"

"...So what should I do? Go to her bed right now and kiss her?" he asked.

"That might be a choice." Ukyo said and I smiled.

"She wouldn't even feel it!" he replied and I rolled my eyes in anger. "Maybe if I waited for her to get up, and..."

"I'm not sure that's a very good idea." Kairi interrupted. "What if she's still mad at you? Maybe she wouldn't like that much... It's like if you were trying to prove a point in front of us all... you know, sort of like saying: 'I'm the man'. She'd be very angry at that... Well, that's what I think. I really don't know as much as you two."

"Agreed." Ukyo and Felicia said while I nodded my head silently.

"Aw, man!" he muttered and then I heard him sit violently on the ground. He kept quiet for a few moments and then murmured: "If only I were more like Ryu..."

"No way, Ryoga!" Ukyo cried.

"You've got to be kidding!" Felicia exclaimed.

"Who's Ryu?" asked Kairi. I nearly burst out laughing. Her question didn't fit the picture at all. I bet the other two girls thought that as well, for there was silence for a few instants.

"He's with us." Finally answered the were-cat. Well, after all, she hadn't got to know everybody yet. "Big guy, very muscular. Wears a white Karate-Gi and a red headband."

"Oh, yeah! Right, I know who he is." The girl giggled. "What's up with him? Is he some sort of a lady-killer?"

"I'm not really sure, but I don't think so. Although he is quite the Sakura-killer." Even though I didn't really wanted to, I felt my face blushing as Felicia said this...

"See? That's what I mean." Ryoga sighed. I couldn't help but to smile tenderly as I heard him say that. "Maybe she'd like me better if I were a bit more like him..."

"Ryoga, Sakura likes you for who you are." Ukyo said. "If she wanted you to be more like Ryu, she wouldn't even be with you. She'd still be after him."

"Isn't he a little too old for her?" intervened Kairi. Again, there was a brief moment of silence. Thank God I wasn't there... it would've been even more embarrassing.

"I think that he's a little too old for everyone in this ship." Ukyo replied at last. "Except, perhaps, for Felicia."

"Ouch..." the were-cat murmured.

"Come on, it's not like he's that old. And neither are you, for that matter."

"Um... girls... could we please stay on the subject?" Ryoga interrupted.

Yes, please, do. I thought.

"Sorry." Ukyo said. "Okay, the point is, Ryoga, that Sakura likes you a lot, and you shouldn't doubt that. I mean, I've seen the way she looks at you... And I know she appreciates the fact that you're such a gentleman with her. But you have to light that fire, if you take my meaning. It's really not that hard to figure it out, Ryoga. We didn't even need to have this conversation."

"I know... I know." He sighed.

"But we'll always be here whenever you need us." Felicia added, with a friendly giggle. "Even when you don't really need us."

"So I should kiss her... but I should wait for the right moment, right?"

"Yeah, but better make it happen sooner than later, kiddo." Felicia said. "I'm sure she'll thank you for that."

"Okay... thanks, girls." Ryoga chuckled.

"Changing the subject, guys..." Kairi said. "Sora mentioned that one of you is some sort of a stowaway... Are you guys planning in returning her back to her homeland?"

"I suppose you're talking about Ariel." Ukyo answered. "Some of the guys have thought about dropping her off at Atlantica. But the way I see it, she's done more good than harm with us. I said that we should stay with her until all of this is over, even though I wasn't exactly cheerful when I discovered her on our ship at first."

"Yuffie and Vincent told me she fought well on the house of Cancer." Felicia added. "She should be all right. The hardest part is over, after all."

"I wouldn't count on that." Ryoga said. "Truth to be told, every time someone says: 'It'll all go nicely from now on', we end up facing some horrible monster, an enormous army of fiends, or even worse, someone like Digaia... or Sephiroth."

"Was he really that terrible?" Felicia asked. "On the battle against Digaia we all suffered a lot. I didn't have the pleasure to meet him, but I've heard worse comments about Digaia than of him."

"You weren't there." Ryoga replied. "The only reason that we beat him was because both Wilheim and Merryck caught him off his guard. He would've blasted the entire planet to pieces if they hadn't intervened. He would've even destroyed all of the worlds out there, I reckon. He was a real abomination. I think he's been the most dangerous foe we have encountered so far..." he paused for a moment and then spoke again, lowering his voice. "That's why I don't even want to think about this Ansem character. Because if Sephiroth proved to be so monstrous, how dangerous can this other guy be?"

"But Sephiroth wasn't in league with Ansem." Ukyo said. "You mentioned that. He wasn't an underling... That means he could very well have been more powerful than him."

"...Maybe that's true."

"What about you, Ukyo?" asked Felicia. "Who do you think has been the most terrible enemy we've met?"

"For my part, I'd have to say Ganondorf." She replied. "I know that Digaia kicked our butts and all... but that bastard was really evil. I hated him. To tell the truth, I don't know if I hated him as much as I hated Magnus."

"Wow... seems like you've all done a good deal of fighting." Kairi muttered.

"Yeah..." Ryoga, Ukyo, and Felicia answered at the same time in a low voice and then kept silent.

After that, they started to speak about other unimportant stuff. For my part, I began to grow sleepy again. I soon faded out of consciousness with a frightful thought on my mind. What if our enemy was even stronger than the bad guys they have been talking about together? What if he was stronger than the dark golden saint that had nearly killed Ryoga? I slept uneasily and waked up with a gasp that came from my own throat. I've had many bad dreams... all of them about death and defeat. With my heart pounding fiercely, I got up and went to the cockpit to find Ryoga. I wanted him to hold me. Yet I could only sigh in disappointment as I found out that all of my friends were sleeping, including Felicia, who seemed to have closed her eyes at the controls.

_(Change of scene)_

Ryoga and I didn't talk much during the rest of the day. I wasn't mad at him anymore, but I sort of pretended to be. I wanted him to overcome his fear and do what he had to. Everyone else felt a slight tension between us, yet I could see in the girls' eyes that they understood what I was doing. Besides, there wasn't much time for reconciliation. By the end of the day (there I go again... by the time that FELT like the end of a day), we reached the Sanctuary of Athena. Things seemed to be at ease. As we landed and got off the ships, old friends came to meet us... The golden saints were really happy for the return of their goddess and thanked us a lot of times, telling us that they'd do anything to repay us.

"Just take care of her for us, please." Seyia said. "She... she wants us to go with the rest of the guys to stop the Heartless. Please... just take care of Saori."

"You know we would all give our lives for her if it came to it." Mu said. "We'll take care of her. We swear on our pride as saints."

"Don't worry about me, bronze saints." Saori said. "I'll be in good hands... Now that there are no Heartless to fight in here, there is little to fear. We shall pray for your safe return."

"Where's Wilheim?" Aioria suddenly asked. "I haven't seen him yet... Is he okay?"

"...I'm sorry, Aioria." Shiryu intervened. "Wilheim died at Hollow Bastion..."

The news of Wilheim's death took the golden saints by surprise. They all seemed somewhat depressed, except for Aioria, who did seem really sad. But in the end, Ukyo mentioned that she didn't quite believe him to be dead and that she was sure we would all see him again. That cheered him up a bit. And again, I decided to say nothing.

Once that was done, we got on the ships again and took off to space. Our next destination was Gaia. This time, we were ready for it. As the time to disembark came closer, we decided to put on some warm clothes. Last time we had been there, I nearly froze to death after our first battle and during the training with Ryu. Granted, it wasn't as cold as inside the house of Aquarius, but it wasn't a nice weather. It didn't even take us eight hours to get there. Thank goodness, things were calm. Visiting so many places would've made a good vacation now that they were clean of Heartless. We were, after all, welcomed to the Silver Garrison with open arms.

The city was still in ruins, but was well underway of being rebuilt. Everyone was working hard and enthusiastically. I smiled when I saw all the different races of beings working together. Even the Luciens had their share of tasks to do, which they attended to with smiling faces. I suppose the great battle had established some sort of bonds between the Luciens and the other races. I don't think they were entirely accepted, but it was a start. Most of the buildings were still on the process of being rebuilt, whereas the weapons systems were back online. The army had already been reorganized and was ready to face any perils that might come to the garrison. A race of warriors, indeed... Luckily, things were going smoothly, like I've already said, and no enemies had come.

Dante was really happy to see his friends and Takeesha once again. They laughed joyfully when they saw each other while his girlfriend licked his face all over. He didn't seem embarrassed at all when that happened, unlike the time when his mother had hugged him and kissed him... I guess I can understand. But when his father arrived, he didn't care at all. At first, his dad and mom embraced each other and cried happily on each other's shoulders. Then Dante joined them and they kept hugging and laughing for a long time. It had been some time since I've seen him so happy.

General Gisla asked us if we wished to stay on the garrison for a couple of days and rest. We all respectfully declined the invitation (I know those are big words, but that's the way it was). Even Dante said no. Somehow, seeing all those friends again encouraged us to go on. None of us was depressed anymore... in fact we decided to at least accept an invitation for dinner. A banquet to honor the victory of the Silver Garrison over the Heartless had been prepared. They hadn't done it earlier because some things had to be repaired, first. As we sat at the table and ate, I glanced at Ryoga and spoke to him with sentimentality ever since our little incident in the ship.

"Too bad he couldn't be here." I said.

"Don't worry." He replied, smiling tenderly. "Just believe it, Sakura. We'll see him again, someday."

"...Yeah..." I spoke no more about the matter. It wasn't difficult to get my mind off Wilheim: the food was great and we laughed a lot at Ryu, Ranma, Merryck, and some other guys who kept on eating like there was no tomorrow. As always, Ryu was the one who won the competition.

Afterwards, it was back to the vessels. Princess Jasmine and Meg were the only girls left to drop off. We were going to deliver Jasmine to Agrabah first. I was sort of excited. It had been a long time since we had seen Aladdin, Genie, Abu, and the Magic Carpet. It'd be nice to see each other again. Yet there was another surprise waiting for us in that boiling place... Something none of us would have ever imagined... something that, amazingly, made me change my mind about Wilheim.

_(Change of scene)_

"How long before we get to Agrabah, Felicia?" I asked my feline friend as I started to eat some sweets Ukyo had prepared for us. They were really good. It took her some time to answer, since she was also enjoying some of our friend's food.

"We'll be there in about half an hour or less, I hope." She replied at last. "We could be there earlier, but Cid and the others don't want to burn the thrusters so much... Hey, these sweets are excellent, Ukyo!" she suddenly exclaimed.

"I second that." Sora said. "You were always really good when it came to regular food, but I had no idea you made such good desserts!"

"Thanks, Sora." she giggled. "I can't take all the credit. I've been getting some extra help for the recipes..."

"Where from?" asked Goofy. "Did Akane teach you those things?"

"Dear God, no!" she laughed. "Truth to be told, Akane is a terrible cook. I've known her and Ranma for a long time and whenever she cooks something for him to eat, he always tries to find his way out of that lethal trap. I'm not kidding: once I got very sick because I tasted a special sauce I'd been saving for ten years (that's what the recipe said I should do), which Ranma screwed up when we were very young and Akane offered to make me a bowl of soup. As soon as I put it in my mouth, I nearly died... I don't suppose the guys traveling with her are exactly having a good time."

"Gwarsh." Goofy muttered. "I never imagined she would be such a bad cook."

"Ask Ryoga. He's tasted Akane's food too in the past. I'm sure he'll tell you the exact same thing."

"So who was it that helped you?" Sora asked. "Aeris?"

"Close. Tifa." Answered Ukyo. "Yuffie and Aeris told me she was a terrific cook and knew lots of recipes. There you go."

"Nice!" exclaimed the boy. "After we finish, I'll teach you some new moves."

"Sounds good to me."

Although I hadn't seen them, it turned out that Sora was already teaching Ukyo how to use the sword. She hadn't had time to practice with Link, so thus far, Sora had been her only teacher, which seemed kind of funny to me, since it had always been him who had looked up to her. Well, it had been a while since Ukyo had stopped being Sora's guardian, so to speak. I think he turned a little more independent ever since we had lost her on Gaia...

I couldn't go on with these thoughts for much longer. Kairi suddenly made me snap out of my trance by asking me about Ryoga's whereabouts.

"I haven't seen him in a while." She said. "Do you suppose he's all right?"

The answer to that was a little embarrassing...

"He ate like mad at Gaia!" Donald kindly intervened. "It wouldn't surprise me if he is as sick as a dog."

"Yeah... I think that he isn't feeling so well." I muttered with a shy smile. "He kind of gave battle to both Ranma and Ryu at the banquet. Both of them beat him by a long shot, but either way..."

"I'd say." Ukyo said. "Has Ryu always been like that? That man scares the hell out of me when he's chomping down on some food."

"I can't really say." I replied. "You'd better ask Ken about that... he's known Ryu for much more time than I have. I only saw him a couple of times after the incident with the little boy... You see, it was like this..." Yeah, I think this was about the tenth time I mentioned the little boy being saved by Ryu. Chances are you've heard it from someone else, so I'm just going to... skip this part. "That was the first time I met him. I've actually seen Ken more than I've seen Ryu... except during this trip. To tell the truth, there have been some very nice things about this whole experience. I got to live my dream... Ryu trained me. I got very strong after that."

"Yeah, and so did Wilheim." Sora added.

"Wilheim trained with Ryu?" Ukyo asked. "...Funny. I didn't hear that story."

"I think Ryu was a bit down to tell you about it." Sora said. "But I guess now that he feels better, I'm sure he'll fill you in on every detail."

"Hey, all." Intervened Ryoga as he made his appearance. I had a hard time not to burst out laughing when I saw him. He looked in really bad shape. He was very pale and had tired eyes. It was obvious that he had suffered a lot lately. "I'm feeling a little better, now." He confessed. "I think I ate a lot during the banquet."

"Did you brush your teeth?" Felicia asked. The question was gross, but still we all laughed, except him, of course.

"How funny." He grumbled and sat down next to us. "Remind me to laugh when I'm all right."

"Come on, Ryoga, have a sense of humor!" I exclaimed. "That was funny."

"Yeah, right."

"Don't worry, young man, the sunny weather ought to cheer you up." Felicia said.

"Sunny... that's one way of putting it." I sighed, remembering the horrendous heat of Agrabah. "We'd be better off naked in that world... it's not going to happen, Ryoga, so wipe that look off your face."

"I wasn't thinking...!" he started to complain while everyone else laughed but suddenly, he thought of something else to say, something that caught me completely off guard. "Oh, well. It can always happen some other time."

"Huh!" I yelped. Now the joke was on me. My face turned bright red and I felt my cheeks burning, all fueled by the loud laughs of my other companions. I faced away from them without knowing whether to feel humiliated... or flattered by that remark. I mean, at last Ryoga was venturing into other fields...

"Enough of that, guys." Felicia said as she suddenly leapt back to the controls. "We're almost there."

"Aw, just when all of this was beginning to get fun." Donald said, with a smile. What nerve!

All of the ships descended near the palace of the sultan. As soon as we touched the ground, we started to feel the heat of Agrabah. The last thing I wanted to do at that moment was to go outside the Gummi. I bet all of my friends started to think the same thing really soon, especially Felicia, since she's the one that has that coat of fur... Nevertheless, they quickly went out to meet the others. Only Ryoga and I stayed behind.

I had no idea of what to say to him. I didn't know whether to insult him for being so rude or to just smile and join the rest of our friends. Either way, I did have the desire to speak with him on a more serious tone. I wanted to tell him that I liked him – it didn't matter to me if he was shy or not. He was a real gentleman, something which is hard to find in men nowadays; he was real sweet and caring, and he was strong enough to defend me if it came to it. I felt that somehow, I had pressured him too much... even though I would certainly have enjoyed a kiss. So, with a sigh, I said to him:

"Ryoga, I..."

But before I could go on, he quickly hugged me and joined his lips with mine. The first few seconds were pretty awkward for me but then, I couldn't help but to giggle timidly and kiss him back. He was a bit clumsy with his tongue... yet he was tender and careful. I suppose that was his very first kiss. What can I say? Not bad for a beginner... What am I saying? As if I was the kissing expert.

When he finished he stared at me with a nervous smile, practically shaking in his boots. He was such a sweetheart... I grabbed his hands and playfully whispered:

"You did brush your teeth like mad, huh?"

"Jeez..." he chuckled along with me. "I wasn't expecting you to say that."

"I bet you didn't." after a brief pause, I declared, with a sigh: "I liked that, Ryoga. I'm very happy you decided to take the first step after all... What do you think?"

"I liked it too." He answered. "It was... it was... wet."

"Oh, you sounded just like 'Rain Man'!" I laughed. "Come on, Ryoga. We've only just started."

"I know... but seriously, I really liked that. I'll try to do that more often."

"That will be most certainly appreciated." I said. "Let's go. The others will be waiting for us."

"Okay."

And so we made our way into the palace with the rest of our friends while holding hands...

_(Change of scene)_

"Aladdin!"

"Jasmine!"

The princess quickly raced to the arms of her beloved and gave him a tender kiss. He didn't let go of her for a long time. I could see that even a tear of happiness escaped one of his eyes. Next to them, stood Genie, Abu, and the Magic Carpet, all laughing merrily as Aladdin carried Jasmine off the ground and spun her around a bit. A few moments later, the Sultan came into the room and yelled happily seeing that his daughter was alive and well. Aladdin let go of Jasmine and turned around in shame, hoping that the Sultan hadn't seen much of the... kissing.

"Father!"

"My dear Jasmine!" exclaimed the fat, little man, hugging her with joy. "I thought I was never going to see you again! But praise Ala! The group of warriors kept their promise! They must be honored!"

"I'm so glad to be back!"

Meanwhile, Aladdin walked to us and shook hands with Vincent.

"Thanks, Vincent." He said. "Thank you for bringing her back safe and sound. I'm glad to see that you're all here with new friends..."

"You know what they say, Al. The more, the merrier!" exclaimed Genie. "This means there's going to be a banquet here! And we're all going to eat like there's no tomorrow!"

"I trust you'll be able to get a hold on yourself this time, Ryoga." I murmured.

"Oh, shut up." He said, playfully.

"So, who's with you? Did you guys get to find your friends?" asked Aladdin. "I distinctly remember that you were looking for a man named Ryu, Sakura."

"Uh, yeah..." I giggled. "He's right here." I reached for Ryu and dragged him by the arm. "Aladdin, Ryu; Ryu, Aladdin."

"Nice to meet you." Ryu said, shaking the man's hand. "Sakura told me a lot about you."

"Yeah, same here." Aladdin chuckled. At this moment, just to clear things up, I hugged Ryoga and kissed his cheek, to which he chuckled shyly.

"Hey, I remember that that Wilheim fellow was looking for a young girl, too." Genie intervened. "What about her? I see many smiling faces, so I must assume that you have found her. Otherwise, I'm going to be very disappointed and could just drown myself in a sea of tears!"

"I'm here." Ukyo declared, taking a step forth. "I'm Ukyo."

"Hey, nice to meet you!" Aladdin cried. "I'm glad Wilheim finally got to see you! He was so desperate, so frightened that he might never see you again... Just like I felt thinking that I would probably never see Jasmine. But in the end, he kept his promise... so, where is he?"

Yep, what was bound to happen, happened. We didn't stop smiling, but we fell silent and after a few moments, in our eyes, he and the others realized what had happened. With a sad face, Genie placed his hand on Aladdin's shoulder, whose face turned into a sad expression.

"...When?" he muttered.

"About a week ago." Vincent answered.

"...How?"

"Heroically." Demean intervened. "He died to save Ukyo. But that matters not."

"Demean is right, Mr. Aladdin." Merryck said. "It is just like Miss Ukyo said in the first place: we'll all see him again someday. Somehow, I believe she is right. Do not worry about a thing, Mr. Aladdin. All of you will meet Mr. Wilheim again someday... though I am not exactly certain when will be the day."

"...If you say so, it must be true." Aladdin said, smiling again. "Thanks, Merryck. And stop calling me Mr. Aladdin. It sounds really weird..." he sighed and then turned to princess Jasmine and the Sultan. "Um... have you considered my proposal... sir?" he asked, nervously.

"Proposal? What proposal?" asked Jasmine.

"Jasmine... this young fellow wants to marry you." He said. "But the law states that..."

"Marry me? Aladdin!" she cried, happily and raced to his arms again. "Yes! I'm so happy you want to do this!"

"Oh, rubbish." The Sultan laughed. "That law is a problem. Marry him if you wish to, darling."

"Yeah!" they both yelled and laughed even more.

"This calls for another banquet!" Genie exclaimed. "Next thing you know, we'll be rolling back to our rooms."

"Thank you so much, Sultan!" Aladdin said. "This is the best day of my life..."

"Hey, Al..." intervened Tifa. "I just wanted to make you a couple of questions... about the Heartless."

"Oh, right!" he muttered. "Yeah, we have actually been hoping for you to get back with the guy that Tish mentioned... the Keyblade master, right?"

"He is here also." Tish said. "It is that young man over there. Do not be deceived by his looks. He is a fierce and cunning warrior worthy of respect. He has proven his bravery many times. I am sure that he will seal this keyhole without much difficulty."

"It's good to meet you, Aladdin." Sora said. "My name's Sora."

"It's good to have you here, Sora." Aladdin said. "I'm afraid to say the Heartless are still here... but lucky you. Genie and I have been taking care of them whenever they try to invade the city. Thank goodness, since you guys left, we haven't had massive attacks like the one Jaffar threw against us. They've just been small groups of enemies. They aren't much of a problem... Well, actually I have Genie to thank for that."

"Heavy weaponry department at your service, Al!" Genie laughed.

"Anyway, they haven't been able to even enter the castle. But lately, their numbers have been increasing... Somehow, I believe they sensed you guys were coming. My guess is that they think that the keyhole is inside the castle."

"That must be true." Vincent said. "If not, this world would've already vanished."

"Then I suppose you know where the location of the keyhole is." Link inquired.

"Yep." Aladdin said, smiling triumphantly. "That was my first wish, right Genie?"

"The keyhole is safe and secure at the depths of the Cave of Wonders." Genie announced. "So far, the Heartless have been unable to find it, even though most of them come from the desert. It's funny, really, how a little wall of rock can deceive so many enemies. It's not that big a deal, really. Any idiot could find it. Well, any idiot with magic, at least. Too bad the Heartless' tricks aren't as polished as mines!"

"But how are we going to enter the Cave of Wonders?" I asked. "If my memory doesn't fail me, there isn't an entrance anymore."

"We'll get there the same way we got out." Aladdin answered. "With Genie's help."

"I'm great, I'm great, I know!" Genie laughed.

"Oh, by the way, there's something else I wanted to tell you, guys." The man said. "I remember that you all told me that you appeared in different worlds because some black hole had swallowed you... Well, it turns out that another guy came to Agrabah about a week ago. He was disoriented and weak. We saved him from the Heartless and managed to bring him back safely. Ever since, he's been insisting that he wants to fight the Heartless with us, but he's not that good with a sword. I've been teaching him some things, yet he has a lot to learn... The thing is, he doesn't remember any black hole... Does any of this sound familiar to any of you guys?"

"I believe that I can speak for everyone, except for Ariel, when I say that we have all encountered a black hole in the past." Octavius said. The rest of us nodded our heads without saying a word.

"That's odd..." Aladdin muttered. "I've been trying to get him to do some remembering, but he claims that his mind is in blank. Maybe you guys should talk to him."

"I'll do it." Ukyo volunteered. "Anyone else wants to join me?"

"I'll go too." Ryoga said.

"Then I'm in as well." I added.

In the end, while the three of us, Merryck, Ariel, and Camille headed to lone room inside the palace to meet the young man, the rest of our friends followed Aladdin, Genie, Jasmine, and the others to the throne room to have some sort of a strategy discussion to fight the Heartless. I really didn't know what to say to the guy... If he had been involved in a black hole situation, I would have thought of something. To tell the truth, I just volunteered because Ryoga had done so. I was happy by his side and didn't feel like being alone at the moment. Not that I thought he had a clue of what was he doing.

"I would believe..." Merryck said. "That this fellow came to this world on a Gummi ship. Most likely, he crashed in the middle of the desert and barely managed to find his way into the city. Probably the impact of the crash shook his memory. At least, that is my theory. Call it rubbish if you will."

"On the contrary, my dear hobbit." Camille replied. "I actually agree with your theory. If this man would have appeared in this world by the curse of the Heartless, he would have certainly remembered. Surely a blow of some sort has made him forgot. I do not hope to help him much, but at least he will have someone by his side to comfort him... or to amuse him, if he wishes."

"I'm glad to have you back, Camille." Ukyo giggled. "Just try not to attack him right from the beginning."

"Oh, but I will if I see desire and lust in his eyes..."

"No doubt about that."

"Here we are." I interrupted as we came to a halt in front of a large door. "This is it, right? Twelfth door on the left on the second floor."

"Yeah, that's right." Ariel said. "...This palace is huge."

"Should we knock?" Ryoga asked.

"I should guess so." Merryck murmured. "All right. Begging the young man's pardon..." he took a step forward and knocked three times.

"...Aladdin?" asked a voice behind the door. It was manly and had a German accent... no, it wasn't Wilheim. He couldn't be. I still refused to believe that story. Yet... "Is that you?"

"Good afternoon, good sir." The hobbit said, as politely as always. "We are friends of Aladdin. He hoped that we might be able to have a word with you. My name is Merryck Goldengrass and I come with five companions. I beg you to open the door and let us in. We believe that we can help you remember some things you have forgotten."

"...So you are not with the Heartless?"

"Not at all, good sir. We are actually on war against them. Worry not, sir, we mean you no harm."

"...All right... if you say so..." and so he opened the door and showed himself to us... and if Ryoga hadn't hold me, I would've fallen flat on my back. And by the look on my friends' faces, I'm very sure that all of them also had a very hard time trying not to faint...

The young man was a little bit taller than Ryoga and had an athletic body. He wasn't too muscular, even though he did seem to exercise his arms a lot. He wore fancy clothes similar to the ones of the sultan. He looked pretty good in them. His skin was white and his cheeks were a bit red, although seeing us so surprised was causing him to grow pale. He had long, golden hair tied in a ponytail and his eyes were brown and childish. At first, he had greeted us with a confused expression, but now, his face was filled by fear... I had seen him before. Yet the last time I had done so, it had been in an old photograph which now lay in Ukyo's possession.

"Who are you people?" he asked in alarm.

"Oh, my God!" Ariel exclaimed in a shocked whisper, raising her hands to her mouth.

"I... I can't believe this...!" Ukyo muttered. "...Siegfried..."

"What?" the man stuttered more scared than before. "H-how do you know m-my name?"

Instead of answering him, Ukyo let out a joyful cry and threw her arms around the young man's neck. She began to weep and laugh at the same time as she held him firmly. After a few moments of remaining still and confused, he embraced her as well and whispered with a nervous smile: "I am sorry... have we met before?"

"Not once!" Ukyo exclaimed. "Not once, Siegfried..."

"Then how do you know who I am?"

It was at that very moment that a feeling of happiness invaded my heart and made me burst into tears of hope. Ariel started crying as well and Camille quickly embraced her with a big smile on her face. The princess of Atlantica had believed, thus far I should imagine, that Wilheim was dead for good also. Nevertheless, seeing his best friend alive, the one he had claimed to be his younger brother a long time ago, revived hope in her heart. I could see it in her eyes... At that moment, I too believed that Wilheim could still be brought back to life somehow. I dried my tears with Ryoga's shirt while he held my head carefully and kissed my brow.

Before Ukyo could answer Siegfried's question, a voice behind us made us turn back to face a woman that we had also already met.

"This is a joyful moment, indeed."

I let a gasp as the golden-haired sorceress slowly advanced at us. It seemed to me that she had appeared from the nothing. That could somehow be explained, however. The woman was Gabrielle, the same oracle that we had met before our battle at the twelve houses and the one Vincent and I had seen in the jungles of Africa, when we had befriended Tarzan. Ukyo let go of Siegfried, stood straight before her and lowered her head.

"You..." Siegfried muttered, to our surprise. "You're the one who led me here... When I woke up in the desert, you were the one that brought me here... When I reached the city, you disappeared." He paused for a moment and then added: "You saved my life..."

"I did." She said. "And I am glad I did so."

"You know, don't you, Gabrielle?" Ukyo asked.

"Yes." The oracle replied with a sad smile. "I know all about his brave sacrifice. I did not expect his passing and was overcome by grief."

"As were we all, lady Gabrielle." Camille said. I had never seen her addressing to another girl so properly.

"...He doesn't know... does he?" Ariel managed to say after wiping off his tears and looking at Siegfried.

"Know what?" the young man asked.

"I believe they can tell you the story better than I." Gabrielle replied tenderly. Siegfried nodded silently and let her keep on talking. "Many things have happened that I have not been able to foresee. The cloud that the Heartless spread is very dark and very thick. My power has diminished much. Yet some things I still know. I am aware that his sacrifice stirred many things. That is, I believe, why he is here." At this point, her eyes had stopped on Siegfried again.

"Can you bring him back to life?" asked Ukyo. During all that conversation, we were very careful not to pronounce Wilheim's name... I should guess Gabrielle really wanted us to break the news to Siegfried.

"No..." Gabrielle answered. "I am sorry, but I cannot. The magic of the Heartless is powerful. My most potent spells have nearly no effect, now."

"...Is there a way to bring him back?"

"...The answer to that lies beyond my knowledge so far." But then she smiled and said: "Yet do not lose your faith. At this moment, that is the best thing that can keep his spirit alive. His heart, after all, is within yours, brave Ukyo."

"I understand." Ukyo said, smiling happily. "Thank you..."

"Explain him what has happened." Gabrielle instructed. "And then, go back to your friends. I believe one of them has some important information that should be shared soon enough."

"Thank you for bringing us hope, lady Gabrielle." Camille said with a bow.

"Hope has always been within your hearts. I merely gave it a little nudge to waken it." She giggled. "You will need it now, more than ever. The most difficult part of your quest is about to begin... The final stage of your journey." With a sigh she gently touched Ukyo's cheek. Our friend seemed surprised to feel the oracle's hand. It seemed so cold, yet I could see Ukyo felt much warmth... "I shall pray for the success of your mission. I would gladly help you if I could, but as I have said, my power is waning."

"We will win through, Gabrielle." Ukyo assured. "Rest assured... we will triumph."

"Thank you for your kind words, Milady." Merryck added. "We will do our best."

"Good-bye, then." The woman said and we all waved at her shyly as she headed back from whence she had come and suddenly vanished under a flash of bright light. We all kept silent for a few moments, but despite what she had said about our quest turning more difficult, our hearts were at ease...

"...What is it that you're supposed to tell me?" Siegfried asked in a low voice.

"Perhaps we should better sit down, dear." Camille suggested.

"Um... sure... come inside, please."

He stepped aside and let us into the room. As the succubus entered walked past him, she spontaneously hugged him tenderly and kissed his cheek.

"You do not know the joy that I have in meeting you, young Siegfried." She whispered, with a merry laugh.

"Heh... I can only imagine, I reckon." Siegfried replied, his face blushing.

The room was spacious and elegant. In its center, was Siegfried's bed already made. There were some cushions (the room's sofas, actually) near a window that provided a beautiful sight of the city and the desert. The walls were white and so were the pillars at the corners of the room. There was a jade wardrobe just a few feet away from the bed. Near the cushions, were two piles of books. On one of the cushions, were some of Siegfried's clothes and a few of them had stains of blood, and right next to these, was a Saracen sword, similar to the one Aladdin used.

"I'm sorry..." he apologized as he quickly removed the weapon and his clothes and threw them on top of the bed. "Before you got here, I had been practicing some fencing with Aladdin. He's been teaching me how to use the sword... but somehow, I'm still not getting very good at it. To tell the truth, the blood you see on the shirt isn't Aladdin's doing: it was mine. He's a good teacher, nonetheless, but I reckon I'm a slow learner. At least when it comes to fighting."

"By the way, have you read all of these?" I asked, pointing at the books.

"Most of them." He answered. "The ones on the left, I've read; the ones on the right I have yet to open them." I was really impressed. There were only about three books on the right side and nearly ten on the left. He had done a lot of reading for a week. As I looked at some of their titles, I noticed that most of them were about the history of Agrabah and soldier's weapons and fighting techniques.

"All right... sit wherever you like... Oh, also, I know you already know my name, but I would certainly like to know yours."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Ukyo exclaimed. "I got so emotional back there that I forgot to tell you... Anyway, my name's Ukyo Kuonji. It is a real pleasure to meet you at last, Siegfried."

"I'm Ryoga Hibiki. It's good to see you safe and sound."

"My name is Camille, young Siegfried. You already know my feelings towards this meeting."

"I am Merryck Goldengrass, dear Siegfried, of the hobbit town that is not far from the forest of Fingoth." He shook his hand and added: "I am honored to meet you, good friend."

"I'm Sakura Kusagano." I said and let out a giggle as I remembered the time I had asked Wilheim about him. I had called him a 'hottie'...

Ariel took a step toward him and studied his face carefully. "I'm Ariel. It's... nice to meet you. Strange, but very nice." She said. He still looked very confused, but at least he didn't seem worried anymore. Then, she added: "I didn't think we would meet you as a human. On the photograph I have of you, you were still a vampire."

"What photograph do you speak of?" Siegfried asked. "And how do you know I used to be a vampire?"

"Let's sit down and we'll tell you, okay?" Ukyo said softly.

"...Sure."

And so we did. Ukyo sat right next to Siegfried and held his hand gently. This puzzled him even more.

"...How do you know who I am?" he asked.

"Siegfried..." Ukyo murmured and looked down for a moment. With a deep breath, he then stared at him in the eyes and declared: "We know who you are because we knew Wilheim."

For an instant, his face was filled by surprise. Yet almost immediately, he became sad and looked away.

"...He was the one you were talking about, right?" he asked.

"I'm afraid so." Ukyo replied.

"...You know? I always believed that the day would come." He sighed. "I was almost sure that he would die too, sooner or later. That was the last thought that crossed my mind as I... as that son of a bitch drove his halberd through me." Tears began to run down his cheeks. He quickly dried them, however, and kept a firm voice as he continued speaking. "I forced myself in my agony to think that he would surely be all right and he would be free..." at last, he turned to Ukyo, weeping once again. "It was him, wasn't he? It was that bastard, Magnus, that killed him, wasn't he?"

My friend let out a faint sigh and smiled, shaking her head.

"Magnus is long dead." Ryoga intervened. Siegfried turned to him in shock. "Ukyo and I were there... we fought alongside Wilheim in a desperate battle to save his life and ours." And then he added, looking at her: "She gave him the definitive blow. And after that, Wilheim destroyed him with a blow of his sword."

"This sword." Ukyo intervened as she showed Renamark to Siegfried. "It belonged to him. But right before he died, he gave it to one of our friends... he wanted me to have it."

"...You killed Magnus?" asked Siegfried, unable to contain a smile of joy. He became aware of this and quickly said: "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't be happy about someone else's death. But you have no idea what I... what Wilheim and I went through with that bastard..." he covered his face with his hands and let out a long sigh. His body, which had been tense at the moment, turned soft as he leaned back. "Jesus... Thank you. I don't know how to repay you..." but before either Ryoga or Ukyo said something, he added: "Wait... Then how was it that he died?"

"Actually I'm... partly guilty of his death." Ukyo said softly, to which all of us quickly said:

"No way. Don't think that, Ukyo." And other stuff of the sort.

"Well, he did give up his life to save mine. So in a way, I'm partly guilty..."

"He died to save you, then..." Siegfried muttered with no more tears in his eyes. "How was it that all of you guys became acquainted to Wilheim?"

"We all met Wilheim and became friends with him." Camille said. "We met both: Wilheim, the melancholic vampire... and Wilheim, the redeemed human."

"He became human again!" Siegfried cried.

"Yeah." Ukyo replied. "That didn't happen long ago... Anyway, all of us were his friends. Although he and I had something else..." she paused as Siegfried looked at her in silence and then added with a smile: "He was my boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" the young man laughed. "I don't believe that! Wilheim actually got to speak to a cute girl like you..."

"...Thank you." She giggled.

"That's amazing..." he said, leaning back again. There was no more sadness in his eyes and had a big smile. That was very encouraging. Soon, all of us smiled in silence. "So, in the end, he died a good death. That's all I wanted for him... I always knew I wouldn't see him again. Not until he died, that is. But, somehow, here I am. I guess it is his turn to wait for me... Unless, of course, there is a way to bring him back." He concluded, facing Ukyo.

"I'm sure there is." She declared firmly.

"Then I'll believe you..." and suddenly, he hugged her. Ukyo's smile grew bigger as he hugged him back. "Thank you. All of you... I really wish you would tell me all about him. I want you to tell me about what happened to him after I left. But I suppose now is not the time. We should get down. Gabrielle said one of your friends had some important information to share with you... I want to be there, too. I'd like to know what's going on; because I want to help you get rid of the Heartless. Maybe that'll be the key to his return."

"You are most welcome to come with us, young Siegfried." Camille said happily. "I am sure everyone will be delighted to meet you."

"Ukyo, you can later show him the picture!" Ariel exclaimed.

"Sure I will!" she replied.

"Um... I have a question." I mumbled, raising my hand shyly. Everyone turned to me as I said, unable to contain some laughs: "How come you speak like any other guy?"

"...Excuse me?" Siegfried muttered as all of us got up from our seats.

"Oh, I think I understand the question." Merryck said.

"Yeah, I know what she means." Ukyo added. "The thing is, Wilheim spoke very... properly, even poetically at times. I suppose she thought you would speak that way too."

"...He did that all the time?" asked Siegfried.

"You should know; you were his best friend." Ryoga said.

"I know; I was his younger brother..." he replied. "Yet he wasn't so proper during the time I met him. Except whenever he had very strong feelings attacking him. He would speak normally unless he was very angry or very sad. I really didn't know that he spoke the way you say all the time."

"I also have an answer to that." Ukyo added. "He said that, after you died, he started to speak that way... and he just kept on talking like that."

"...Like I said, very powerful feelings." Siegfried sighed. "Well, it doesn't matter anymore. I'm here, and when he's here, I'm certain he'll speak normally as well. After all, he wasn't too smart: I used to be the brains and he was the brawn."

"He also once said to me that you bothered him with that a lot." Ukyo giggled.

"Yeah, we had some good times."

"I see." I muttered. "Okay... I suppose we should get going."

"Everyone is going to be thrilled to see you." Ryoga said. "The only problem is that you're going to have to become a fast learner and start to fight properly as soon as possible. All of us know some fighting tricks we can teach you, but you have to learn to defend yourself if you want to come with us. Granted, we can watch your back for a bit. If we do that all the time, however, we'll all end up killed."

"You shouldn't press the lad so much, Ryoga." Merryck said. "I am sure that with some proper training, he will be a competent warrior with amazing strength, just like Wilheim."

"That aspect of my life was easier when I was a vampire." Siegfried sighed.

"It'll be fine!" I cried. "Come on, now. We're really taking a sweet time."

"Welcome to our little group, brother-in-law!" exclaimed Ukyo happily as he smiled joyfully and walked outside the room with us.

_(Change of scene)_

There's no need to tell you about the uproar and the commotion Siegfried caused as we introduced him to the group. Great happiness spread across all of my friends faces (even Aladdin's, the Genie's, and the others, for even though they had known Siegfried for a week, they didn't know he had been best friends with Wilheim). I could see in all of their eyes that hope had been rekindled. It was a very nice moment, indeed.

Demean and Tish were really happy and even cried tears of joy as they embraced him. Ranma and Akane were quite enthused too. Well, everyone was really joyful. And when we told all of them that Siegfried was in need of some training, they didn't hesitate to aid him. Cid told him that he would teach him in the ways of the spear, while Yuffie said that he would help him become a great ninja and while Cloud assured him he would make a monster out of him in the ways of the blade. Of course, Sora quickly said he would show him everything he knew without thinking about it twice. Even Octavius (though not exactly openly) said he would teach him how to use the katana. Link also offered to teach him some fencing. After all, Ukyo was in need of a sparring partner. When Siegfried learned that she was taking lessons from them, he quickly accepted, making my girlfriend, the Keyblade master, and the Hylian really happy. As for the martial arts department, I was almost sure he would go to Ryu when he told him that he had taught Wilheim. But he actually declined and asked the saints of Athena to show him how to fight. In the end, Shiryu won the... right, so to speak, to train him. Of course, none of our other friends felt insulted or offended when he declined their offers. As long as he knew how to fight, everything would be fine...

When things quieted down, we also told them about our meeting with Gabrielle. They all were very surprised to learn that she had come such a long way. And when we told them that one of them had some information that wanted to share with us, there was a brief silence. At last, Tifa took a step forward.

"Oh, I know what she meant!" she cried. She then reached to her pocket and pulled out some torn pages. "I found these at Hollow Bastion, at the library. I've been reading them through, and I've found out they're Ansem's reports on the Heartless."

"Reports on the Heartless?" Leon asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, the thing is..." she began but was interrupted by the Sultan.

"The banquet is ready!" he exclaimed happily.

"Why don't you discuss it after dinner?" asked Aladdin. "We've talked enough about how to defeat the Heartless of Agrabah and I think the plan is clear enough. It won't take us long to explain it to Ukyo, Siegfried, and the others. I bet you're all hungry. You should ease up a bit and eat to recover your strength."

"Recover our strength..." Tish mumbled. "We will be gaining more than just strength if we come across more banquets."

"I agree with Aladdin." Aeris said. "I am actually a bit hungry..."

"All right. Just don't let me forget." Tifa added.

And so we went to the dining room and began to eat. I didn't eat that much this time, since I had just recently stuffed myself like a pig (not very woman-like, I know, but that's the way I ate). Ryu, Merryck and Ranma, however, did their stuff, leaving us amazed, once again. This time, though, they got some serious competition from Octavius. The were-bear hadn't eaten much in the last banquet, so I guess he used this one to break his own record or something. Surprisingly, he ate just as much as Ryu... As for Siegfried, he had a good stomach too, but wasn't as glutton as Wilheim.

When we finished eating, we quickly made our way back to the 'strategy room', where everyone stared at Tifa silently as she cleared her throat and revealed to us what her finding at Hollow Bastion was all about.

"I've been reading these reports very carefully." She said. "It took me a while, but I finally managed to order them sequentially, I think... It turns out that, in the beginning, Ansem was a respected person amongst the people he lived with. He was even the governor of his little world. Hollow Bastion was the place where he ruled."

"No wonder the Heartless have their main base there." Donald quacked.

"That's right. Anyway, one day, the castle had some strange visitors which began to cause some problems. Ansem decided to investigate and found out the Heartless. He is the one that actually named them. In his first reports, he just describes them as beings composed of shadows that seek other persons' hearts... Either way, he chose to study them. He tried to see how they communicated with each other and even created some Heartless. His creations were so similar to the other creatures that he came up with an emblem to tell them apart."

"So that's why there are still a few Heartless that don't have the emblem on them." Aeris intervened. "Those must be the original Heartless. If what that report says is true, then there are probably a lot more species of Heartless, so to speak, that we have yet to meet, because so far, we've mostly seen Ansem's minions."

"I don't like the sound of that." Ken muttered.

"We have gotten this far..." Hyoga said. "I think we can handle some more punishment."

"What else does it say?" Seyia asked.

"Ansem came up with a theory." Tifa went on. "He says that there is darkness within every heart."

"There is no argument there." Octavius interrupted. "There can be no earthly being completely good or evil, for if this was true, neither good nor evil would exist."

"I have my doubts regarding that..." Siegfried whispered in Ukyo's ear. She sighed and nodded silently.

"What makes you say that?" asked Akane.

"He's right." Vincent said. "Think about it. If everybody was good, then how could you distinguish evil? Since you wouldn't know what evil is, you also would be oblivious to the meaning of goodness. There can't be one without the other. The same thing would happen if everybody was mean."

"It's very much the Ying and Yang." Yuffie added.

"That's right."

"So, what else does it say?" I asked.

"Ansem thinks that all hearts are born from darkness." She replied. "Oh, but before I go on, there's something important I forgot to mention. He also says that he once met a king which came from another world... He had some talks with him and then the king disappeared."

"A king?" Donald muttered. "Do you think it could be our king?"

"I don't know. It doesn't say any names." She said. "In my opinion, I would think so, since your king has seemingly done more thinking than any of us."

"Gwarsh, I hope Ansem didn't hurt him..." said Goofy with a worried voice.

"Don't worry; I'm sure your king will be fine." Cid assured. "Well, anyway... you were saying, Tifa...?"

"Right. By now, I'm certain that all of you are aware that every world we have visit (and those we have yet to visit) possess hearts. Ansem also thought that these were originated from darkness. To confirm his theory, he sought to find his own world's heart..." she paused as she let out a sigh and finally concluded: "That's as far as the reports go. Maybe there were more... chances are I missed some."

"That matters not." Demean said. "Right now, what is important is to unravel what Ansem is up to."

"Who cares? That nut only wants to cover all of the worlds in darkness. Stopping him from doing that is what's important." Ranma declared.

"You are right, but if we have a clearer idea of his intentions, then perhaps we may learn of a better way to stop him." He remained silent for a few moments as his eyes turned thoughtful. "He believes that all of the worlds were created from darkness. Do you suppose he thinks that this source of all life still exists?"

"...He does mention a door to a supreme darkness." Tifa said.

"That must be the keyhole in Hollow Bastion." Sora inquired. "So if we seal that, then it'll all be over."

"I do not think he spoke about that keyhole." Link said. "Although the dark powers that emanate from that keyhole are indeed great, I somehow think that the old Ansem was not very egotistical. I very much doubt he would have come to believe that the source of all worlds, the door to the supreme darkness, was hidden in his own world."

"So you mean to tell us that there's another door to an even greater darkness that the one on Hollow Bastion?" Shun asked.

"It is only reasonable to think that."

"There's always greater darkness than there appears to be, little brother." Ikki murmured darkly.

"Did he have a name for that door, or something?" asked Dante.

"Yeah." Tifa answered. "In the reports, he calls it 'Kingdom Hearts'."

"Wait a minute." Yuffie intervened. "So, if the keyhole at Hollow Bastion isn't the ultimate door to darkness, then where the hell is it?"

"That's the real question, isn't it...?" Ken mumbled and put his hand on her shoulder.

"That's not very helpful, Ken."

"I didn't say I had an answer, Yuffie."

"Maybe things will become a bit clearer after we seal the keyhole at Hollow Bastion." Ryu suggested. "First thing's first: we have to concentrate on sealing that thing. Then we can figure out where Ansem went and catch up with him."

"But what if during that time, he opens the door of supreme darkness?" asked Ryoga.

"Chances are he's already found that door." Leon ventured to say. "He's had a lot of time to do his search. If could wipe us out by opening that door, he would've done so already. There's got to be something that's keeping him from opening the door."

"That's easy to figure out." Sora said. "The keyholes we have sealed. If we seal more and more, I bet it'll be more difficult for him to open the door. Though I wonder..." he suddenly murmured to himself.

"What is it, Sora?" asked Kairi.

"Nothing. It's nothing important. Don't worry about it."

"So I suppose we shall follow the same plan of action." Octavius said and after a pause, added: "It is quite sad, indeed. In the quest for knowledge, he went astray. Another wise man was corrupted by curiosity."

"You know..." Siegfried said aloud. "I often think about what joys we would have if we lived in ignorance. It's like in the Bible. In the Genesis... with Adam and Eve. If they hadn't eaten that apple, they would've remained blissfully ignorant and happy under the care of God and within the beautiful realm of the Garden of Eden. Even there the quest for knowledge screwed them up. I suppose the same can be applied here." As he finished speaking, I found myself nodding silently at his words, as most of my companions.

"Yet, somehow, some creatures are destined to go on a search for knowledge, I believe." Tish said. "After all, knowledge is not necessarily bad."

"Yes. Those that confuse wisdom with power are often mislead." Shiryu added.

"Come to think of it, there are a lot of those folks out there..." Cloud sighed.

"Yes... Magnus was one of them." Ukyo said, to Siegfried's amazement. "I will tell you about it later... it's something Wilheim learned from another vampire." She told him.

"Either way, that's unimportant at the moment." Leon intervened. "If Sora's right, then we have to start sealing the keyholes as soon as possible. We should go now and seal the one on this world."

"I think we should wait until tomorrow." I said. "Night is coming and I remember that the Heartless didn't appear during those hours."

"They still don't." Aladdin said. "But remember that the keyhole is within the Cave of Wonders. There's no sunlight there."

"Still, we could use a bit of rest." Merryck suggested. "I don't know about you, fellows, but I feel that I ate a little too much..."

"As always, my dear hobbit." Demean laughed.

_(Change of scene)_

In the end, we rested for the night while some of the Sultan's guards kept watch and slept until very early in the morning. Ryoga entered my room and gently roused me. As I opened my eyes, I noticed it was still dark. Even so, I felt I had slept for a very long time. I barely felt tired. Of course, waking up in the middle of the night still makes you feel a bit drowsy, but I was doing fine, after all.

"What's up with the military schedule?" I asked with a yawn.

"It was Felicia's idea." Ryoga answered. "If we wait for the sun to come up, we'll roast in the desert."

"I hadn't thought about that. She's got a point... Hey, Genie does remember the way to the cave, right?"

"I should hope so... I'm not very good when it comes to taking people to places."

"Yeah, I heard that from Ukyo once." I giggled. "She said the first time she asked you to draw a map so she could get to Akane and Ranma's place, you gave her a thing that took her half-across Tokyo when in fact their house was about ten minutes away from her restaurant."

"Yeah... I still keep hearing that." He sighed and his face turned bright red.

We were all ready to go when it was still dark. I didn't know that the nights of Agrabah lasted so long, yet I soon remembered that this could not be natural.

"The nights have been lasting longer, lately." Aladdin commented.

"That's not good." Aeris said. "That can only mean that the forces of the Heartless are growing more powerful."

"By my great-grandfather Beorn, I am certain there must be hundreds, if not thousands, within that cave. Things could really turn ill if we don't act quickly." Merryck grumbled.

"Do not worry much about it, my good Merryck." Tish said. "At least there are more of us this time. With any luck, we will make short work of the Heartless in no time."

Before we departed, there was still an issue that had to be taken care of... Siegfried. He wanted to come with us, but as you have already seen, he still kind of sucked at fighting. I wasn't really on the mood of babysitting him. After all, this would be his first battle. In the end, however, Octavius convinced us to let him tag along.

"Let the boy grow up." He said. "If he is to come with us, then he will have to fight sooner or later. It will be better if he starts battling along with us. God only knows when the time will come when he will have to stand alone."

"I'll look after him." Ukyo said. "It's the least I can do for Wilheim."

"It's not like I'm entirely useless." Siegfried muttered with resentment in his voice. I couldn't blame him... we hadn't exactly spoken of him very eloquently. "At least I can throw a punch or two. I do know how to defend myself."

"No doubt your skills would have sufficed to rid you of vile bandits in the past." Demean intervened. I didn't exactly know what he was talking about, but Wilheim's closest friends merely nodded without saying a word. "The Heartless, on the other hand, are mighty foes that know how to battle fiercely. Besides, you no longer have the inhuman strength your dark nature granted you."

"Again, let the boy grow up." Octavius said. "Do look after him, but do not think him helpless. Do not forget that many of our younger, most inexpert friends have given us amazing surprises."

"I suppose you are right."

"Then let's get moving, before the sun comes up." Cid said. "How far is this Cave of Wonders anyway?"

"Not very far, I think." Aladdin replied. "Genie, lead the way, please."

"Right this way, ladies and gentlemen!" exclaimed Genie as one of his hands turned into a flashlight which we all followed quietly and alert. It was just a matter of time before the Heartless popped out of nowhere and attacked us...

We walked the same path we had walked that night when we had secretly followed Aladdin and Jaffar. Things looked a lot different now that there was no sandstorm to hinder us. It seemed to me like the desert had no end. Luckily, the sand was very cool (unlike the last time, even though the sun had already fallen) and the air barely blew. It was a good thing too, because for the first time since I had been in Agrabah, I actually felt cold.

Kairi, Meg, and Jasmine had remained within the palace, with the Sultan. Sora's friend really wanted to tag along, but we already had one person to baby-sit. And to tell the truth, she was quite fortunate to have stayed inside the palace...

All of a sudden, the ground began to shake. We still hadn't reached the Cave of Wonders when something started to emerge from under the ground. We all raised our guards and waited patiently. Without any other warning, a tall pillar emerged from underground. It shook the sand so violently that we all fell down. And as we started to get up, another pillar appeared, making the ground tremble again. This happened again and again until a dozen of pillars had popped from the sand, creating a wall of magical energy about us. But that wasn't the worst part. Only a few of us remained within the trap. Aladdin, Ukyo, Siegfried, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Aeris, Link, Ryu, Shiryu, and I were the only ones that remained within the evil walls. But that wasn't the worst part, either. An evil energy presented itself. A mount of sand began to grow in the center of the trap. It grew bigger and bigger until at last it exploded, revealing our enemy: a gigantic Heartless with six arms and two sharp blades curved like two half-moons. His head seemed to be the one of a cobra and his body hid under a thick, pale yellow armor. He wore a piece of cloth between his legs, which had the emblem of the Heartless on it. I suppose that left clear why the nights were lasting so long, according to our friends.

"What the hell is that?" cried Cloud from outside the trap.

The fiend turned to us and charged. Aeris and Donald quickly stood in front of us and tried to cast a barrier around us. But they soon turned to us with horrified faces and cried:

"We can't cast any spells!"

"What do you mean you can't...?" began to ask Sora yet quickly shut his mouth as Aeris pushed him aside. The rest of us jumped as far as we could to the monster, without knowing what to do. The fiend swung both of his swords with amazing fury and speed. I had never seen such whirlwinds of death in a monster's hands. All of us managed to escape it in time. Nevertheless, Ukyo wasn't fast enough and had to block the blades' twirling with Renamark. I suppose she was still somewhat used to her larger spatula which protected her from more attacks... The blades didn't cut her, but made her fly against one of the energy walls. She hit it with so much force that she fell on the sand, unconscious.

"NO!" Siegfried cried, dropping his sword and then he ran to her side as fast as his feet could carry him. So much for the miracle worker. He didn't even take his weapon along...

I bet that the monster would've gone after Ukyo if she had landed somewhat near us. But since she had fallen far away, he pressed on the attack and tried to cut us down with vicious twists of his blades. Donald and Aeris desperately tried to work on some spells to aid us, yet it was no use. Somehow, the Heartless was using a powerful enchantment that zapped our friends' magic. At least that's what I believe happened. It's the most logical explanation I can find.

Ryu, Aeris, Donald, and I momentarily did nothing more than to leap back and wait for the Heartless to end his attack. Meanwhile, Shiryu and Goofy used their shields to fend off the blows while Sora, Link, and Aladdin tried to counterattack with their swords. But the monster was tremendously quick and whenever one of them tried to stab him, he pushed aside their weapons with a quick twist of his amazingly flexible wrists.

"Just perfect!" I exclaimed, horrified. "I thought this was going to be an easy mission and we end up facing a humongous General Grievous version of the Heartless!"

"Sakura!" cried Ryu. "I need your help! Help me attack this fiend with a storm of energy waves!"

"Yeah! Yeah!" I said. I can't help to say that to fight alongside Ryu always made me feel a little excited... even in situations such as the one we were in. "Let's do it!"

"HADOKEN!"

Our projectiles traveled swiftly right above our friends' heads. Both waves of energy passed right through the enemy's spinning blades and hit him straight on the chest. He fell down and shattered into a thousand pieces...! Yeah... that's what I would like to say. What really happened though was this: they didn't even tickle him. He didn't even glanced at us in anger and dashed in rage at us. He kept on battling as if nothing had happened.

"Oh, God!" I heard Cid exclaim. "Come on, guys, put more energy into it!"

"Why don't you come here and fight him instead?" I cried, angrily.

Shiryu concentrated all of his energy into his fist and executed what to any other opponent would've been otherwise a devastating attack. He achieved more than us, actually... he just pushed the Heartless back.

"I don't believe this beast!" he exclaimed. "His armor is just as solid as my own shield!"

"It is stronger still; you would have broken him with that attack otherwise." Link said.

The fiend charged again, whirling his blades with the same frightening speed. Again, Ryu, Donald, Aeris, and I barely escaped its swords by leaping aside, yet this time, the others managed to defend themselves by making use of their swords and shields. The Heartless then stopped and looked back, noticing that Siegfried and Ukyo were still unprotected. And so he turned around and ran at them at full speed.

I felt how my heart stopped as I saw him charging at them. Terror took a hold of Siegfried's eyes. He had nothing on him to fend off any attacks, because the jackass had dropped his sword when he had run to Ukyo. To make matters worse, she was still out. But then, he looked at her hand and noticed Renamark. The fiend was about to get to him (with Shiryu, Sora, Aladdin, and Link right on his tail) when he quickly reached for the blade and rose it. The sword gave him a boost of strength and he successfully parried the horrid blow, but fell on his back a few feet away from Ukyo. The Heartless came to a sudden stop, making sand fly right at Siegfried. He looked at the unconscious Ukyo and got ready to pierce her through. The others were near the Heartless, but wouldn't get to her aid on time...

"Siegfried!" Link cried. "Take this!" he then threw his Hylian shield at the young man as hard as he could.

Siegfried jumped forward and caught the shield and, in midair, blocked the fiend's lethal attack. He crashed against the ground with great force and even bounced back to his feet. The fiend wasn't done with his attack, however. Siegfried took advantage of the brief moment between both blows and grabbed the shield and sword properly. He hid behind the shield and stopped yet another swing of the Heartless' sword. The enemy, maddened by this, attempted to cut our new companion down with his other blade. Miraculously, Siegfried stopped the second sword with Renamark. He probably wouldn't have lasted much longer, but at that moment, our friends reached the Heartless and pushed him back with powerful attacks. To our surprise, we noticed Link was carrying a new shield – one that shone like a diamond and reflected every grain of sand of the desert. It had a waxing crescent (or a waning crescent, I don't know for sure) moon carved on it, along with a little star and some other markings right below them. It was very beautiful and, apparently, extremely resilient, because as the Heartless swung its furious blades at Link, he didn't even step back as he stopped the blows with this new shield...

Siegfried took this opportunity to sheathe Renamark on Ukyo's back and drag her away from the battle. I had already grabbed his Saracen sword and was running alongside Ryu and the others to give it back to him and to aid our other companions. Meanwhile, Ryoga called out my name desperately from outside the trap over and over again. I stopped for a second and waved at him so he could see that I was okay.

"Hang on!" he exclaimed. "Just hang on, we'll figure how to get through this!"

"Okay!" I replied. There wasn't any time for idle chatter, after all.

"Sakura, look at that!" Ryu said to me and turned my head around. "Aeris, Donald, look! Can you see that?"

I immediately knew what he was speaking about. I hadn't noticed before, but the Heartless was holding a pair of dark orbs with two of his hands. The remaining two weren't even attacking; he merely moved them over his head in a strange way, as if he was conjuring something...

"Can you see those orbs?" Ryu asked.

"I see them!" I answered.

"Let's take them out!" he said. "Maybe that's his weak point!"

"Okay!"

"HADOKEN!" we both cried as we launched a powerful wave of energy. The two projectiles fused into a single deadly fireball that quickly found its target. The creature let out a horrid howl as it took a few steps back. One of his hands no longer held the dark orb... Still, our friends couldn't work any magic.

"It's useless!" Aeris exclaimed. "Hopefully, it'll work if we take the other one out!"

"I bet that's what we have to do... Aw, phooey! Look out!" cried Donald as the enraged Heartless charged at us. As he ran to us, he pushed Goofy aside with great strength, who flew into one of the magical walls. Fortunately, he put his shield in front of him, cushioning the blow by doing so. He fell on his feet and ran after the monster one more time. Meanwhile, we had already leapt aside unharmed. The Heartless, however, was a fast learner and as we lay on the ground, he tried to cut us while we were on our stomachs. Our friends outside the magical barrier screamed in terror as we desperately rolled aside and got to our feet. Aeris and Donald got separated from Ryu and I. The fiend noticed that they were more vulnerable and went after them. But just then, Goofy arrived and protected them with his shield. At that moment, we heard a whistle and the Heartless leapt away from us. It had been an arrow Link had fired at the remaining orb. Sadly, he had missed. The monster leapt once again high into the air and began to spin very fast. His blades cut the wind about him as he threw himself at us like an electrical saw. We let ourselves fall on the ground one more time just before the fiend cut our bodies in half. As we got back on our feet, the Heartless attacked yet again, only that this time, his body spun vertically rather than horizontally. Dropping on the sand would've been suicide. Again, we had to leap aside. One of us wasn't quick enough, however (although he was damn lucky).

"Ah! Goddamn it!" cried Aladdin in pain. We all looked at him and noticed his leg was bleeding. To make things worse, the Heartless wasn't done. He threw himself against us yet again. This time, he was aiming directly at Aladdin. Shiryu didn't lose a moment and threw him aside. He then ducked and hid behind his shield...

"SHIRYU!" cried everyone.

He was very fortunate to have that amazing armor on. The saint merely flied across the dune with terrible force and crashed against one of the walls. But his bronze clothes weren't even scratched. Not one part of his body was bleeding. If he hadn't been wearing that, he would've been chopped into a lot of itty-bitty pieces...

While our friends outside tried desperately to break through the barrier (Octavius was punching it with all of his strength; Tish was using all sorts of spells against it; Genie tried to shatter it with magic as well, and so on), the monster had already halted his devastating attack. He remained still for a couple of moments and then he turned to us, pointing his blades at us.

"He's vulnerable after he does that." Ryu quickly pointed out. "We have to take advantage of it if he tries that again."

"If we manage to survive it one more time, that is." Sora darkly added.

"What now?" asked Donald.

"We have to destroy that orb." Link said. "I shall use my arrows... yet I need you all to protect me as best as you can."

"Count me out!" Donald exclaimed. "I won't last three seconds against that thing with this staff!"

"Don't worry, Link. I've got your back." Sora assured, but after a brief pause, he exclaimed, with horror: "Oh, crap, he's going after Siegfried and Ukyo again!"

With that said, we all started to run as fast as our feet could carry us to intercept our foe. His footsteps made the ground shake as he dashed across the dune in the center of the battlefield to get to our two friends. Siegfried put his sword on his belt and got a hold of Ukyo... and he kept still. With his heart nearly pounding out of his chest, he waited for the Heartless to get to them. The fiend's speed was greater than our own, and he got to our friends before we got to him. But as he swung his blade at them, Siegfried threw Ukyo aside and blocked the blow with Link's shield. Naturally, he flew high into the air and landed far away. To my surprise, he didn't fell unconscious. He was very dizzied by that furious blow, however. Now that Ukyo was practically as helpless as a newborn kitten, the Heartless moved in for the kill. Nevertheless, Shiryu let loose one of his tremendous techniques and pushed the enemy back, giving him and us enough time to get to him and press on the attack. As he tried to fend all of us off with his blades, Link readied himself to let one of his light arrows fly at the orb. The Heartless, however, was protecting the remaining sphere rather well with his other extremities. In the end, Ryu, Sora, and I thought alike and did something very brave and very stupid. Once the monster had ended one of his attacks, we quickly leapt at the beast's arms and kicked them as hard as we could so he would leave the orb unprotected. We barely escaped alive, for he instantly slashed the air above him and nearly cut us to pieces. However, our plan was successful. Link fired a swift, magical arrow that found its target. The beast let out a cry of pain and fell on its butt. Its weakened arms fell right beside him and he was unable to lift them for a while. It was then that Aeris and Donald noticed that their magic worked once more. But as I looked back, I noticed that the magical barrier was still up and our friends had so far been unable to cross it.

I didn't have much time to worry about that, though. Sora jumped into the air and attacked the Heartless' head, which was, apparently, its real weak point. As the Keyblade hit the fiend, he let out whelps of pain. The rest of us quickly started attacking the beast's head, damaging it seriously. Goofy leapt onto one of the Heartless' shoulders and started to bang the head with his shield mercilessly. Yet soon, the enemy started to bite us with amazing speed; just like a snake, it snapped its head at out arms and legs and dug its fangs in our skin (thankfully these weren't that big). Until at last, he gathered enough strength to get up from the ground. We all figured out what he was going to do next. Aeris and Donald quickly cast healing spells on us and all of our wounds vanished. Nevertheless, instead of creating a new pair of orbs, the Heartless summoned a magical sphere that engulfed its body as he started to float a few feet above the ground... Just to make sure, Ryu threw a powerful punch at this new barrier. His fist didn't even make it move an inch.

"It's like hitting a diamond wall!" he cried, rubbing his hand.

The Heartless charged at us with fury. We all leapt aside, expecting him to attack us with his blades. But to our surprise, the swords on his hands had disappeared. At that moment, he merely waved his six arms in strange motions. Obviously he was conjuring some other powerful magic. Yet to our content, Aeris and Donald still hadn't lost the ability to conjure spells. Seeing this, they quickly attacked him with fireballs and Sora joined them. The three projectiles crashed against the barrier without hurting the Heartless. However, when we took a closer look, we noticed that the sphere had gotten a bit smaller...

"Punches and kicks won't do any good now." Aeris observed. "We need to attack with magic spells and energy projectiles!"

She didn't have to say anything else. Ryu and I unleashed a pair of energy waves; Shiryu attacked using one of his special techniques; Link fired a fire arrow, and Donald, Sora, and Aeris summoned blizzard projectiles to make them crash upon the magical barrier. But the fiend was very fast and only Link's arrow and a few icicles found their marks.

As the sky started to pale, the Heartless conjured some strange magic in the form of twisters of sand that quickly made their way towards us. Not knowing how else to counter them, we made a run for it. We escaped from them until they vanished. No one got hurt from that attack. But then, the fiend summoned a rain of fireballs that started to crash against the sand. It was not until then that we remembered Ukyo and Siegfried. Some fireballs had already fallen on them, but Siegfried had managed to fend them off with Link's shield. Aladdin and Goofy quickly got to them. While the first helped Siegfried drag Ukyo into a safer spot (though I doubt any place was safe inside the battlefield), Goofy stopped the rest of the fireballs with his shield. Once the rain ended, the Heartless remained stationary for a couple of seconds. We repeated our attacks, but once again, only a few hit him. This time, it had been Sora's fireball and Shiryu's attack. The latter wore the barrier a bit more than Sora's magic. After that, the fiend readied itself for another attack...

The ground began to shake. I soon realized that there were certain areas on the sand that had started to develop little protuberances. And before long, tenths of shiny energy balls popped out of the ground and flew straight at us one by one. I tried to counter one with a Hadoken, but the damn thing ate my projectile as if I had just shot at a locomotive with a simple gun. I made a run for it and barely escaped the sphere.

One of them headed straight at Link fast. The Hylian raised his shield and, amazingly, bounced back the sphere at the Heartless... That new shield of his was really something. When the fiend noticed this, no more magic projectiles flew at Link. From that moment to the end of the attack, he had to dive to the spheres to bounce them back. Aeris and Donald created magical barriers about them and safely remained inside their magical shells. Sora and Aladdin cut through the projectiles as best as they could, while Goofy and Siegfried fended them off with their shields. Ryu and I had no choice but to hide behind Aeris and Donald and to leap aside whenever a sphere came our way.

When all the spheres had gone, there was a brief moment of uneasiness as we felt the ground shake more violently than before. And then, just like that, an enormous ball of energy emerged from the sand. This sphere was easily as big as the Heartless himself and didn't seem like any of us would be stopping it soon. The projectile then made its way toward, whom else, Ukyo and Siegfried with the same speed of the other magical balls. Aladdin and Goofy had leapt and ran so much during the first attack that they were now far away from both of our friends and Siegfried wouldn't have time to carry Ukyo and make a run for it. I saw him took a deep breath and then, with a battle cry, he threw himself against the ball of energy, hiding all of his body behind the Hylian shield.

"NO!" we all cried.

Amazingly, the shield absorbed the blow quite well. Siegfried was sent against the ground with tremendous force and twisted his arm in such a way that it even hurt me. He had easily broken it in six different places. It actually looked like the one of a rag doll. He let out a long, pain-filled cry as he struggled to free himself from the shield, which held the arm in its ghastly position. I was about to call out to both Aeris and Donald, to tell them to cure Siegfried, but decided to shut my mouth as I saw that the fast, combined efforts of Shiryu, Sora, and Ryu had managed to break through the monster's magical barrier. Once again, the fiend fell on his butt and was left somewhat defenseless. We raced as fast as we could to it and began to attack it with full strength. This time, hitting his head proved to be much more difficult. The Heartless attacked us with blinding speed and successfully dodged most of our blows. After just a few seconds, the fiend got up and summoned the black orbs one more time. Aeris and Donald quickly stepped back, realizing that, once again, they had lost the ability to summon any magic. I wasn't willing to let the monster get away with it this time, however...

I leapt high into the air and spun my legs as fast as I could.

"SENPUU-KIAKU!" I cried in a loud voice.

I felt how one of my feet hit something and smiled as I realized it had been an orb. Even though I hadn't shattered it completely, I had managed to make a huge dent on it. But my triumphant smirk soon vanished as the Heartless quickly swung his blade against me. I landed on one of his arms and jumped away just in time not to be completely cut in half. Yet the steel of his sword reached me and made me an awful cut across the stomach. I landed far away from my friends without even screaming.

"SAKURA!" I heard Ryoga desperately cry in a horrified voice.

"You stinking bastard!" Ryu wailed. "I'll kill you for that!"

I covered my wound with both hands as I saw the blurry images of my friends fighting furiously against the Heartless. Aladdin had just made a powerful swing with his blade and had successfully shattered what remained of the orb I had damaged. I assumed a fetal position as I felt the blood in my body escape me. Unless my friends shattered the other orb quickly and either Aeris or Donald healed me, I was sure to die in a few minutes. As I sobbed in agonizing pain, I heard how someone crawled to my side. I turned back and saw Siegfried.

"...Hang in there!" he exclaimed in a low voice. He lay on top of my wound, being careful not to twist his arm anymore and stopped the flow of blood a bit.

"No... You have to look after Ukyo... We promised him we would protect her..." I muttered.

"...I can't just leave you here!" he answered.

"Sakura...! Siegfried!" I suddenly, to my relief, heard Ukyo exclaim. I looked to my right and found her rubbing her head and getting up from the ground. With a worried expression on her face, she knelt beside us and grabbed both Siegfried's hand and mine with hers. "Oh, Sakura! Siegfried! What can I do?"

"Neither Aeris or Donald can use magic." Siegfried replied. "The only way they can conjure spells again is if you shatter the orb that that monster holds in one of his hands. That's what I've seen, anyway."

"Ukyo..." I murmured. "Tell Ryoga..."

"I'm not telling him a goddamn thing." She answered angrily. "We'll shatter that orb in less than a minute. Mark my words." She then unsheathed Renamark and held her close to her chest. "Please hear me now, Wilheim-honey... I need your help." And as she finished pronouncing these words, the blade began to burn and to moan menacingly. "...Now you will die, monster." and with a rage-filled cry, she started to run at the Heartless with a speed I had never seen in her before. She could only be compared to a swift cheetah...

The Heartless, who had been occupied dealing with the rest of my friends' attacks, turned to Ukyo just before she swung Renamark at his orb. With amazing speed and strength, the enemy parried her attack, keeping her airborne. He tried to cut her by spinning his sword, but Ukyo skillfully stopped all of his attacks. During that time, she never touched the ground. The Heartless began to feel overwhelmed and swung both of his blades with amazing fury, making our friends fall on their backs, except for Link, Shiryu, Sora, and Ukyo. She didn't lose one moment and quickly propelled herself against the Heartless with force. The fiend cowardly leapt over her and landed far away from my friends. He then leapt once more and began his deadly attack. He spun his body very fast and launched itself at my friends. All of them ducked under the first and second pass. Then the Heartless began to spin vertically and went, of course, after Siegfried and myself. With amazing strength (for being so wounded, that is), my friend got up and pulled me with his one good arm aside. The Heartless barely touched my leg and cut it like a motorized saw. This time, I screamed in pain as my flesh opened, leaving the bone visible. At least he didn't take the whole leg...

He returned to us in a fourth pass. This time, Ryu got to us before it did and carried us out of harm's way. Finally, the Heartless landed on the ground. Remembering Ryu's words, Aladdin cried:

"Now's our chance!"

Link fired one of his light arrows; Sora threw his Keyblade as hard as he could at the fiend's orb; Aladdin also threw his Saracen blade in a desperate attempt to shatter the energy ball; Shiryu launched his most deadly technique, and even Goofy threw his shield like a lethal disc at our foe. All of the attacks were about to find their mark, but the Heartless rose both of his blades and stopped all of the blows. With dismay, I watched as he merely stumbled aside, with the orb in his hand, still intact. But what none of us counted on, was that Ukyo was running at amazing speed at the fiend. She jumped at one of the fiend's shoulders and propelled herself upward as she delivered a lethal strike that cut the Heartless' orb in half while his guard was still low. The enemy fell on his butt as I felt a warmth feeling on my stomach and leg... Aeris and Donald hadn't lost a second and had cured both of my wounds and Siegfried's devastated arm. As I got up, I saw that Ukyo was falling with the speed of a spear at the Heartless. The fiend wasn't quick enough for our friend who quickly drove Renamark through his head. The magical fire of the blade began to roar within the fiend's skull, making it convulse uncontrollably, until at last, it burst into a thousand pieces. The Heartless stopped struggling and fell dead on the sand as Ukyo leapt away from it, sheathed Renamark, and snapped her fingers, saying:

"That ought to take care of the damn bastard."

None of us could say a word. The pillars that had blocked our way out of the trap crashed onto the ground as the sky began to pale. Morning was coming. The rest of our friends entered the battlefield still unable to believe their eyes. Ukyo had kept her word and had done even better than she had initially stated: she had destroyed the Heartless in less than a minute.

"When did you become so horribly powerful?" at last exclaimed a shocked Ken.

"Come on!" she laughed. "I couldn't have done it without my friends' help!"

"But still, that was the scariest thing I've ever seen!"

"Sakura..." Ryoga said as he ran to me and knelt by my side. "My God, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I answered. "Thanks, Ryoga."

"I was so afraid I had lost you!" he exclaimed and hugged me and kissed me. "Please don't ever do that to me again!"

"...Thank you." I only managed to say, feeling how my eyes were filled by tears of joy. I held them back and embraced him happily. "I'll try not to worry you like that again, Ryoga."

"Now do you believe me?" asked Octavius as he walked to us. "It was a good idea to bring him after all. He might not have hurt the Heartless, but he certainly saved the lives of our friends."

"Yeah..." I said. I turned to Siegfried, who stood close to Ryoga and me, completely healed, with a smile of satisfaction on his face. "Thanks a lot, Siegfried. I owe you my life..."

"It's the least I can do for Wilheim's friends." He replied tenderly. "...For my friends."

"Wow, Ukyo..." Sora murmured as he walked to her. "You don't seem to need much more training with that."

"Are you kidding? I only swung the damn thing!" she said.

"You must be joking." Tish laughed. "To parry so many blows while being airborne is a rare gift that only the bests swordsmen and swordswomen have."

"Sora's got a point." Donald intervened. "You did amazingly!"

"There you go, Donald's on my side." Sora chuckled.

"Seriously, I think you're actually better than Wilheim was." Aladdin said.

"Maybe not better, but she's definitively up to par with him!" Goofy laughed.

"Ken's right, Ukyo." Added Dante. "Those moves you pulled out back there... You really freaked me out."

"All right, all right!" she exclaimed. "Whatever you say... but that doesn't mean you're off the hook yet, mister." She said to Sora. Then, she turned to Link and added: "That goes for you too, you hear?"

"As you wish." Link replied. "Although I wonder how much more you can learn from me..."

"Just one question, Link." Shiryu said. "Where did you get that shield from?"

"Oh, this?" he replied, looking at his item. "I had left this in my princess's care last time we had been in Hyrule. But I reckoned things would be more difficult now, so I decided to bring it with me. It is called the Mirror Shield, and its surface is almost as hard as the one you have on your left arm and it is capable of reflecting nearly everything. Some of you had already seen it, for I used it on the battle against Ganondorf. I did not think I would need it again, yet I was mistaken."

"That I noticed. It's a good thing you decided to bring it along..."

"That was a very brave thing you did, Sakura." Ryu said, kneeling by my side. "You had me worried there for a moment."

"Thanks, Ryu." I giggled.

"But do me a favor: don't do that again."

"I promise I won't!"

The compliments to each of us went on for another good ten minutes. Siegfried really impressed the heck out of a lot of my friends... he did impress me, that's for sure. After a while, he walked to Link and told him that he could have his shield back. The Hylian smiled and said that he could keep it, for there were more where he came from...

_(Change of scene)_

After that, things turned out to be a piece of cake. Genie led us through a hole in the ground he created with a spell into the Cave of Wonders, where we battled against lesser Heartless. We beat the tar out of them in no time. At last, we got to a hidden chamber. The room was circular and its walls were made out of stone. One would think we had come to a dead end, but a rock with the shape of an Arabian pillar told us otherwise. Genie snapped his finger and the stone broke down, revealing Agrabah's magical keyhole on a wall. Sora pointed the Keyblade at it and sealed it in a matter of seconds. Agrabah was free of the Heartless grasp.

We returned to the palace just when it was beginning to get hot. Though we would've surely liked to stay a few more days at the palace, there was no time for spoiling ourselves. We said goodbye to everyone as warmly as we could – chances were we wouldn't see them again any time soon – and boarded the Gummi ships. We still had many worlds to go to.

We quickly returned Meg to Hercules at the Olympus Coliseum. He sure was happy to see her while she cried tears of joy as she threw her arms around him. He thanked us for returning her home and asked us if there was anything he could do to repay us.

"Be on the lookout for Heartless." Sora said. "That ought to be enough."

"I sure will, my friend!" Hercules exclaimed happily. The news of Wilheim's death kind of depressed him and Phil, although not that much, since they barely knew him...

We left the Olympus Coliseum almost as fast as we got to it. It didn't take long for us to decide which world we should visit next. It was Sora, actually, who made the suggestion.

"There's a place we haven't visited in a long time. I'm beginning to worry about what might have happened there during our travels... I say we go to Traverse Town next." He stated.

"I agree." Cid said and set the course to the place in which Sora and the others had begun their adventure.

The trip lasted for two days. During that time, we talked, laughed, and rested. Ukyo told some stories about Wilheim to Siegfried whenever she had the chance and even I got to hear an interesting anecdote or two. From time to time, Link and Sora would teach them some moves – beginner techniques were taught to Siegfried while Ukyo got to learn some pretty nasty stuff. She was a quick learner, but he still had a little trouble with the sword (although it took him little effort to handle the shield). Even so, he was a natural, bare-handed fighter, according to Shiryu. His attacks were powerful and he was well on his way to develop a Cosmo-energy of his own (something similar to 'chi').

Ryoga and I spent some time on our own talking, laughing, and, of course, kissing. Neither of us was a real expert, so we agreed we needed to practice... Those were nice... um... sessions... Aside from the kisses, nothing happened, so stop thinking what you're thinking!

Anyway, we got to Traverse Town at the night of the second day (there I go again...). The town was warm and pretty; very inviting. And to our surprise and content, there were still people roaming the streets. Sora and the others didn't expect to actually find anyone... but there they were. Still, none of us had any idea of the surprise destiny had in store for us...

_(Change of scene)_

"The First District is save, sir." One of the persons that we happened to come across told Leon, who had begun to ask him about the Heartless. "But the Second and Third Districts... Well, it's not like we have seen many monsters there. Yet just as soon as you cross the door that leads to one of those places... you feel something cold. Something evil that makes your hair stand on end. Nobody ever goes there anymore... Except for the one that saved us."

"The one that saved you?" asked Leon.

"Yeah. He's an old man who wears a long, blue tunic and a big, pointy hat. He has a long, white beard and little glasses and mostly travels alongside a little owl."

"Are you speaking about Merlin?" asked Demean.

"Yes, that's the one!" exclaimed the man. "When we were about to be overcome by those monsters, he got here and conjured some strange spells to drive them back. He said that he couldn't exterminate all of them, but at least he would be able to contain them within two districts. That's why nobody goes out of the First District. He, on the other hand, lives inside what used to be an abandoned house, near the Third District. You'll find him easily: you just have to go through the door on your right and walk straight ahead. You'll then see another door with a strange marking upon it. His hideout lies behind it... But I strongly advice you not to go into the Third District. Chances are you'll run into one of those things...

"They don't mean any problems!" Donald confidently stated. "We'll take care of them if they dare appear."

"Hopefully you'll be right about that..." the man said and walked away.

We didn't speak to anyone else. Without thinking about it twice, we made our way into the Third District. Just like the man had said, as soon as we crossed the door, we felt a strange, evil presence. But it didn't have us that worried: the monster we had faced at the desert was far more powerful than the thing that lurked in the shadows. Seeing that no Heartless were on sight, we quickly made our way to the door that supposedly lead to Merlin's hideout.

This new door lead to an odd little dark place surrounded by mist. And again, just like the man had said, there was a house not far from where we stood. We had to jump through a series of rocks floating on water to get there: none of us wanted to get wet at the moment. Sora, Ukyo, Akane, Donald, Goofy, Demean, and Tish entered the house alone. The place was really small; it would be a miracle if all of us fitted inside that thing.

They remained inside for about five minutes and then Demean and Tish came outside and said:

"Merlin and Archimedes are glad to see us." (I later learned that the little owl was Archimedes and some other interesting stuff as well). "They say there is a secret passage way to a cave underground. In there, we can plan a strategy against the Heartless of the town. He says that most of them have fled to the Second District, where the evil presence seems stronger. He has also told us that he had foreseen our coming and wished to speak to one of us: Dante."

"Me? What for?" the young man asked.

"He is a skilled magician." Tish said. "He says he wants to teach you some magical spells."

"That? Well, all help is welcome."

"Did you ask him about the keyhole on Hollow Bastion?" asked Octavius.

"We did and got an answer." The fairy replied. "Like we had thought, the keyhole on Hollow Bastion is not the door to the ultimate darkness. Ansem knows where said door lies, but cannot still find the strength to open it. Sadly, Merlin does not know where this evil portal dwells..."

We didn't speak about much else. One by one, we got into the little house and went down some stairs on the ground. The house was cozy and was riddled with books, a little dinning table, a nice tea kettle, some cups, a blackboard, and some other things. All of us said 'hi' to the magician and his little owl as we passed by them and descended to the cave. This new place was very beautiful. There was water almost everywhere, but it wasn't cold. Moss covered most of the rocks underwater and the walls. Yet there was enough room for all of us to sit down and talk about what would happen next. But before that, we decided to rest a bit. The trip, although short compared to some of our previous travels, had tired us much.

Most of our friends decided to remain within the cave, but Ukyo, Sora, Kairi, Ryu, Siegfried, Donald, Goofy, and I decided to go outside to a little alley that also lead to the cave. This place was empty of Heartless and of evil presences...

"Are you sure you'll be fine outside?" Ryoga asked me in a low voice.

"Uh-huh." I answered. "I've got many friends along with me, Ryoga. I'll be fine."

"Okay." He said. He held my hands and kissed them tenderly. "I'll go catch up with you in some minutes, okay?"

"That would be nice." I giggled and gave him a quick kiss before following the rest of my friends to the alley.

We talked for a long time about lots of things and still Ryoga wouldn't come out. I wasn't angry or worried or whatever, however. He probably felt more comfortable inside the cave, although I didn't doubt for a second he would come to join us at any moment. But during his absence, they all asked me a lot of questions about him. I was sort of embarrassed to answer them... especially Ryu.

Yet all of a sudden, we heard footsteps. They had come from the shadows that were on our left. As soon as we raised our guards, they stopped. I couldn't feel any presence, but had a bad feeling. And I could see in my friends' faces that they weren't too happy with these mysterious footsteps either.

"...You've come a long way." A voice said at last. It had been grave and manly, but there was something in it that made me shiver.

"Do you have anything against that?" Sora asked, taking a defiant step toward the voice.

"...Maybe, maybe not." The voice answered.

"Who are you?" Ukyo asked, standing next to Sora. "Show yourself!"

And as an answer, the man moved forward to the light. The first thing we saw of him was his weapon: a beautiful, thin sword that glittered maliciously when it got hit by the light of the alley...


	36. Chapter ThirtyFive: THe Unwelcome Ally

Howdy! How've you been? Well, whatever the case, I hope you're doing better than me... I've got really bad news.

You know I'm always telling you "Don't worry; this semester's going to be better than the others?" Well, that's not the case this time. This semester is my worst nightmare.

Why, you ask? Let me put it this way. I'm going to be staying at the University TEN freaking hours Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On Thursdays, I get to spend nearly ELEVEN lovely hours and on Tuesdays TWELVE delicious hours inside the school. But that's not the worst part. I also have to go on Saturdays! Granted, only for two hours, but still! That wrecks my weekend completely, because I won't be resting on Sundays, oh no; I'll be doing homework, studying for exams, and putting circuits together... If I'm lucky, however, I'll get all of those things finished during my free hours.

Long story short, with any fortune, I'll be updating the story around April (we get one free week). I hate my life! ... Actually, that's just desperation speaking. I love Engineering and Japanese, but I sooo much want to finish them already!

I can only leave you with one promise: if I don't have to do any homework, to study for any exam, or to put an electrical circuit together, I swear with God as my witness (how melodramatic) that, no matter how tired I am, I'll write AT LEAST one to two pages daily. I really wished it wouldn't have to be like this... but I had to choose this career. Way to go, Rafa, you blockhead:P

Anyway, enough of me whining. Before going on to the chapter, I want to make a few comments regarding one of the latest reviews, the one made by Dark5523. Concerning the Opposite Armor and the Phantom, I say, hang on! The story is nearly over, but I'm still not done! Concerning Monstro, you didn't miss it nor will you: I simply chose not to add it to the story. I didn't think it was vital, since there is no keyhole in there in the game. I know there are some interesting events that include Riku, but hey, they're not crucial to the outcome of the storyline in the way I have handled the narrative thus far. The tale is quite long as it is. I'm aware that there's a Monstro stage in the game but in my defense, there's no Hyrule or Gaia. Anyway, I apologize for this little detail :)

Two more things: I hope to have the story finished by June when, if I'm lucky and have money, I'll be able to play KH2 and then decide if I should write a sequel or not (again, chances are I will). And finally, this chapter has a special narrator and I want to keep it a surprise. Don't worry, you'll find out who he is later in the episode. Besides, many of you will probably guess who he/she is after reading the first pages. Still, I had a lot of fun with it.

That's it. I'm terribly sorry for the huge note, but I had to tell you these important matters. Enjoy and pray I don't get a heart attack during these following months:)

_Chapter Thirty-Five: The Unwelcome Ally_

_Narrator?_

"Where am I?" I asked. I felt really weak and I could see nothing but darkness. There were many malignant presences about me. But I wasn't frightened. I slowly got to my feet and repeated the question. Whoever had brought me to that strange place should better start answering if he or she didn't want to get destroyed. Not that I wasn't thinking about killing said person either way. "Where am I? I can feel you. Answer me, damn it!"

"You should better calm down." A strange voice said. A man stepped into a spot of light in front of me. He was tall and had long, silvery hair. His skin was dark and his eyes were yellow. Of all the evil presences about me, his was the most powerful. I could even say he would be a respectable rival. "You're welcome, by the way."

"For what?" I asked, taking a step towards him. "Was it you who brought me back to life?"

"Indeed." He answered. "I am pleased to meet you, my friend. My name is Ansem."

"Ansem, eh? Well, I can't say it's a pleasure, because it isn't. Either way, thank you for reviving me, I suppose. To show you how much that means to me, I'll spare your life. Now please be kind enough to point the way out of this pit."

"My good comrade, it's not that simple." He laughed.

"Hmm. I would be careful if I were you. It seems to me that you don't know who you're talking to." I hissed.

"Do you really think you can hurt me?" he challenged.

"Something tells me you want to find out." I answered. I noticed my sword lay beside me. I grabbed it and pointed it at the dark man. "Even though you are a complete bastard, I am feeling rather benevolent today. I'm back on my feet, after all. I suggest you move before I lose my patience and go through you."

"Bold words. Let me tell you something, friend: I too am feeling benevolent. For that, I will allow you to consider putting your sword aside and listen to what I have to say."

"I answer to no one."

"Just a moment, my friend. That's all I ask."

After thinking about it quietly for nearly a minute, I decided that this man perhaps deserved some pity. He had, after all, brought me back to life, although I don't have the least idea of how he did so. And so I put my blade down and with an exasperated sigh, I said: "I'm listening."

"You have heard of the Heartless, haven't you?"

"Once or twice. What about them?"

"I control them. They answer only to me and to no one else. Some of them I created. They are very powerful and have destroyed many worlds. My ultimate goal is to have them cover all of the worlds in darkness. I wish darkness to unite the worlds... it is an idea of a Utopia, if you wish. I was going to make a portal to the door of ultimate darkness... but some nosy brats have been getting in the way of my plans. They rescued the Princesses of Heart my creatures had managed to capture. Those girls of pure heart were the key to creating the portal and those boys freed them. Yet that is of no importance now. I have another plan... yet I fear that these brats will intervene again. That is why I revived you... I want you to kill them."

"And...?"

"Oh, I think you will be rather happy to drive your steel through them. I believe you know a few of them..."

It didn't take me long to know who he was speaking about. No doubt I was anxious to kill each and every last one of those bastards...

"One of them already died." Ansem added with a triumphant voice. I looked at him in the eyes as he smiled with satisfaction. "His heart is lost in the river of darkness the Heartless have created. He is all alone... I'm sure he could use some company."

To drive my blade to each and every single one of those brats was surely something I greatly desired. Those weaklings had also intervened with my plans... they had also ruined me once. Revenge was surely a delightful pleasure I did not want to miss... Yet as I thought about it more carefully, I realized that I had a mission to attend to first and this mission was more important than revenge. And besides, Ansem's talk was beginning to smell like an order.

"So is that my prize?" I asked. "I get to have my vengeance and you will just cover the worlds in darkness? I rip their guts out and you become king of all the worlds?"

"I will grant you more power, still." He replied. "You will be even ten times more powerful than you were before. You were already legendary in your time... Think about the destruction you will be able to cause by just wishing it."

He didn't answer my question directly. Nevertheless, I was already aware of his intentions.

"No, thanks." I replied.

"What?" he asked, confused by my answer.

"Revenge is sweet, I'll give you that; but I have duties to attend to. I have to follow orders that come from someone even greater than you."

"...My friend, this isn't exactly a request." Ansem said, darkly. "It would be best for you that you did as I have told you to. You stand no chance against me."

"Hmm... Interesting. You actually think you can beat me." I snarled.

"Would you like to find out, comrade?" he cackled. "Then have at you."

"It's a shame. I really didn't want to kill you, because after all, you brought me back from the dead. At least I didn't feel like doing so right now." And with that said, I threw myself at him, aiming my sword at his chest.

Yet just as I gave a step forward, Ansem raised his hand and an unknown force that came from everywhere and nowhere stopped me in midair. It twisted my arms as if they were made out of rubber and I dropped my sword. An instant had just passed... and the man who should lie lifelessly on the ground before me held me with a malevolent force, manipulating me as if I were just a puppet.

"I thought you said you were going to kill me." He mocked. "Look at yourself. I could attach some strings to your arms and legs and make you dance if I wished."

"How can this be!" I barely exclaimed. That force even kept me from speaking correctly. "What the hell is this!"

"I told you: you stand no chance against me." He said. "You see, my friend... when I brought you back to life, I took certain precautions." And as he spoke, I saw that many creatures began to emerge from the shadows. Their yellow eyes peered at me quietly... yet I could hear them laugh. In my head, I heard their laughter. They all mocked me. I hung there helplessly – a little kid with an invisible leash... Those bastards. I hate them... I hate them all!

"If you're going to kill me..." I growled. "Then do it now. Stop wasting my time."

"Do me a favor. Take a good, long look at your right arm." He said, with an almost commanding voice.

Slowly, even reluctantly, I turned around and looked at my arm. I don't know whether it was anger or perhaps even fear that started to tingle through my veins. There was an emblem. It was the same cursed symbol that the creatures around me had on their chest. The same damn symbol Ansem had on his chest.

"What is this...?" I asked and then the unknown force made me look up.

"Is it really so hard to see?" Ansem mocked. "You, my very unfortunate friend, have become a Heartless. Bound to me by darkness. You live because I do. For I control the Heartless... You are nothing without me." He started to circle me as he went on. "Every Heartless of my own creation has an emblem. You are the only one with a special symbol carved on the arm. Do you know why?" he stopped in front of me and smiled. "Because you are special. Because, if I wanted to, your power would only be second to my own." With that said, he began to walk around me yet again.

"Do you think that is going to get you my help?" I muttered. "If you want those brats death, you're just going to have to kill them yourself. Finish me already! I'm not afraid of death; I've faced it before. My only regret will be not killing you or your lackeys, Ansem..."

"Don't make me laugh!" he cried, although he didn't sound amused. "It's not going to be that easy, worthless rat!" he approached me, grabbed my head, and forced me to look at his eyes. "Death is too good for you, isn't it? It would be a release to you rather than a torment. No, my friend, you will not die. I've thought of a better punishment for you, my rebellious Heartless!"

The mysterious force ceased its grip on me, letting me fall on the ground. The Heartless laughed at me. They didn't notice it, but I heard them. Anger and hatred began to consume me, but I couldn't feel them burning within me. I felt as weak as a lone ant that stands against a spider. I could see in his putrid eyes what my... "punishment" would be. And just to think about it made me growl in insane rage.

"I will leave you without your power." He sentenced. "Wander through the world aimlessly... you will be at the mercy of any enemy. But not the Heartless, no. They will simply walk by you and occasionally throw a punch or two at your little helpless face. Oh, but I'm not such a bad guy, really. Here: I will let you keep this." He added, kicking my sword at my face. I looked up at him from the ground, feeling anger like never before. Those eyes... he glanced at me as if I were some sort of failed experiment. "You disappoint me. You could've had power beyond your imagination."

"Power is unimportant." I replied. "Nothing matters to me, but her will."

"She is nothing more than a memory, at the most." Ansem laughed wickedly. He stepped back and the strange force returned to lift me from the ground. I don't think I've ever felt so much hatred for anybody. Never before had I felt so disgraced. And so impotent. The bastard had insulted her and I couldn't pierce him with a single thrust. Suddenly, I began to feel shame... her honor had been stepped on with dirty soles and there I hovered in midair, suspended above the ground by a force I couldn't understand. But Ansem wasn't going to let me go just yet. He still had to pour a bit more salt on the open wound. "She's a memory, which is what you will become in time, with any luck."

"I refuse to remain a memory!" I exclaimed, mad with rage. "I will not become a hermit whom time looks upon with pity! I would rather find death first!"

"Then stab yourself, comrade!" laughed Ansem, victory shone in his eyes as he saw me broken. "You will still turn into reminiscence: one of a cheap test that chose to leave this plane of reality out of mere dread!" and with that said, he flung his arms upwards, wrapped me within a magical bubble and sent me flying high into the black sky above our heads.

The veil of darkness about me grew faint and after a few moments, acquired the shape of a mountain which lay surrounded by a haze of wicked magic. Then I saw crystals and diamonds: shiny stones turned to sand covered the ground of yet another cavern that grew smaller and smaller, until it became a little dot lost amongst a cloud of bright stardust and shattered asteroids that circled what appeared to be a broken planet. It had no color and barely possessed a spherical shape. Only the stardust about it gave away its presence in the emptiness of space which I now traversed.

I passed right through a blue nebula with red, tiny stars lurking inside of it. Later on, I saw a great meteor that remained static, patrolled by many ships that had the Heartless' symbol painted on their fuselage. And shortly after that, the space turned into an orange sky as I fell hard on the rocky ground of a plant whose sun had begun to hide behind a great castle. I rose to my feet a bit dazzled, yet the refreshing scent of water about me in the form of mystical walls made me feel somewhat better.

I thirsted a lot. Without much thought, I dashed at the bizarre waterfalls and drank from them. The liquid was cold. Deliciously cold, I daresay. I only needed a few gulps to ease my thirst. Then I took a few steps back and fell to my knees.

Anger and desperation started to escape my body in the form of bitter tears. I seldom have cried before. However, I had never felt so hopeless, so frustrated... so weak. Too weak, in fact, that I even considered following Ansem's suggestion. Slowly, I crawled to my sword, grabbed it and pointed its blade at my stomach. It would only be a quick flick of my wrists and only darkness would remain.

Yet as I was about to drive my weapon through my body, I thought more carefully about Ansem's words. He had been right about something: one way or another, I would turn into a memory. I didn't want that to happen, but the bastard had left me without a choice. I had once dreamt of acquiring so much power that I would be able to travel through space without the need of a ship or a magical bubble. People from all the worlds would tremble before me and would kneel down asking for forgiveness for what they had done to me... But that dream was beyond my grasp now. This became most clear to me as my knee started to ache and I then comprehended I had hurt it by kneeling so abruptly. Just by kneeling!

Willing or no, I would become a memory. Nevertheless, although I did not like the idea of becoming nothing more than a thought, I certainly did not want the worlds to remember me as a coward who took away his own life because he had been unable to deal with the cruel trap destiny had set for him. It certainly was the easiest way to put an end to my suffering, but it was also the most humiliating. No, suicide was not an option.

Rage and hatred soon took over despair and self pity, just the way it should have been from the very beginning. I practically scratched my tears off my face and cursed myself for being so weak; because deep in my body (not in my heart, since Ansem had left me without one) I knew she wasn't happy with those thoughts.

"ANSEM!" I cried to the sky above me. "I hate you, Ansem! I HATE YOU! Insufferable son of a bitch! I swear I'll kill you!" I got up and walked forward without turning to see where I was going. "I'll send you to hell, Ansem! I'LL KILL YOU, EVEN IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!" and then I tripped on a large pebble and hurt my knee again.

My breathing had sped up and even my head had begun to ache. I sat down and took a glance at my wounded leg. The wound was small, but it had already stained my pants with blood. Suddenly, I kept still. My breaths began to come out of my mouth more slowly. I closed my eyes and let my head rest on my wounded knee.

"I'll kill you, even if it's the last thing I do." I repeated in a low voice. "Even if it's the last thing I do..." and I burst out in laughter.

I had just realized the irony of my words. Ansem had told me that I was bound to him. I was his creation. I lived because he lived... That meant that if I indeed killed him, then I would die, too. I had been right: destroying him would surely be my finest and my last moment.

"Oh, how sardonic can life be sometimes!" I said to myself as I got up with sword in hand. It was then that I realized something else...

My blade. I could still hold it. No other man had the power to handle that blade. That amazing power was still mine: Ansem had been unable to take it from me; the power to overwhelm my opponents with just a snap of my fingers was gone. I was just an ordinary human. Well, perhaps not ordinary. I could still swing my sword with skill and technique far beyond the reach of anybody. Ansem had weakened me to the point in which I could die from a mere gunshot. Yet I could still give battle. I could still take lives.

I remained in deep thought and soon came to the conclusion that I had three choices, any of which would ultimately lead to my death. On one hand, I could pierce my chest with my blade and end it right there. But I had already gone through that. My second option was to do nothing. I could simply stay out of everybody's way and wait for Ansem to triumph or to be defeated. If the first happened, he would eventually grow tired of having me wander through his almighty dark empire and he would put an end to me, or I would simply die of old age like a miserable fly nobody cares about. Or I could face him and try to send him to oblivion... No question about it. The third option was the most convenient, by far.

Subsequently, this choice lead me to another two possibilities. I could try to face Ansem on my own. As I thought of this, I instantly realized this would no doubt prove to be disastrous. He had suspended my body in midair by just looking at it. He would kill me in the blink of an eye, or worse yet, lock me inside an inescapable, eternal prison...

In the end, I had been once again left without options.

"How sardonic can life be sometimes." I said under my breath, not knowing whether to feel amused or furious.

There was no time to lose. I would kill Ansem and end with my torment or die trying and end with my torment all the same. I have never liked to quit either way. There were some Heartless not far from where I stood. They had already noticed me, but didn't pay any attention to me. Behind them, were four small ships. The enemy wasn't exactly numerous. I quickly ran at them and slaughtered them. They opposed little, if any, resistance. Sheathing my sword, I boarded one of the vessels. The controls were not very complex; I had operated vehicles much more complicated than this. In a matter of seconds I took off and once again became lost in the darkness of space again. I passed through many Heartless ships; none of them attacked me or appeared on my radar. This is why, after a few minutes of flying aimlessly, I was surprised to notice my radar had picked up a signal.

I decided to follow it.

_(Change of scene)_

The signal, which had been quite faint at the beginning, was now very clear. I had flown for nearly seventy hours without rest, doing nothing but to follow that signal. I was amazed to see that no other Heartless' ships were around. Perhaps they knew better than to attack the vessels I was tracking. I don't know if the other transports had any radar, but I was lucky to have one on board. Maybe this was some new technology the Heartless had just uncovered. But I digress.

I chose to keep my distance from the ships, for I knew that if I went too close to them, I would surely be vaporized in less than a second. I stayed just outside radar range (or so I hoped) and observed them impatiently, but without making any rash moves. I really wanted to get off this cursed vessel. Nevertheless, I had to remain cautious. I had to wait for the others to land on a planet before I could make an approach.

My hands clenched the controls with both fear and anger as I slowly came closer to them. I couldn't believe what I was about to do. I was still shocked by my own decision. I had chosen to take the side of the very same brats that had foiled my plans.

Many times I questioned my resolution. In the end, however, I had decided that Ansem was an even greater threat. He had offered me, ME, a position in his empire. As if I were a gullible politician... The others had at least shown respect by fighting against me. I'm a proud person. But that doesn't mean that I can't tell when I have been beaten fairly. And those brats had indeed given me death honorably.

This is why I ultimately decided to go to them.

At long last, they landed on a small planet. I circled it for a while before I descended. The place was a small town, warm and with kind people. It actually reminded me a bit of the other town I had visited a few years ago. But that didn't matter. I stepped out of the ship and as I did, it shrank to a minuscule size. I decided not to question myself about this and picked the tiny vessel with my hand to put it in my pocket.

Where the hell had they gone to? There was no sight of them anywhere near. Even their ships had vanished. No doubt they had also taken them with them. Thankfully, the place, as I've already said, wasn't too big. I went up some stairs and went through a large wooden door. And as I stepped into the dark plaza, I remained still.

There was a fowl presence on the air. It stank. I began to get very mad. And I must say that perhaps that which angered me the most was the fact that the essence of this invisible monster was very similar to my own. It reminded me of what I had become. It told me that I had been reduced to a helpless being dependent on the life of that which I hated the most... This made me long for death more and more. There was only one way I could get what I wanted.

I unsheathed my sword and started to cross the plaza without fear. If any Heartless dared to stand in my way, I would quickly assassinate them without delay. I could feel their eyes on me. But none dared to come out of the shadows in which they hid.

"Pathetic foes." I hissed. "I can't wait to see you all dead. I may go along with you, but at least I will smile in my final moment."

I went through a smaller door which was just under what appeared to be a scientific lab. It lead into a house riddled with Dalmatians. They all stared at me in silence and some of them even growled. Yet I had no time to take out my anger in a pack of helpless dogs. I had more important things to look up to. I went through the house with no difficulty, amazed at the quantity of Dalmatians that lived there. I don't know exactly how much they were, but it was easy to tell there were about a hundred of them, perhaps a bit more.

I exited the house and became very still and very quiet. There they were, right in front of me.

Only eight of them were in sight and none of them looked familiar to me. To tell the truth, I wasn't sure that these even were the individuals I was searching for. I was almost certain that they were, but I had to make sure. And so I moved a bit closer and remained within the shadows. I practically melded with them. I suppose that was a gift I had gained as a Heartless. I was practically invisible.

There were three girls, two strange animal-like creatures, one big strong-looking guy, and two young boys. They were all talking about unimportant stuff. I still had to listen to them to see if they were the ones.

"So, Sakura, what's he like?" asked one of the girls, the youngest of them. She had dark red hair and blue eyes. "Surely you've kissed him, haven't you? Is he any good?"

"You shouldn't be asking that sort of questions, Kairi!" another one, one that had a white bandanna, answered. "You're a little too young for that, aren't you? That sort of information is PG-13!"

"Hey, I'm fourteen!"

"I bet he's good." One of the lads said. This one had long, blonde hair tied into a pony tail. "Look at her. She wouldn't be blushing if that weren't true."

"You are so dead, Siegfried!" exclaimed the girl with the bandanna as she captured him with her arms and applied a headlock. "Take that back!"

"Ouch! No way!" he laughed.

"Come on, Sakura, take it easy." The man said, separating the two of them. "I bet Siegfried was only kidding."

"So was I! It wouldn't have happened if he wouldn't have been so weak!" she mocked.

"Right. And you're so very strong whenever you think about him, aren't you?" the lad retorted.

"No!" the girl cried, blushing more than ever while the others laughed at her.

I couldn't remember when the last time I had a normal conversation had been. It seemed so long ago. I did remember some things, though. But they weren't important. This wasn't important, either. I was beginning to get tired at their childish talk. Yet it was vital for me that I remained quiet and still in the shadows.

"Don't be like that." One of the weird animals – a giant duck – said. "At least you can tell us when was it that you officially started 'dating'."

"Okay, I suppose that can't hurt much." The girl replied. "It sort of happened during the battle of the Sanctuary. In the house of Aquarius. Right after we finished fighting, it became somewhat official. Hyoga said something like 'it was about time'."

"I can say." Said the last girl, a tall, attractive gal with long, dark brown hair and blue eyes. "I suppose it's no mystery to you that we were all waiting when the two of you would get together."

"All of you?" the girl with the headband asked.

"Yeah. Well, except, perhaps, for the clueless. I regret to say that my baby was totally oblivious to the situation between you and him."

"I really can't get tired of saying it, but he had always been too slow." The blonde young man laughed.

"Well, I couldn't tell. I wasn't there when it began to happen." The other strange creature added.

"What was it in him that attracted you, Sakura?" asked the big man. "If you wouldn't mind telling us, that is."

"Not you too, Ryu!" she exclaimed. "This is just too embarrassing! Besides, shouldn't we be worrying about the Heartless? What if they come out of nowhere and suddenly attack?"

"That won't happen." The second boy said. His hair was spiky and brown, very much like the one of someone I knew. "If they dare come this way, we can take care of them with this." He unsheathed a strange sword in the shape of a key. "So come on, Sakura. Spill the beans!"

I then knew they were the ones. Not because they had mentioned the Heartless, no; any of the townsfolk could've talked about them. I knew because the minute this lad unsheathed his weapon, I felt a strange fright within me. I tried to suppress it but I couldn't. And not only that; I also felt rage. I had already been angry, yet somehow, just to lay my eyes on that thing made the blood in my veins boil. No doubt that blade was the Heartless' bane.

There was no need for me to hide any longer. I stood up and started to walk toward the brats. All of them heard my footsteps as I came nearer and raised their guards. I would've been very disappointed if they wouldn't have done that.

"You've come a long way." I ventured to say.

"Do you have anything against that?" asked the young boy with the blade that makes me shiver, taking a menacing step forward.

"...Maybe, maybe not." I retorted. I'm not sure if it was fright, rage, or even just plain stupidity that made the answer.

"Who are you?" asked the tall, attractive girl, standing beside the boy. And as she did, she unsheathed a blade I had seen before... a sword whose touch I had already felt. "Show yourself!" she demanded.

With weapon in hand, I stepped into the light. I was careful to stand with my body slightly facing my right side so that they would not see the emblem on my arm. I didn't want to let them know just yet. None of them recognized me, but I could see a strange fear in their eyes. This quenched my fury a little.

The tall girl's sword had cut me once before. But she had not been the one to slice it through my flesh. That could only mean that its former master had been the one Ansem had talked about...

"Renamark, is it?" I muttered, remembering the sword's name. "That's what he called the blade, correct?"

"...You've met Wilheim." She inquired.

"Indeed." I said. "And to see you holding it the way you do can only mean one thing. He is dead." I couldn't help but to smile. A sudden burst of joy spread through my body. "There's only one thing I regret about it: that I wasn't there to see him kick the bucket."

"How dare you speak about my brother like that, bastard!" roared the lad with blonde hair, while the others babbled incomprehensible words of rage. He was about to lunge himself at me, but the girl, who had remained quiet thus far, stopped him by putting her hand on his chest. She took a step toward and raised the blade.

"Big mistake." She jeered. "I really hope you can defend yourself, fiend, because if you can't, I'll tear you apart sooner than you can possibly imagine."

Her words had been too bold, too daring. I knew only too well that I was likely to lose to her if I decided to accept her challenge. Yet she had lightened a fire in me that I couldn't put out. With a chuckle, I pointed my sword at her and waited for her to do the first move. I had to know if I was still strong enough to kill one of them.

But suddenly, the cursed sword, Renamark, was engulfed by a magical flame. I nearly froze as I felt the girl's power grow more and more, as it reached a level beyond anything I could imagine. I could feel that she was as strong, if not as strong, as the young man who had carried into battle against me before her...

She threw herself at me and tried to cut my stomach with a swift blow. I parried and counterattacked, hoping to drive my blade through her neck. She quickly stepped aside and swept me off my feet with a nimble kick. Once on the ground, she tried to stab me. I managed to roll away from the sword, but was unable to avoid her foot, which she had aimed at my face. I hit a wall and felt how my nose started to bleed. I felt anger in my again. I got up and tried to pierce through her, momentarily forgetting about my plan. I just wanted to end with her life at that very instant. But the girl was clearly much more powerful than me. She easily stepped aside again and swung her blade across my chest with great speed. I was able to cheat death by stepping back, yet the sword touched my skin and opened it. I yelled in pain as its fire entered my body and started to gnaw my chest. The powerful wind come from that sword also succeeded in throwing me against the wall. I fell on my butt, desperately trying to put the ghastly fire out. I managed to do this sooner than later, luckily. However, when I reached for my blade, I realized my opponent already had the tip of her weapon pointing directly at my chest, threatening to pierce me with a single move of hers if she wished.

"Way to go, Ukyo." Cheered the boy with the key-like weapon. "That'll teach him to speak about Wilheim with some respect."

"Indeed, you should learn to watch your mouth whenever I'm around." She growled. "Don't you ever talk about my baby like that again..." but then she paused as she looked at my right arm and noticed the emblem. This could very well be my final moment. I came to believe this even more as she raised her sword at my neck and said: "Any last words before you die, Heartless?"

"He's a Heartless?" asked the dog-like creature as he stood beside the girl. "Gwarsh... what do you know?"

"Just finish him already!" pressed the giant duck.

"...This can't be." I muttered with fury. I don't think I've ever longed for death more than at that moment. I couldn't believe a girl, a mere girl lacking the power of a goddess, had beaten me so quickly. So easily. I had been ridiculed like never before. Ansem had control over me, so my defeat at his hands was understandable, to some extent. But this kid had outsmarted me in just a matter of seconds. "This can't be...! My power is gone! Dear mother, I'm so lost!" I cried, holding back tears of rage and despair.

"Say your good-byes already." She said. "Then I'll end this."

She was really going to kill me. I suppose that the loss of Wilheim – her boyfriend, I should think – had turned her into a merciless mistress of death when it came to eradicate a Heartless. It was then that my anger faded a little and I ventured to smile.

"...You're good." I confessed. "I guess the sword has something to do with it, but you're pretty good." As I said this, I tried to convince myself that, although terribly humiliating, I had suffered a fair defeat. The child may not have had the power of a monster, but she was a worthy adversary. She would've given me a lot of problems if I was to still possess my old powers and she was unquestionably infinitely stronger than I was at the present. No doubt all of them were. "I don't know if you're as good as Wilheim was, or even better, to tell the truth." I forced myself to say.

"Hmm... A Heartless that pays respect to others." The man with the red headband said. "The only other Heartless that did this was Digaia. But he was hundreds of times much more powerful than this one here..."

"He must be preparing some sort of trap!" said the duck. "Finish him now, Ukyo! Just finish that Heartless!"

"Stop calling me that!" I demanded angrily. I think none of them were expecting me to say that. "Stop calling me 'Heartless'!"

"Huh?" muttered the girl with the white headband. "What did you say?"

"I... I thought the Heartless couldn't get offended by having someone call them 'Heartless'." The girl with red hair said.

"I don't like to be called like that." I claimed. Slowly, I got back on my feet. My adversary didn't harm me, but she didn't put her sword away either. "I may be one, but I don't like the idea at all. I prefer to be nothing." I said.

"...You fought against Wilheim, right?" my opponent mused, a thoughtful glance in her eyes. "When? Where?"

"Not too long ago, I should think." I answered. "In a far away land. I battled against him and some others. He was a fearsome opponent. I didn't expect that he would bring me off balance, yet he did. That is why I have great respect for him. Yet I also despise him." I paused for a moment and then added: "He never mentioned that he had a girlfriend. Or a brother, for that matter."

"Oh, God..." the girl with the bandanna murmured, covering her mouth with her left hand as she stared at me in fright and awe.

"I bet he had more important things to deal about at that moment." My opponent said. "He spoke about you. All of our friends who fought against you did. I now know who you are. You fit their description perfectly; I don't know why I didn't think about it before." Then she lowered her voice to a whisper, as if by pronouncing my name too loudly would cause my old power to return to me. "Sephiroth."

I couldn't help but to feel a certain joy as she pronounced my name with such fright. But then I quickly saw in her eyes that she remembered how easily she had beaten me.

"I see he spoke about me." I said, forcing a smile on my lips.

"Ukyo, kill him." Suddenly muttered the girl with the white headband. Everyone, save for my opponent, turned to her in shock. Her voice had sounded very frightened. Perhaps I would've enjoyed that if the words would've been different. I suppose there is no need to tell you that her sudden plea took me completely by surprise. "Please, Ukyo. Remember what Ryoga and the others told us. You can't let him live!"

"Calm down, Sakura." Intervened the man. "Look at him. There's no such power as the one our friends told us about left in him anymore."

"This must be really killing you, huh?" snickered Ukyo. "The great Sephiroth... completely defeated by a girl."

It is strange. That arrogant remark should have infuriated me. I should have wanted to reach for my sword and drive it through her. But rather than that, things stirred inside of me in a different way. I can't explain why, but I actually found that commentary very comical. I bowed my head and let out a low laugh.

"You certainly seem to be enjoying this." I finally said. "What are you waiting for, then? If you're going to kill me, then do it already."

She remained still with a thoughtful stare in her eyes. After a few moments, the blonde kid, Siegfried, walked to me, took Masamune off my hands and practically dragged it away from me. Indeed: I was still the only man who could hold that sword. Although I was now unarmed and beyond any possibility of giving battle, Ukyo did not take Renamark away from my body.

"So you sold your soul and heart to Ansem so you could have your revenge." She inquired. "I guess he just didn't give you enough power."

"I haven't sold myself to anyone." I retorted feeling very offended. "I follow no one's will but my own and my mother's."

"Then how come you have that emblem on your arm?" asked the spiky-haired boy, pointing at my cursed emblem with his blade.

"Only the Heartless have that, as far as I understand." Muttered the red-headed girl.

"I didn't ask to be given flesh again." I explained. "Ansem brought me back to life. Yet the bastard turned me into a mere shadow. He took away my power, because I chose not to help him in his pursuit for darkness."

They all remained quiet for a long while. I guess it's needless to say that none of them seemed to trust me.

"Then why is it that you came here to fight us?" asked the dog-like creature.

"I didn't." I confessed. "I came here to offer you my help."

"Yeah, and coming here insulting the memory of my Wilheim-honey is definitively a solid proof of it." Ukyo grumbled.

"Well, I got your attention, didn't I?" I replied with a smile. Those words didn't make any of them happy. In fact, Siegfried stepped forth and threw a furious punch at my face. I nearly fell down; he did have some strength on his arm. He probably would've hit me more, but the man with the red headband held him and dragged him away from me.

"Don't you dare talk about my brother like that again, you son of a bitch!" he threatened. "I'll kill you if you do! I swear to God I will!"

"You better watch your mouth, Sephiroth." Ukyo added calmly, yet I still sensed anger in her voice. "Any other statement of the sort could cost you your life."

"...Fair enough." I muttered, wiping a trail of blood that had begun to run down my nose. That brad had nearly broken it. Either way, I wasn't angry at all. I supposed that, to some extent, I deserved that blow. I had to be more careful with my words, although I certainly did enjoy the look on their faces. "I apologize." I added, but didn't mean it.

"What's on your mind, then?" questioned the man, letting go of Siegfried.

"Don't tell me you actually want to listen to him, Ryu!" the duck whined. "We should get rid of him right now!"

"Take it easy, Donald. Just let him speak up." Ryu answered and then turned to me with a stern expression on his face as he said: "As long as he keeps his insults to himself."

"Ansem said I am bound to him." I told them, not minding his last words. "According to him, I live because he lives. If he is killed, then I will also die. That's why I want to help you to destroy him."

Naturally, none of this seemed to make any sense to them.

"...You want to die?" asked the spiky-haired kid, to which I nodded silently.

"Of course you understand I could gladly do you the favor." Ukyo said, yet her intention was not to kill me. Not at that moment, at least.

"You may cut me down if that's what you desire." I replied, dryly. "Death will be a release from this body stained with the mark of the Heartless. At least I will have died from the hand of an honorable opponent." I was surprised at my own words. Amazingly, I had been sincere. Ukyo was quite astonished and after a few instants, slowly lowered her blade. "Ansem took away my power: everything I once was has turned into a memory, nothing more. He had promised me great power if I were to serve him and kill all of you. But that power wouldn't have been my own. Besides, my mother had bigger, more important designs that I decided were better to follow. That is why I was reduced to the status of an insect that can barely fend off his enemies; that's why I want you to kill him, so that I can go into darkness and remain there, rather than to lurk about the worlds like a stray dog."

They said nothing for a long time. They turned to face each other with questioning eyes. And at last, Ukyo let out a sigh and asked:

"How do you propose to help us?"

I smiled triumphantly, already savoring Ansem's death.

"You don't know where he is, do you?" I said.

"But you do." Inquired Sakura.

"I can take you there." I added. "I know the way."

Before they could reply, I heard how someone approached. The footsteps came from the waterway that lay at my right. I looked that way just as another of them came into view. He stopped short and stared at me with horror in his eyes.

I really cannot tell you why, but I felt a certain joy and relief when I glance upon him. He had been my enemy in the past; because of him, I had lost the battle against Wilheim, Cloud, and the others. I had underestimated him last time... I suppose it's always good to see a familiar face after a while.

"Well, well!" I exclaimed, unable to contain a laugh. "If it isn't my very small, but very ferocious opponent!" I paused for a second as I recalled his name. "Merryck, wasn't it?"

"H-how is it that y-you are a-alive?" the little hobbit stammered.

"Relax, Merryck." The spiky-haired kid said, pointing his blade at my chest. Anger and fright slightly began to tingle through my body. "It's all under control."

"How can you say that, Sora!" Merryck cried. "T-that fiend is immensely... By God! He's become a Heartless!" he added, noticing the emblem on my arm. I simply rolled my eyes, begging for patience. I was beginning to get tired of this.

"Calm down." Ryu said. "He says he wants to help."

"To help!" wailed the hobbit. "To... how in the... what? You have got to be joking!"

"Besides, he's too weak to do anything. Ukyo beat him very quickly just a few moments ago." He turned around and pointed at Masamune, which lay under Siegfried's foot. "See? He's unarmed now. He can't use any magic or anything of the sort. It's all right, Merryck."

"...Did she?" he muttered as his eyes shone with both calm and wonder. He slowly, even cautiously, approached me and looked at my sword. He remained silent while he studied me carefully. Then he took a step back and muttered: "I somehow cannot grasp the thought that he has come to help us."

"I don't know." Ukyo said. "I don't know if we should trust him or not..."

"Trust him?" said the duck. "He can't be trusted! He attacked you! Even if he's not a Heartless, he's still a menace!"

"I... I have to agree with Donald." Sakura said in a low, frightened voice and turned away from me. "I don't believe he's telling the truth."

"I don't know." Ryu intervened. "He did sound quite sincere."

"Sincere?" the hobbit mumbled. "He's a villain! He can't be sincere!"

"I don't know, Merryck..." Sora mused.

At this point, I was really uneasy about having that cursed blade pointing at my chest. It wasn't long before I realized that Sora was the sworn enemy of the Heartless: the master of the Keyblade – the one weapon they truly hated and feared. And I had been turned into one of those beings. That certainly explained why I had begun to feel so edgy all of a sudden.

"Get that thing away from me." I said. I had not sounded commanding but I also made it clear that I hadn't exactly requested him to do that. "It's beginning to get me nervous."

The boy quickly comprehended what was the matter with me and slowly lowered the Keyblade. I let out a sigh of relief and unconsciously wiped some sweat off my forehead: it was not until much later that I realized this. The effect that thing had on Ansem's monsters was truly remarkable.

"I may be crazy, but I think he's telling the truth." Sora said. I didn't think he would say that after my demand. "What do you think about it, Kairi?" he asked, turning to the red-headed girl.

"I... I don't know, Sora." She stuttered. "I... The Heartless robbed me from my heart once. I don't think I can trust them... even if he claims he's not with them." Sora nodded silently as he caressed her arm.

"What about you, Goofy?"

"Gwarsh... I don't think I can tell..." the dog-like creature mumbled.

"And you, Ukyo?"

"I hadn't made up my mind yet." She said. Up to this moment, she hadn't taken her eyes off me. It was weird; her glance didn't make me uncomfortable, even though there wasn't a smile on her lips or anything of the sort. "What's on yours, Siegfried?" she asked.

"...He insulted Wilheim." He replied sharply and said nothing more.

They all remained thoughtful and without speaking. I began to get nervous again. The awkward silence started to disturb me. I wished they could make up their minds faster. I reckon it wasn't an easy choice. However, I would've greatly appreciated a little more haste on their part. Either way, the best thing I could do was to remain still and quiet.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Ukyo asked in a low and amazingly vulnerable voice: "Did Ansem say anything about him?"

Of course I could've replied lots of nasty things to hurt her. Part of me would've no doubt liked to do that... but somehow, I strongly felt I had to be sincere. I took a deep breath before I made my answer.

"Is he the only one that has died?" I questioned. I waited for her to nod and then went on. "He said his heart was alone, lost in a river of darkness. That's all he said about him." I could see my words had hurt her, but she obviously wasn't mad at me. Not because of that, at least. "I'm not sure... but perhaps you could... we could bring him back to life." I corrected. "By killing Ansem, I would believe. Yet I can't be certain. What I can assure is that the river of darkness of which he spoke will vanish. Chances are you won't see him again anyway... but I suppose there's always hope, even if it's faint."

Those last words deserve an explanation. At this moment, I had become accustomed to the idea that I would see Ansem die, or in agony at least, before I faded out of existence. The desire to go with them had grown too strong. I knew I had to show some sympathy if I were to join them. Nevertheless, I had tried not to sound too seductive or compassioned, for if I had done that, they would've believed I was lying to them.

The girl let out a sigh and sheathed Renamark.

"I have to be honest with you." She said. Not to me; she had addressed her friends. "I trust him. Either way, I can't make a unilateral decision and bring him with us."

"Then let's ask the others." Ryu suggested. "Let's tell them what they think about the idea."

In other circumstances, I would've shivered at the proposal. Yet there was one thing that made me keep my cool. I would face my former enemies completely unarmed. I knew all of them hated me. But Cloud was with them, no doubt. And as much as he detests me, I was aware he knew something important about me: I am no liar.

"Then let's go." I pressed. "The only thing I ask of you is this: if you chose not to take me with you, then at least kill me. At least be considerate enough to put an end to my life."

My plea took them aback; especially Merryck, since he hadn't been there before to listen to my plight.

"...Fair enough." Ukyo said. "Is that OK with you, guys?" she asked her friends.

"Sounds good to me." Sora said.

"...I don't like it, but I suppose we could do that." Sakura added.

"...All right." Muttered Siegfried, the anger in his voice almost gone.

This time, Ryu got a hold of Masamune and carried it with him as they took me into the waterway. He didn't struggle as much as Siegfried, but it looked to me that the blade weighed a ton on his hands. He gave me a quick glance in which I could read his thoughts: he couldn't tell how it was that I, who had become as weak as a mouse, could carry that with such ease. I decided to leave the explanations for later. After all, I wasn't there to tell them about me or to make any friends. I was simply following that line: "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

We entered a cave in which the rest of the group's integrands rested. There were a lot of them. Even if I did have my old powers, I know figured it would've been very unlikely that I would've killed all of them. They would've had defeated me sooner or later... This experience was turning out to be a tormenting lesson of humility.

As you may already have guessed, I wasn't exactly received with a warm welcome. As we came into their view, I saw many new faces and some others that were familiar to me. The first of my old enemies that I saw was the succubus that had fought against me in Never Land. Her face turned into a surprised and horrified expression as she took a step back. Then I noticed the two men in shiny armors; I especially remembered the one clad in green color, since he had cut my hand last time we had met. Evidently, neither of them was happy to see me. Afterwards, I saw the young man with the yellow bandanna. He looked quite shocked. His mouth was widely opened, but he could utter no word. And last, but not least, I saw Cloud and Tifa and, to my surprise, other opponents of old: Cid, the cocky pilot; Yuffie, the young ninja, and Vincent, the dark man.

When these latter ones glanced at me, they all quickly withdrew their weapons. Cloud started to run at me, ready to unleash a devastating strike. I didn't move or try to reach Masamune.

"Get out of the way!" he cried to the others, mad with rage. "I'm going to tear him apart!"

"Cloud, stop!" Ryu yelled as he jumped in front of him, forcing him to halt. My oldest and fiercest opponent looked at the man with fury and amazement.

"What in the world do you think you're doing!" he demanded.

"Who is he?" asked one of the men I didn't know: his build was similar to Ryu's. He had blonde hair and thick dark brown eyebrows. "Wait a minute... is that Sephiroth?"

"Sephiroth?" I heard someone mutter. A strange man then appeared from behind Cloud. He also had blonde hair, but was covered by a green hood. His ears were unlike anything I had ever seen before: they were very long and very pointy. I guessed he was an elf. I had never seen this man... yet in his eyes I saw profound hatred towards me. He was armed with a sword and a shield. "Is this the foe that drove his blade through my darling? I cannot possibly understand how is it that he has come back to life for the third time and I do not mean to. Step aside, Ryu. I shall cut him down right now for the evil he has caused."

I didn't give much importance to his words. I had killed many people in the past: I wouldn't be surprised to find out that I had slain some one dear to him. But as he slightly stepped to the left, I saw the person he had spoken of. I can't deny I was taken a back by the sight of her.

She stared at me with her pretty, stunned eyes in silence. I can't say if fear had overcome her – if her heart had suddenly stopped and she was about to regurgitate. It certainly did seem that way. But on the other hand, maybe she was just surprised... yet not panicky or anything of the sort. If she was here, then why not me? To tell the truth, I think I was more startled than she was...

"What the hell...?" I muttered under my breath, unable to take my bewildered eyes off Aeris. She looked back at me and then I realized she was simply shocked, but not afraid. She remained calm as her glance started to drive me mad. As unbelievable as it may sound, she actually forced me to turn away from her.

It was then that I became aware of what was happening around me. Ryu, Sora, and Ukyo had blocked Cloud and the others' path to me, arguing that I had come with no intention of killing them. My enemies didn't seem to believe them at all: a heated argument had begun... and I had been completely oblivious to this because of that girl.

"I can't believe you are stupid enough to fall for this!" Cid yelled. "Get out of the damn way so we can end this!"

"At least hear him out!" Sora answered. "He's unarmed! He hasn't tried anything so far!" it was a good thing he didn't mention that I had attacked Ukyo at the beginning. And thankfully, none of the others said anything about this matter.

While they argued, the rest of the group's integrands slowly started to come forward. They all looked at me with both angry and mistrusting eyes... Indeed Ansem had left me weak: I began to feel intimidated by their glances.

"Just give him five minutes, damn it!" exclaimed Ukyo angrily. "That's all I'm asking!"

"You're out of your mind!" replied one of the two armored men I had faced in Never Land. I recalled his name: Seiya. "Don't you get it? This son of a bitch tried to crush the world we were in! He tried to kill Wilheim!"

The discussion went on for a few minutes. I'm surprised no one tried to sneak past them and kill me while they weren't looking. During all that time, I found myself at a loss of words. I had elaborated some sort of speech, confident that I would get them to trust me. But Aeris had simply stolen all my thoughts. I couldn't keep my mind off her. How? How was it that she also lived?

"SILENCE!" unexpectedly demanded a feminine voice. The cry had been so loud it had actually quieted all of them down. As they turned to her, I realized it had been the succubus who had yelled. And as I looked at her again, I noticed another succubus standing right beside her. They were almost exactly alike, save for certain subtle differences in their bodies and eyes... "Stop bickering! We are not going to get anywhere if you keep on fighting like this." She paused as she faced me. After taking a deep breath, she went on. "Let him speak. I want to hear what he has to say."

"He's got nothing to say!" Cid retorted. He then glanced at an enormous man, the biggest of them all, and said: "Octavius, blow this guy's freaking head off with that shotgun of yours!"

"Be at ease, pilot." He replied calmly. "Although you have told me many grim stories about this enemy, he has not tried to attack us so far, even during our verbal battle. To me, he is just a herald of the Heartless, perhaps even a spy. But for my part, I like to listen to the messages that my antagonist has for me before I decapitate his bearer of news." So far, I believe he was the only one who had noticed the emblem on my arm.

"What are you talking about...?" Yuffie muttered with confusion, but was quick to observe the symbol. "He's a Heartless now? That's yet another reason not to trust him!"

That statement snapped me out of my trance and made me lose all patience.

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" I roared and all of them fell silent. "I may have the goddamn emblem on my arm, but I'm not on those idiots' side!"

"Of course not: you're on nobody's team. You have never been." Cloud promptly intervened. "You just want to destroy the worlds and us with them!"

"Think what you will, Cloud!" I answered. "If you aren't willing to change your mind and you don't want to listen to me, then slay me if it makes you happy. I'm unarmed – you'll never have a better shot."

My adversary and his friends became quiet as surprised filled their faces. They slowly lowered their weapons yet didn't drop them. Doubt still dwelled in their eyes. And after seeing that they weren't doing anything, two creatures – another elf and a fairy, I presumed – stepped forth. The fairy, who had been sitting down on her friend's shoulder, flew into the air just high enough so everyone could see her.

"Let him speak." She said. And this time, there were no objections.

Once again, I related my story to them. Most of them heard me attentively, yet some others simply turned away from me with disgusted faces. This was Cid's case, who was quick to ask after I had ended my tale and remained silent for a few moments: "Is that it? Okay, Cloud. Kill him already."

"...Wait a minute, Cid..." my old opponent muttered with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"What's there to think? Finish him!" the pilot pressed.

"Cid, I think you should listen to Cloud." Vincent said.

"Not you too!"

"We all know Sephiroth is a monster. But out of all of us, Cloud is the one that knows him better." He declared. He then turned to my old enemy and asked: "What do you think about this?"

Cloud said took his time to answer. Everyone in the cave turned to look at him. For a moment, I thought that he would have the last word as to what would happen to me...

"You're right, Vincent." He announced at last. "Sephiroth is a monster." With anger in his eyes, he turned to me as he recalled all that we had been through and went on. "He destroyed my hometown and assassinated many people... He tried to shatter the world with a meteor. He tried to kill us many times, including that occasion in Never Land and..." he paused for a second. He looked back and I comprehended it was difficult for him to continue. "He killed Aeris."

As he finished saying this, the elf clad in green that I've mentioned before took a step forth, his sword aiming at my body. There was mad fury in his eyes. But before he could come near me and stab me, Cloud put his hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

"Hold on, Link." He muttered. He took a deep breath and then confessed: "But one thing I can tell you. During all the time I was with him, during all those missions... even during all those fights against him, he never once lied to me or to anyone." I had been right.

"Oh, come on, people! Wake up and smell the humus!" a boy suddenly cried, making us all turn to see him. He was a young lad with brown hair, white skin, and different colored eyes: one was blue and the other green. "You can't trust someone who's got a Heartless badge, no matter if he says he's not with them! He could either be hiding his real power from us to unleash it when we least expect it or he could take us right into a trap!"

"Dante's got a point." Said a young man who held what appeared to be a blade attached to a gun. "How can you know he hasn't been changed by the Heartless?"

"Actually I..." Tifa intervened shyly. "In Ansem's reports, I never read that he could bring someone back to life and turn him into a Heartless. It didn't say anything of the sort. Therefore, we can't know if Sephiroth's spirit has been changed." I was getting rather vexed of hearing him argue about all of this. Yet I stayed quiet.

"Okay, guys, here's what I think." Sora announced. "Let's say we take him with us. Suppose he is indeed faking that he has no power and is just waiting to unleash it the moment we drop our guards. Well, if that's the case, then let's not drop our guards: let's keep a watch on him all the time and we should be all right."

"But what if he wants to lead us into a trap, like Dante said?" asked a young red-haired girl.

"Let's face it, Ariel: we're going to have to fight the Heartless one way or another." The boy answered. "I think he's our best chance on finding Ansem. If we don't listen to him, it's likely it'll take an eternity for us to look for him." he then seized this opportunity to say in a loud, clear voice: "I say we take him with us. I don't know what the rest of you guys think."

"No way!" Yuffie cried. "I'm not putting my life on the hands of this monster!"

"Please, stop shouting!" demanded the elf with the fairy. "I am tired of this nonsense! We are just exhausting ourselves and not getting anywhere! We must make a decision now. I must be honest: I trust in Sora's judgment. The child is smart: I do not think he can be easily deceived."

Again, silence filled the cave for a moment. And then, the blonde man similar to Ryu in build, ventured to make a proposal.

"Why don't we vote?"

"That's a good idea, Ken." Yuffie said. "I say we get rid of him."

"Damn it!" unexpectedly exclaimed Ryoga. We all looked at him as he put his hands on his head and said: "I wish Wilheim was here and he was still a vampire – at least he could've read his mind!"

"Wilheim isn't here, Ryoga." Ukyo snapped. "We're just going to have to rely on our own instincts. And I propose we take him with us."

"I think we should do that, too." Said a voice from the other end of the cave.

With bewildered eyes, we all turned to face Aeris. I was completely stunned. I didn't expect her to intervene in my favor. And by the look on everyone's faces, I suppose they hadn't anticipated this either.

"Sora is right." She continued. "This is by far our best chance of getting to Ansem."

"Aeris, are you aware of what this bastard did to you?" exclaimed Cid.

"I am." She answered. "But I can't spend the rest of my life hating him for that..." she paused as she stepped forward. And then, she spoke again, but this time, she addressed me. "Though you have been brought back by Ansem to be a Heartless, your eyes haven't changed. I don't see any regret in them whatsoever... but I do see sincerity." She looked down for a moment as she took a deep breath. "I forgive you for what you did to me." She announced at last, to everyone's shock. "Yet I won't forget."

I felt certain gratitude towards her. But not enough to say "Thank you."

"All right, then." Cloud finally muttered, after a while. "If Aeris is okay with it, then I guess we can take him with us. I don't think he's lying. But whatever the case may be, I'm not taking my eyes off him."

"Neither will I." added the elf with the long ears, Link. "My sword will not rest and my shield will be always wary should the need arise to use them."

"You go with him, then." Cid said. "Don't let him get close to me."

"Welcome to the team, I guess." Sora said and offered his hand so I would shake it. I chose to trust him and did as he wanted. After that, Ryu gave me back my sword. I quickly sheathed it. I could only hope I wouldn't get bothered by any of them for a while.

"Now that we have this settled..." said the man with the gun-blade. "We need to ask ourselves another question. Should we go after Ansem, or should we keep on locking the keyholes?"

"Well, I don't know if we're powerful enough to go after him yet..." Ryu mused. He looked at me and asked: "What do you think, Sephiroth?"

"Now you're asking for his advice!" Cid cried. "Jeez, I can't believe this!"

"Now, calm down, Mr. Cid." Intervened Merryck. It indeed was hard to believe that my mortal enemies trusted me. Even so, I wasn't thinking about betraying them, yet I wasn't interested in making friends with them; Aeris said she had forgiven me, but she wouldn't let herself forget. I had not forgiven nor forgotten. It was simply like I've said before: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. "Even though I certainly don't like it either, Sephiroth is now one of us. As such, we should listen to his opinion."

"You know what? Whatever." The pilot grumbled and went to the back of the cave as he gave a big puff to his cigarette. It was amazing: he never got rid of them. But that was beyond the point.

"What do you think we should do then?" asked a cat-woman.

"I don't know much about keyholes." I replied dryly.

"The way we've seen it, every time we seal one, the Heartless lose power." Ukyo explained.

"There's not much more power I can lose." I said. "However, the weaker we can make Ansem, the better it'll be. I saw part of his army, and it's quite large. I don't suppose I glanced at all of it."

"At least he still thinks like the Sephiroth I knew once." Cloud said.

"If that's the case, then we should hurry up and seal the keyhole in this town." Sora muttered. "Folks said they felt an evil presence on the second district. I'm guessing that's where the Heartless are."

"...Can you speak with them or something of the sort?" asked Siegfried. I noticed he was still angry, but at least he had accepted we were stuck in this together.

"No." I answered. "Yet I think I can feel them. Perhaps even smell them."

"That ought to be of some help." Vincent said. "Let's go, then. I think we have rested enough."

We started to exit the cave. I had achieved my goal. Nevertheless, there was a great deal of tension on the group. But to tell the truth, I couldn't care less. Ansem would be dead and I would be there to see him in his final moments so that then I would follow him. Nothing else mattered to me.

_(Change of scene)_

"The townsfolk were right..." murmured Dante, wary of his every move. "I can feel a weird presence in here. And it's all but pleasant."

"But how come aren't they attacking us?" asked Morrigan in a low voice. "We have breached their territory like a pack of lions that go after a hyena's dead prey. They should have come out to defend their territory. I'm uneasy."

One note before I go on. Up till now, I didn't know most of the group's integrands' names. Nevertheless, I got to learn them later. That's why I guess it's rather ridiculous that I should keep using mere descriptions to refer to them. I remember everything that happened perfectly and I recall who did what.

"They must be waiting that we let our guards down, I wager." Merryck whispered. "Insufferable creatures! The more we face them, the more I dislike them."

"The keyhole must be near." Said Leon. "But where? Where could it be? Anyone's got an idea?"

"Not me." Donald answered hastily. "Sora, Ukyo, and I looked for it last time we were here. We didn't find anything."

"I've got an idea." Felicia announced. "In my opinion, we've got one Heartless' radar with us. Why don't we use him?" Of course, that radar was me.

"You have come up with some very bright ideas of late, Felicia." Octavius said.

"Thank you!" she replied, slightly blushing.

"And what am I supposed to feel near this keyhole?" I asked. The idea of being used as a tracking device did not suit me much.

"The keyhole is what the Heartless use to invade worlds." Vincent answered. "Probably more of them are coming out of it as we speak. If you can truly feel the Heartless, then you should look for the largest group of those creatures."

"...Very well." I snarled. Although I still didn't like the proposal, it was all but absurd. I went ahead of them and walked towards the place where the presence felt stronger. It wasn't long before I stopped at a quiet fountain. The devils about there were very numerous. I couldn't see them, but their smell gave them away. And still, they wouldn't come out. "It's here." I declared.

"Should we break through it?" said Octavius, preparing to unleash a blow. I didn't know it at that time, but I later realized that his strength was brutal enough to bring down a whole brick wall with just one punch.

"Come on, Hulk!" cried the cat-woman. "With you it's always about breaking stuff."

"Then enlighten us with another bright idea if you please."

"Why aren't they coming out?" I muttered thoughtfully, mostly to myself. "Ansem ordered them not to hurt me... could that be why they're not attacking any of us at all?"

"If that is the case, then we have great advantage over them." Suddenly said Link. I was surprised he heard me; but then I took another glance at his enormous ears and understood his hearing was beyond anything I had ever experienced.

"I guess there's only one way we can find out." Sora said aloud, putting himself on guard.

"We're right behind you, Sora!" exclaimed Goofy.

"There we go." Announced Ranma calmly. We all turned to where he pointed and noticed a small bug-like Heartless which had just emerged from the ground. "It was about time one of these bozos showed up."

"There must be hundreds of them..." guessed Akane, raising her fists.

Demean quickly armed himself with his bow and an arrow. With lightning speed, he shot an arrow at the foe and killed it. "Then that is one less." He said.

The rest of the fiends didn't take long to show up. From the ground and out of thin air, came a great horde of Heartless. It flooded the streets of the town like a storm. They hastily closed in on us. There was no way to escape, lest we passed through them. This was, of course, exactly what we intended to do.

"Okay, it's time for Octavius's plan." Felicia said. "It's time to start tearing things apart!"

"Now this is a language I am certainly fond of!" cried the were-bear as he unleashed a vicious blow at the Heartless in front of him, slaying quite a lot of them with that single thrust. I was very amazed – I had only seen such strength in Cloud's most furious attack.

Naturally, this made the Heartless react violently. They all threw themselves at us – this time, they even attacked me. I suppose the orders are subject to the requirements of service even to them after all. But most of them were still no match for me. I grinned as I passed my blade through their dark bodies, making them fall lifelessly on the floor only to disappear after a short instant.

The rest of my new companions fought boldly and ferociously. I was shocked by their power. Even Merryck had become a most dangerous adversary. He rolled underneath his opponents whenever he could and stabbed them from behind or beat them with his impressive fencing techniques. I observed that the one that had the most trouble defending himself was Siegfried; but in spite of that, he was doing quite well. He had already killed almost as much Heartless as young Ariel, who fought close to Link and Aeris.

The enemies kept on coming and falling like flies that enter a cloud of poisonous fume. But suddenly, I felt a strong presence nearby. I looked up and saw that a large number of Heartless had assembled on the roof of a building. They weren't moving. It looked to me as if they were guarding something. None of the others had noticed this. For a moment, I thought it would simply be best if I took matters into my own hands. Yet I quickly realized I was getting tired. As much as I hated it, I would need some help to go on. I looked for my closest two companions. They turned out to be Goofy and Ryoga.

"Come with me." I said to them. "There are enemies on that roof. There is something important there: I can feel it."

Both of them turned to the edifice. When they saw I wasn't lying, they promptly defeated the opponents they were fighting and accompanied me across the battlefield. We made our way through a great deal of Heartless with little difficulty. But I knew I wouldn't last too long at this now intense rhythm.

In order to reach the roof of the building, we had to enter it. We came into a strange room with many mechanisms on the work. What their purpose was, I don't have the least idea. Either way, we were greeted by a large group of Heartless. Most of them were big, lumbering fools with great stomachs and there were some others that appeared to be knights carrying shields with the shape of the head of a dog. These last ones proved to be quite a nuisance, for whenever I tried to roll around them and attack them from behind, they would turn violently and attempt to hit me with their shields. I leapt away from them just in time, but almost always failed to score a hit.

My two companions on the other hand, didn't have much difficulty in getting rid of them. Goofy would entertain them by attacking them with his own shield from the front, while Ryoga hastily leapt behind them and obliterated them with a flash of energy. In less than a minute, all of the enemies had been defeated, but our battle still wasn't over.

Another group of Heartless – not as large, yet seemingly more powerful, made its appearance. They were also knights. Only that these ones didn't carry any shields: they were armed with a spear and a sword. I managed to pierce through some of them while they stood away from me, but when some of them closed in on me, I found myself in trouble. Their attacks were quicker than I ever expected them to be. Just to parry their weapons with Masamune proved to be most challenging. Once again, however, Goofy and Ryoga defeated their adversaries quickly. This time, though, they didn't go unharmed. Even so, the wounds the Heartless had inflicted upon them weren't grave: just a few bruises and scratches. But for my part, I soon found myself without breath and overwhelmed by four knights. Seven of them had come at me and I had already slain three, yet the remaining foes nearly had me beaten. They were so busy with me that they didn't notice Goofy and Ryoga as they approached them from behind and destroyed them in a matter of seconds. I then found myself on my knees, gasping for air.

Reluctantly, Ryoga offered his hand to me as he asked: "Are you okay?"

"...A little weary." I admitted. "Let's get going." I added, getting to my feet. I only needed an instant to regain a bit of my strength.

"You know, a 'thank you' would be nice." he grumbled.

"Perhaps another day." I answered and walked past him. I heard him growl in a low voice but was silenced by Goofy, who said:

"Easy, Ryoga. He ought to learn some day."

The boy merely let out an exasperated sigh as they both kept up with me.

We exited the building and found some stairs that lead to its roof. I was about to go first, but Ryoga stepped in front of me and began to climb. I was slightly angered by this, yet then I realized that it was probably for the best if he went first. I had to remember that I had no more unlimited power within me. And so I followed him while Goofy climbed behind me.

The Heartless on the roof weren't so numerous anymore. I noticed some of them had already gone down to the battlefield to try to stop the onslaught of the rest of our companions, not to avail. All of them had been already killed or were about to be. The few enemies that remained on the roof didn't look too menacing. They were just dark balloon-like creatures made of solid shadows. They flew at us when they saw us, snapping their jaws up and down repeatedly. Goofy stopped them with his shield; Ryoga shot them a wave of energy which went through them, and I simply held my sword against them – they impaled themselves on Masamune as they flew against me.

All of the enemies were dead after a few moments. I quickly scanned the place, looking for anything suspicious that the Heartless wouldn't want us to find out. All I saw was a large bell.

"What are we looking for here, again?" asked Ryoga. "I don't see anything of special importance."

"I think they were trying to protect the bell." I retorted.

"Maybe they were just waiting for their turn..." Goofy guessed. Unlike Ryoga, there was no sarcasm in his voice.

"No other roof has Heartless on it." I observed, returning the favor by keeping calm and polite. "They were guarding the bell. Let's ring it."

Goofy ran at the rope that hung from the bell and pulled it hard. It began to ring loudly, deafening all of our companions' battle cries. As we looked down, we noticed something strange. The wall of the fountain where I had felt the strongest presence of the Heartless had changed.

"I was right after all." I said.

"I guess you were." Ryoga admitted. "Either way, I still can't see the keyhole."

"Then tell him to pull the rope again."

"One more time, Goofy!" cried the lad. The knight did as he was told.

This time, we got to see the metamorphosis. The wall spun revealing yet another hidden decoration. I can't remember the painting very well, however.

"...Still nothing." Said Ryoga after a few moments, but this time, he hadn't meant to mock me.

"The presence is getting closer." I replied. I then turned to Goofy and said aloud: "One last time!"

"Here goes!" he answered and pulled.

The wall now revealed a painting of two dark trees standing side by side. There was a glitter... and the keyhole became visible.

"There it is!" Ryoga exclaimed. "Sora, there's the keyhole! Seal it!" but before Sora could do such a thing, a dark barrier appeared on the wall.

The Heartless stepped away from the fountain as the ground began to shake. Even we could feel the tremor that shivered the plaza. This kept on going for a few instants and then, out of nowhere, appeared a very big Heartless. He could best be described as a giant knight.

"Him again?" cried Goofy as he stood next to us and looked upon the new foe. "I thought Sora had beaten him last time for good!"

"...He's changing." Ryoga muttered.

Indeed: the Heartless' hands, which floated about his body menacingly, unexpectedly flew down, becoming the foe's feet. His large boots equally turned into his strong arms and finally, his helmet opened up, revealing a mere shadow with two shiny yellow eyes. That was the real essence of the evil power I had felt on the fountain. It seemed most dangerous...

However, our companions didn't hesitate. Most of them pressed on the attack against the rest of the lesser foes while Shun, Hyoga, Ukyo, Siegfried, and Sora met the enormous, bizarre knight head on. Ryoga and Goofy themselves were about to leap down to the battlefield. But before they could do such thing, Leon, becoming aware of their intentions, raised a hand and cried:

"You guys stay up there! Be on the lookout for more Heartless!"

Of course, I wasn't thinking about going anywhere else. Not because I didn't want to help them (which I didn't, but I still felt the desire to battle more Heartless), but because I knew I wouldn't be able to survive the fall. And to think that I could fly through the skies once upon a time...

The enormous enemy began to attack our companions by bringing down its legs with fury upon them and by swinging his claws widely. They were quick to evade these attacks, yet their own blows hardly did any damage to the armor. Siegfried soon had to step back and continue his battle against the other fiends, finding himself unable to even scratch the lethal enemy. The rest of them kept on battling: they had more chance of a survival than the rookie.

"Gwarsh, it looks that he's become stronger." Goofy said.

"I wouldn't know." Ryoga said. "But they all have become stronger too, haven't they?"

"I guess so. So far, none of them has been hit."

At the moment, I remained quiet, watching attentively as the battle kept unfolding.

The enemy's attacks became faster and more aggressive by the minute. Slowly, he was gaining ground. Yet it was right about that time that Hyoga stepped back and went to Seiya's side. I saw the latter nod as the Cygnus's saint stepped behind him. Then Seiya unleashed his powerful Pegasus's Meteor Punch. I remembered that attack and how annoying it had turned out to be. Nevertheless, I chose to save my memories for later and keep on watching.

The giant Heartless stopped all of Seiya's hits and was hardly damaged by them. However, he was unable to move his legs and arms during the saint's technique. Hyoga seized this instant to run as fast as he could to his enemy and catch his legs with his hands. He concentrated all of his energy on his fingers and summoned a freezing wind to him. The monster seemed taken aback as he noticed that his legs had been frozen in the blink of an eye. Hyoga swiftly leaped back just in time to avoid the Heartless' claws, which were no longer under the effect of Seiya's attack.

The enemy's legs were completely fragile and defenseless. Yuffie took advantage of this and threw a quick shuriken at one of them. The Heartless' foot shattered like a mirror crashing against the ground. He then desperately swung his claws as if they were some sort of twister to keep our companions back as he madly struggled to free his foot from the ice. Fortunately, Akane found an opening and rolled forward between the Heartless' arms. In the midst of cries and attacks, she got to the frozen leg and broke it with a powerful punch. With great rage, the enemy tried to tear her to pieces with his claws, yet she managed to escape the arms just as Ranma went to her rescue.

The Heartless started to attack him furiously and the boy kept leaping back. More enemies joined their larger comrade in a frantic attempt to slay the lad. Ranma kept jumping back. I saw that he was slowly forming a spiral with every skip.

"That's it, Ranma..." Ryoga muttered under his breath. He had sounded quite excited. "You've got them now."

The rest of our companions below stepped as far as they could from the lad. I waited patiently to see what weapon Ranma had under his sleeve that was so terrible that everyone escaped from him.

"A-ha! Fell for it!" he cried as he came to a sudden stop. "Take this: HIRYUU SHOTEN-HA!"

His voice echoed on the walls of the buildings about him and his foes. A dreadful wind emerged from under his feet, which quickly formed a devastating tornado of energy. The large Heartless was horribly resistant: he was merely sent against a wall. He knocked it down with his large weight. His arms and torso had no more than a few dents in them. Ranma's attack had not been useless, however, for all the lesser Heartless that had come after him were turned into dust.

I then felt a presence at our backs. I quickly turned around and slashed a weak Heartless that had charged at me. Ryoga and Goofy faced the way I looked as well, only to find themselves, like me, against a small horde of soldiers and bug-like creatures. Goofy, like always, used his shield to smash his opponents; Ryoga relied on flurries of punches and kicks to terminate his and occasionally, employed his steel umbrella. As for me, I slaughtered most of them with Masamune. But there were times when I felt overwhelmed and I had to take advantage of the long fall behind me. Many Heartless died under my blade, yet many others faced their doom on the pavement below.

The last of the Heartless was soon killed. Thinking we had once again emerged victorious, we dropped our guards. It was quite a big mistake. Because just as soon as I lowered my sword, a group of dark balls of shadows appeared before us. Without warning, they lunged at us, snapping their jaws powerfully. They were so fast that I merely had time to raise Masamune up to my face to avoid having it bitten off. The Heartless knocked me back and I felt no more ground under my feet. I started to fall, yet as my voice was about to come out of my mouth in the form of a scream, I felt a hand grasp me. It had been Goofy, who held me tightly and prevented my fall. I looked at him for a moment and then turned back only to see the group of dark balls spin around and come back for us. But before they came near us, an unexpected wave of energy came from Ryoga's palms obliterated all of them...

"That ought to teach them!" he exclaimed triumphantly.

"Uh... Ryoga...!" muttered Goofy. As I noticed his worried expression, I began to feel an enormous flow of power which came from the large Heartless. I faced him and saw it was about to unleash a potent blast of energy from its torso. And he was aiming directly at us. "Help!"

"Oh, damn it!" I cried. "Do something!" I added, surprising even myself. I'm not of the kind that asks for aid.

Help did come, but not from Ryoga. The Heartless' arms floated about its upper body tranquilly; they had stopped their frantic attacks. Sora seized the moment to jump on one of them. He used it as a step to leap high into the air, and on his way up, he swung his Keyblade at the enemy's trunk. The hit was true and powerful. Though he didn't shatter the fiend, the Heartless' blast, which came immediately after Sora's attack, was deflected to one side. It went up to the sky and exploded, for one moment, making the night as bright as the day. Goofy sighed in relief (and I believe I also did).

Maddened by the boy's intermission, the Heartless send his razor sharp claws after him. Sora managed to parry them a couple of times in midair before Shun's chains caught up with them and held them in their place. The Andromeda's saint was aided by his brother, who had a firm grip on his shoulders, successfully keeping him on the ground.

"Fry him, Shun!" the Phoenix's saint shouted.

An electrical buzz filled the air about us as the arms of the Heartless were assaulted by an incredible wave of electricity. His claws began to twitch. But the power of the chain wasn't enough to destroy them. Nevertheless, the saints didn't stand alone. Aeris, Dante (who, as I had heard, had been recently trained to power up his magical spells by the magician who reseeded within the town, Merlin), and Donald quickly got to their side and cast a mighty thunder spell on the fiend's hands. The claws now went into a wild spasm and broke into pieces after a minuscule instant.

All of this had happened too quickly; Sora was still in midair. And now, seeing that his opponent was completely defenseless, he aimed his blade at the head. And again, he wasn't alone. Leon, Demean, and Ukyo held their weapons firmly as they ran to the Heartless from different directions. The foe found nowhere to run. Sora fell on the head with his deadly attack while the others slashed the torso, Leon with his mighty sword which now gleamed with a blue glow; Demean with his sharp knifes powered up by Tish's magic, and Ukyo's terrible blade, which breathed fire and moaned horribly as she unleashed the blow. All four attacks found their marks and this time the Heartless' armor was cut like tin foil. It let out a faint cry as it fell to the ground and disappeared into the night. There were no more enemies around. The battle was over.

The magical barrier protecting the keyhole vanished. Sora arrogantly swung the Keyblade a few time before pointing it at the hole and shooting a small ray of white energy which made it disappear. And when this happened, I felt a sudden pain on my chest and nearly let go of Goofy's hand. Indeed, sealing the keyholes would certainly make Ansem weaker...

"We did it!" Goofy exclaimed, with a laugh. Ryoga cheered too, as well as the rest of our companions on the plaza. Then he remembered we were still hanging from one side of the building. "Oh, sorry!" he said. He pulled me back to safe ground. "Are you okay?"

"...Somewhat tired." I replied. "Thank you."

Now, I was aware of what I said. It didn't escape my mouth: I simply said it to annoy Ryoga. I eyed him while I thanked my other companion and noticed irritation on his glance. I couldn't help to smile as Goofy chuckled and exclaimed:

"See, Ryoga? I told you he ought to learn!"

_(Change of scene)_

After this little episode against the Heartless, my companions bid farewell to the magician who had trained Dante and were thanked by the townsfolk. I was thanked too: I remembered the days of old, when I was the head warrior of SOLDIER. People praised me for aiding them when they were assaulted by fierce monsters. I remembered slaying those foes without even breaking a sweat. In the days of old, people loved me (and others (the minor part) hated me, for my work for Shin-Ra sometimes led me to do things thought wicked) and looked up to me. Cloud once admired me. But those days had long passed. I recalled them only for an instant as the people spoke to me. I said nothing to them, slightly confused by my feelings on the matter, slightly not caring about it at all.

We got ready to depart from Traverse Town. But before we left it behind us, we had to discuss which world we should visit next to seal the keyhole within. According to the group, there were two places known to them that still had an unlocked keyhole in them. One of them, the one they chose to travel to first to my discontent was Never Land.

"What's the matter, Sephiroth?" asked Cloud, a bit mockingly, as he saw I wasn't exactly euphoric. "I thought you didn't care what others thought about you."

"Coming to you all was awkward enough." I replied. "And now I must go with you as your defeated pet to face that damn dragon and the pesky brat. Pardon me if I'm not exactly blazing with happiness, Cloud." I added, to which he smiled and chuckled in a low voice. I didn't bother to get mad at him. I was stuck with him and the others for a long time. I didn't want to get myself in an even more uncomfortable position.

"If I may be so bold as to ask..." said Demean. "How is it that you know where Ansem and his Heartless dwell? How did you find out? After all, it is unlikely that he revealed this to you after you rejected his offer."

"He banished me from his world in a transparent bubble." I explained. "I saw as I left the world in the horizon, as well as some other things. I landed in a world which I don't know, but maybe you do. All I remember from it was an ominous castle in the distance and waterfalls that shot their currents upwards."

"Hollow Bastion." Tish quickly declared. "So if we take you there, will you know your way?"

"I think so."

We quickly boarded the ships. It wasn't necessary for me to go on alone in my lone ship. At least that's what the group thought: they wanted to keep a close eye on me. So it was that I traveled in the same ship as Cloud, Link, Sora, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, Ukyo, Octavius, and Siegfried. The first two sent their girlfriend in another ship.

I thought that the trip would be a torture. I reckoned Cloud and Link wouldn't stop telling me that if I so much as looked at Tifa or Aeris in a manner that displeased them, they would kill me without question. I thought they would all mock me, perhaps even hit me. At the very least, I imagined a silent trip in which all eyes would be fixed with quiet rage at me.

But actually, nothing of the sort happened. Octavius remained quiet, speaking from time to time with the rest of my companions about unimportant stuff, behind the ship's controls. Cloud and Link spoke amongst themselves about their couples and surprisingly barely looked at me. The same proved to be true for Donald and Goofy. Even their dog, Pluto, which I understood seldom left the Gummi ship, wagged its tail at me. I also met a quiet little cricket, Jiminy, who almost always remained close to Pluto. He wrote down the adventures of the group in a little journal and added my inclusion to the party.

But what was more amazing was that Sora, Ukyo, and from time to time, even Siegfried talked to me. Yet the thing that actually shocked me the most was that I welcomed their words. I didn't know why, but I had no anger towards them. Nor did I felt friendship. Just... tranquil coexistence, if you may.

_(Change of scene)_

"Did I ever tell you the time Wilheim and I got dead drunk?" Siegfried said to his friends with a smile.

"I know the story, although I've never actually heard it." Ukyo giggled.

"It was back when we were both vampires." He said. "We got drunk a couple of times. It was always when we fed from some poor intoxicated guy. And when I say intoxicated, I really mean it. Though I doubt Wilheim and I had much tolerance for alcohol, the guys we drank from would've scared the wits out of you because of their state.

"I remember the second time a little better, since it didn't happen that long ago, at least to me. On the first occasion, we had gotten drunk by accident. But this time, we meant to get inebriated! I remember saluting every person that walked our way, as well as humming Beethoven's Ode to Joy at the top of our lungs. We staggered across the street, laughing at nothing...!" then he fell silent. All of them, except for Octavius, laughed along with him and stopped when he did. His smile turned sad as he added: "That night I remember telling him how much I loved him, how much he meant to me... how much I appreciated him taking care of me."

They all remained quiet for a few moments. Then Ukyo put her arm around her and said: "Don't worry, Siegfried. We'll get him back."

"Yeah... I know we will." He muttered.

"...I remember he once told me..." Sora intervened. "That he was scared to death of women, while you could talk to them without even flinching."

Siegfried laughed merrily when he heard this.

"That's true!" he said. "There was one time in which we came across four beautiful damsels. I hastily went to their side and started to talk with them. Mostly I flattered them. I wasn't scared at all, whereas Wilheim stayed next to this guy called Pierre, his face red as a tomato, and take into account that he was a vampire back then: his unnaturally white skin had changed into a crimson red color!" and they all laughed.

I was very curious about something. Since I wasn't feeling cut off the conversations or angry, I ventured to comment: "You don't look like him at all."

There was a brief silence following my statement. But then, Siegfried replied:

"Wilheim wasn't my brother per se. We met each other when we turned fifteen and were turned to vampires at seventeen... Yet he looked after me as my older sibling. That's why I called him 'older brother'. We were always together... That's why I say he was my brother. Not because we came from the same mother. As far as I know, that wasn't the case. Still, none of us could tell, since we lost our real parents at a very early age. We met each other in the streets of our country, just by the time the Great War was starting."

"It must have been awful for you." Octavius said. "To roam about the streets of Berlin with that merciless gunfire and those horrid bombings."

"I still don't know how we survived that..." he confessed.

"It's strange." I said. "I thought he was the one that had turned you into a vampire."

"No. He was turned with me by the same monster." He replied. Then his voice turned a bit angry as he named him. "His name was Magnus. He was the most evil being I ever met... I'm glad he's dead."

"Is that so?" I asked. "How was he evil?" there was no sarcasm or mockery in my voice. I was simply curious.

"That Wilheim and I had to feed every night was bad enough." He explained, far from being offended by my words. "But in addition to that, we had to take victims to Magnus as well. The bastard would slaughter and degut them in front of us and would then drink what little blood was left in them. He didn't need much, anyway. He was too powerful for that. We were his slaves out of his mere amusement."

"Why didn't you kill him?"

"Come on, do you really think that thought didn't pass through our minds countless times? We would've killed him if he weren't so damn powerful. We only defeated him once: and it wasn't even a physical battle. All we could hope to do was to escape from him."

"It seems to me that you did that, at least." I said. "But when did you kill him?"

"I don't know about that." He answered. "But I can tell you about the last time we ran away... Wilheim had an idea one night, after we had tried to convince him to let us leave. Naturally, he refused. I became so mad at him that I lost all my fear towards him. But I could see that my brother was still very frightened of Magnus. I didn't care about dying. I actually longed for death, as did Wilheim. Yet we refused to bring it upon ourselves...

"Anyway, Wilheim proposed that we burned the castle where Magnus slept. And so we did. We were free for four years; but one night he appeared before us and beat us with his amazing strength. He took us back to his hiding place, to our miserable, little room and our two coffins. The following night... he killed me."

"Killed you?" I asked, shocked by the statement.

"He's come back to life because of Wilheim, I think." Ukyo intervened. "Because of what he did. Gabrielle, a powerful oracle, told us that when he sacrificed himself, he stirred many things. That's why, according to her judgment, Siegfried is alive."

"Interesting..."

"Anyway, I helped Wilheim kill Magnus. Ryoga, Ranma, and Akane, and other two guys called Mousse and Shampoo lend a hand too. That was thirty-one years after you were gone, I think..." she said, glancing at Siegfried as she did.

"How... did it happen?" Kairi asked softly and curiously.

"It's a long story..." she replied. I noticed in her voice that indeed the tale was long. She hadn't said that because she didn't want to narrate it.

"Well, how much time do we have before we reach Never Land?" asked Cloud.

"According to Tifa, we will be there in at least another six hours." Octavius answered.

"That is enough time. Come on, Ukyo. Tell the story. We are all eager to listen to it." Link pressed.

"It would be a nice entry on my journal." Jiminy said.

"What are you talking about?" Ukyo replied. "You barely say a word when we are traveling. Now you want me to tell you all those things?"

"If it's worth telling..."

"Come on, Ukyo. It's time someone other than Demean told us some stories." Donald said. "Not that I don't like them, though..."

"He's right, Ukyo! It's not going to hurt you!" Goofy said.

"Even Sephiroth wants to hear about it!" Sora added.

The commentary hadn't been exactly accurate. Not because I wasn't interested, but because of who I was, obviously. They all looked from Sora to me in silence, not knowing whether to laugh or tell him to shut his mouth. Whatever the case, so far he had been kind to me. So I decided to save his skin.

"I'm all ears." I said.


	37. Chapter ThirtySix: England's Undead

Hi, guys. It's been a really long time, eh? I'm really sorry about that... :(

The thing is, like I said in my last review/note, that this semester completely assassinated my social life, free time, and fun. Really, it's the worst I've had so far.

Either way, it's time for the good news; I made it. This freaking semester is over! I've never longed so much for vacation in my entire life! And now I'm free! So, back to writing:)

I'm going to write like mad and try to finish the story before the next semester comes along. I thought I'd be done by July, but I wasn't so lucky... That and the fact that chapters always turn out longer than I initially expect them to (I thought I'd finish this one in 40 pages or so... turned out to be 60 pages long). I'll finish it before next year, that's for sure, but I don't know exactly when. Whatever the case, I've got another four, perhaps five more chapters planned... then that's it.

Lastly, before we go on with the story, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to all of my friends at the Engineering Campus. I wouldn't have made it without your support, guys. I especially want to thank Antonio and Javier – but most of all, I want to thank Adrián; without him, I would've gone down like a ton of bricks. I want to thank him for enduring me all this time, for being so patient with me, for helping me always. Thanks for everything, my friend!

Okay, now, on with the story. Enjoy:)

_Chapter Thirty-Six: England's Undead_

_Narrator: Ryu_

The trip had really felt eternal. From the moment we had set foot on the Gummi ship, I had felt a great tension among us. I hate to say it like this, but the source of it was Cid, no doubt. He had been restlessly complaining about us persuading the others to let Sephiroth join the party. Of course, since I had been the one that had defended him the most, I was the one most yelled at. Ken, Sakura, and Aeris tried to calm him down constantly, yet the pilot was, so to speak, inconsolable...

I learned a lot of nasty stuff about our new ally, thanks to him and to two of our other companions: Aeris and Tifa. I already knew Sephiroth had been a murderer in the past... Yet I had no idea of the things he had done to my friends (save for Aeris's experience)...

"Do you think I want to go along with him?" cried Tifa to some of Cid's many words of anger. "Do you really think I'm happy about traveling with the man that killed my father? Do you think I don't want to beat him down and smash his head with my foot? Because if you do, then you must think I'm some sort of crazy masochist, Cid! Of course I hate Sephiroth; of course I want him to go away, to die, even! But if he guides us to Ansem so we can end this and go back home, then it'll all be worth it!" The arguments went on and on.

Ken, Ryoga, and Sakura tried not to involve themselves in the fights, but only Leon and Morrigan truly succeeded in doing this. They never said a word about the matter, not even the slightest opinion. I suppose that was the smartest thing to do. If they had said even a word about the topic, Cid would've surely dragged them into one of those heated discussions.

I tried to do what they did. I failed, however, since Cid's insults and scolds were directed to me. I always replied calmly and tried to end the argument as quickly as possible, but he had his way of making things difficult. In the end, Ken constantly had to escort me into another room so I would calm down, while Tifa, Aeris, and Sakura told Cid to quit his rampage. I couldn't wait to get to Never Land, really.

Thankfully, things started to quiet down as we approached our destination. In just a mere six hours, we would get to this world and would disembark. I really needed to get away from Cid for a while. I've always been a calm person but, as I've said, it was a bit hard to be patient around the furious pilot. Well, I couldn't exactly blame him. His friends had suffered much because of the villain that had turned into our companion. I suppose you can't be very mad at someone who only wants to protect his friends.

Either way, it wouldn't be long before we landed. I hadn't slept much and I felt a bit tired. I was starting to get a bit sleepy, something strange in me, actually. We were in the room next to the cockpit and I was sitting down next to my companions. I was quietly beginning to shut my eyes...

"Ryu, you look beat." Leon pointed. "Why don't you get some rest before we disembark?"

"Yeah, man, you look like you could use some sleep." Ken added.

"It's likely we'll do a lot more fighting in Never Land." Cid intervened. He hadn't sounded mad, but his voice had been dry nonetheless. "Get some sleep. We'll need your help down there."

"Okay, if you guys say so." I muttered and headed for a quiet room on the ship.

"Night-night, Ryu." Sakura sweetly said as I passed by her side. I turned to her and smiled without saying a word.

I really couldn't believe I felt so tired. I've always been a traveler and I've always enjoyed fighting strong opponents. I'd been doing exactly that alongside my friends for a long time, now. That's what came natural to me, so to speak. Why was I feeling so tired all of a sudden? I pondered upon this for a short while and soon came to the conclusion that this had been my greatest adventure yet. I'd had many thrilling voyages in the past, but none as amazing as this. I'd fought fierce, lethal opponents with all my might; I'd laughed at the merry words of all my friends, new and old, and I'd wept at the death of the young man who had been my student, even if for a short while. Whatever happened, this adventure would remain in my heart for the rest of my life. In the end, I've had too much excitement. Perhaps even too much for my still frail, inexpert body to handle it. Maybe that's why I was tired...

I was about to enter the room when I suddenly stopped as I heard a sound coming from inside… Sobs. I froze as my hand closed about the doorknob. I knew that Aeris was inside and that she was crying. I didn't know whether to stay outside and wait for her to calm down or to go to her and try to comfort her. The thing is, I don't think I'm very good at soothing people, even though Ken and some others say otherwise...

Well, whatever the case, I decided to trust their beliefs. With a deep breath, I opened the door and came face to face with a tearful Aeris. I realized she was just about to exit the room...

"What's wrong?" I asked kindly, pretending that I hadn't heard her before. "Have you been crying?"

"I..." she began but found no words. I quickly entered the room, closed the door behind me, and locked it. "I..."

"It's okay." I said. "Come on, tell me what's wrong."

"I... I'm so afraid, Ryu..." she confessed and her face was filled by pain.

"Afraid?" I muttered. "What do you mean? What do you fear?"

She didn't answer. She turned around and sat on the bed. I sat next to her and patiently waited for a reply, yet she uttered no word.

"What are you afraid of?" I repeated, as softly as I could.

"...Dying." she acknowledged, at last.

"Are you afraid of Sephiroth?" I ventured to ask.

"No, it isn't about him."

"...You miss Wilheim, don't you?"

"Of course I do. As much as you do, I'm sure... but it's not about that, either."

"Then what? Tell me."

She buried her face in her hands and sobbed quietly. It took her a bit more time to answer this...

"It's because of what Sephiroth said." She murmured and before I could say anything, she quickly added: "Don't get me wrong. I'm not afraid of getting killed by him again. I know that Cloud won't allow it, and neither will Link. Especially Link. But... he said that, when Ansem dies, he'll go too... He's bound to him in life and death... Do you think my life is bound to this quest too, Ryu?"

"That's what's bothering you?"

"I was dead before all of this. And it's not like I was in a bad place or anything... but now that I've found my true love... I'm afraid I'll never see him again." She paused for a moment and let out a long, sad sigh. "That's not all. Suppose I don't die. What if I can't go back to Hyrule with him or if he can't come to our world with me?"

I confess that at the moment, I had no idea of what to say to her, how to comfort her. I had never thought of that. And it was a dreadful consideration. What if she vanished from the worlds when all of this ended (if we indeed concluded our quest, that is.)? What if she was just... an illusion came to life by the tragedy that bound us all? My heart beat fearfully at the thought of seeing her dissolve into thin air... I knew it was likely that I would never see her again, but I always thought that she would live.

I then wondered if anyone else had thought of that. Had it possibly occurred to Link that, if we did vanquish the evil we were seeking to destroy, it was likely that he would never see Aeris again? Be it by her death, by his return to Hyrule or by her arrival to her home world, they would by parted. The idea of it nearly made my heart freeze with ice of sadness.

And to think that I was about take a peaceful nap.

Seeing that I was unable to say anything to console her, she moaned softly and began to cry more desperate tears. I quickly put my arm around her and caressed her gently as she let her head rest on my shoulder. I had to tell her something before she would crumble.

"It's okay, Aeris." I muttered. Of course, it didn't help much.

"How can it be okay?" she replied, trying to get away from me, yet I didn't let her. She promptly gave up and kept holding on to me. "I don't want to die, Ryu. I'm so scared... I don't know what I could do!"

"I don't know how, but..." I interrupted as I finally thought of something intelligent to say. "We won't let that happen. Neither of us will let that happen. I promise. I'll give my life to save you if it comes to it. I'd die for any of you."

That seemed to calm her down a bit. Her sobs became softer as she squeezed my hand with hers. But I still had some things to say.

"And even if you did... die... it's not like it's going to stay like that forever. Remember Gabrielle, Aeris? Ukyo told us she could be powerful enough to bring Wilheim back to life if her powers return to normal. And that will surely happen when we beat Ansem. So, even if it comes to that, we'll make sure Gabrielle revives you. I'll rummage around every corner of Earth as long as there's strength in my feet to find her. I swear to you that you'll be alive and well."

She raised her head and looked at me with her pretty, green eyes and then she smiled sweetly.

"And Wilheim..." she whispered.

"And Wilheim." I repeated after her, firmly, nodding my head. "Yeah, he'll come back to life... no matter what Sephiroth says."

"Yeah..." she wiped her tears off her face and let out another long sigh, only that this one seemed to be a relieved breath. "...And if comes to it, now that I think about it... if Wilheim does come back to life and Siegfried dies because of that... then look for Gabrielle too. I'm sure that, out of all of us, Wilheim would've wanted to be next to Siegfried the most."

"Of that I'm sure." I agreed.

"Thanks, Ryu." She said, her smile growing calmer and tenderer.

"That's what I'm here for." I said. I remained silent for a few moments as a thought suddenly attacked me. "So... about Sephiroth... you're okay with it? You're not mad at me or anything for standing up for him?"

"Don't be silly!" she hastily replied, laughing sweetly. "Somehow, I trust him. I don't think he'll try to harm me or any of us, for that matter. Besides, I know you wouldn't let anyone come near me if you know he would hurt me, would you?"

"Absolutely not." I said firmly. "I don't want to put any of you in danger. Although Cid seems to think otherwise..."

"As funny as it may sound, I'm actually grateful to him for looking out for me like that. Though it isn't the best way of doing so..."

"Yeah, he keeps getting on my nerves."

"I'll talk to him." She said. "And this time, I'll put out the fire no matter what."

"I really appreciate that..."

"It's okay. You helped me too, Ryu. You're really good at it, even though you think otherwise."

"Are you a mind reader?" I asked, with a smile.

"No, but it's not hard to figure that one out." She replied, giggling. "I'm sorry. I suppose you wanted to rest, huh?"

"It's okay. I can always go to another room..."

"I was about to leave when you came in, remember?" she said. "I'm still thinking about doing that. Besides, I've got to talk to Cid." She started to walk to the door but suddenly stopped. She turned and gave me a sweet hug. I held her tenderly and kissed her cheek. "Thanks a lot, Ryu. You did help me a lot. I'm not kidding."

"Yeah, I can see that." I said, happy to see her smiling and without tears in her eyes. "Why don't you talk with Link about this? I'm sure he'll comfort you much better than any of us."

"I don't want to worry him with all of this..." she began.

"Chances are he's already thought about this too." I ventured to say, even though I wasn't sure of that. "My point is that you should try to comfort each other. Because if he's thought about this, then he's probably as worried as you were."

"...Good point." She murmured.

"Either way, try not to worry about it much. Like I said, I promise I won't let it happen." She squeezed me gently and let out another happy chuckle. I then sighed and said: "Okay... I'm going to get some sleep now. I want to be in good shape by the time we reach Never Land. I want to be strong enough to take on the Heartless as usual."

"Okay, then." She said. "I'll let you rest for a while. And thanks again."

"Stop thanking me so much. That's what friends are for, Aeris."

"Thanks anyway." She repeated, and left the room while giving me one last grateful glance. Then I found myself alone in that room.

"She's very pretty." I said to myself. "Link is a lucky man. I wonder if I'm destined to find someone...? Oh, well. Maybe when I finally finish my training. I still have much to learn." I mumbled and lied down on the soft bed. I closed my eyes and dozed off almost immediately...

_(Change of scene)_

"Hey, Ryu! Get up, will you? We're already on Never Land!"

Cid's voice had roused me. Surprisingly, I had sensed no anger in it whatsoever. In fact, he had sounded quite friendly. I suppose Aeris had already managed to calm him down. I smiled happily as I let out a yawn and got to my feet. Few were the times I had slept so soundly. I guess I had really been too tired.

"Ryu!" Ken cried as he came into the room. "Are you awake already?"

"Yeah, I'm up." I replied. "Man, that was a really good nap."

"Should've been a good 'nap', man. You slept almost six hours." He replied. "Either way, you look like a new man."

"Thanks for that."

"Any time, my clueless friend." He snickered. "Come on, let's get off this ship."

"Okay."

We exited the ship and joined the rest of our friends. It seemed to me that some of them were expecting some sort of a welcoming committee, for when we found ourselves alone in that strange but beautiful land, they sighed in disappointment.

"This is a real shame." Merryck mumbled. "A real shame... I thought Will, Peter and the Lost Boys would greet us."

"Come on, Merryck, it's not like they were expecting us to come here anytime soon, I should think." Cloud said. "I'm sure they'll be here at any moment. No doubt they spotted the ships."

"Well, I could very well do without their company." Sephiroth grumbled.

"Jeez, how touchy can you get?" Felicia intervened. There were a few laughs, yet they quickly quieted down as Sephiroth growled mutely and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Now, now, calm down, Sephiroth. We don't want to greet our hosts with long faces, do we?" Cloud snickered.

"Is there any way to shut you up?" he asked, gritting his teeth.

"Not as long as you live."

"Hey... there they are!" Tifa exclaimed as she looked at the skies and waved her arms. I turned my head up and gasped in awe.

Above us flew a great, majestic dragon, followed closely by a young boy clad in green. Both of them waved back at Tifa and smiled. I supposed those two were Will and Peter Pan. They quickly descended to the ground, with happiness in their eyes. The boy crowed like a proud rooster and Seyia, Merryck, and Tifa mimicked him merrily.

"Welcome back, my friends!" Will boomed. "I am glad to see you again... And so many of you!" but then, his eyes met Sephiroth's, as did Peter's. There was great disbelief in their faces for a few seconds, yet they were soon filled by uncontrollable rage... Man, I stupid were we... we should've seen that coming. "How is he alive!" the dragon bellowed as an aura of magical power engulfed him and as Peter hastily unsheathed his dagger.

"Whoa! Hold on!" Merryck quickly cried, raising his hands and placing himself between them and Sephiroth. "Please, wait a second, friends!"

"What are you doing, Merryck?" Peter shouted, desperately. "Get out of the way!"

"Has he bewitched you?" Will demanded. "Step aside, comrades! I will free you from this vile creature's curse right now!"

"Will, come on, dude, chill!" Cloud exclaimed, joining Merryck. As surprising as it may sound, we soon found ourselves all standing in front of Sephiroth, defending him. After all, the dragon did seem pretty menacing... What twists life takes, huh?

"What in God's name are you doing!" Will roared.

"Listen to what we have to say before you do anything rage, please!" Tifa pleaded.

"This is so pathetic." Sephiroth suddenly said. He made his way through all of us and faced both Will and Peter. "I don't need any bodyguards looking over me. Here I am! If you want to kill me, here I am! You will never get a better shot. I'm dead anyway. Go on, dragon! Breathe fire onto my body and watch me twirl in agony if that's what you want! Sink your blade in my heart, boy, and kill me if you desire so! What are you waiting for?"

This challenge took the dragon and the boy completely by surprise. They quickly comprehended Sephiroth, although still full of hatred, wasn't meaning to battle them. Slowly, Peter Pan sheathed his dagger and crossed his arms across his chest, while Will looked at him mistrustfully and thoughtfully...

There was a long, uneasy silence in which all of us kept our eyes on the fierce dragon, not knowing what he would do. Yet just then, Sora took a step forth and spoke.

"Will, right?" he muttered. "Listen... Wilheim told me a lot about you and Peter Pan. He said you were reasonable... Please, just hear me out, okay?" he let out a sigh and went on. "None of us like Sephiroth very much. And I don't want him to get offended by that, it's just the way it is: I'm just being honest. But he came to us with no intentions of harming us."

If I may say so, again we failed to mention the little battle between Sephiroth and Ukyo. As before, it would've only made matters worse.

"He says that Ansem, the Heartless' leader, revived him and tried to force him to work for him. He refused and Ansem took away his powers. If Ansem dies, he will too. He wants to help us find Ansem and beat him: that'll be the only way for him to be at peace with himself. That's why I don't think he's thinking about betraying us..."

"You are the Keyblade master, are you not?" the dragon asked, his voice was soft.

"Yeah... My name's Sora."

"The pirates spoke a lot about you in the past." He said. "And because of the things they said, I trust your judgment." He let out a long, loud breath and relaxed his tense muscles. "I will not harm him. Yet I will not, for one second, take my gaze off him."

"We weren't expecting anything like that, Will." Cloud intervened. "We aren't planning on doing that, either."

"I guess we'll have to do it your way, guys." Peter mumbled, not too happy with the situation, I should think. He then began to look at each and every one of us. He stopped after a few seconds and ventured to ask what we all knew either of them would ask sooner or later. "Speaking about Wilheim, where is he?"

"Peter Pan?" intervened Siegfried, as he walked towards him and Will. "Will?"

"Yes?" they both answered.

"My name's Siegfried." Our friend said. "I'm Wilheim's best f... I mean, his younger brother." He took a deep breath and explained: "I'm sorry to say this, but I'm afraid Wilheim died."

"What?" the dragon and the boy gasped.

"We lost him at Hollow Bastion." Camille said. "The very place where the Heartless took the Princesses of Heart. He gave up his heart to save his beloved... We all mourned him much. His death has been quite difficult to bear."

"He died to save me." Ukyo quickly added. "But don't feel too sad yet, guys. I've got a feeling we'll see him again... At least that's what I want to believe."

Again came a long silence. The dragon and the boy barely nodded, but managed to say no word. It had all happened to fast, I guess. They weren't expecting to hear one of us had died... I suppose they wanted to hear more details, to listen to the full story. But before that, there was something we had to do. I still hadn't forgotten our purpose. And so I cleared my throat loudly so everyone would turn to me and pay attention to what I had to say.

"Listen... Will... Peter Pan... We'll let you know all about it later. I know you guys want to know more about it, yet now is not the time. I take it you know that the Keyblade master has the ultimate weapon against the Heartless. Sora is the only one who can seal the keyholes and end with the menace of the Heartless in the worlds. He's the only one who can weaken Ansem... To do that, we need to find the keyhole in this world and seal it."

"Ryu's right." Vincent declared. "We have to find that keyhole as soon as possible. We need you to help us look for it, or better yet, to take us to it if you already know where it is."

"A... A keyhole?" muttered Peter, still too shocked about the grave news we'd just given him.

"Yeah, a keyhole." Dante said. "Just like it sounds. There's no great science to it... except that armies of foes can come out of them."

"Well... we have been getting random visits of the Heartless from time to time..." Will confessed. But before he went on, he had to know. "Was he in pain?"

"Wilheim?" Demean replied. "Will, my name is Demean. You have met Tish before." As he said this, the fairy gently nodded at the dragon. "I was with him when it happened. There was fear in his eyes at first. Nevertheless, valor triumphed and he died like a man."

"Enough about our deceased friend." Octavius interrupted. "We shall see him again someday. Yet now there are more important matters at hand. It is imperative that we begin our attack on the Heartless, lest we want to have another fierce battle on our hands."

"I understand your point." Will said, letting out a sigh. "Very well, then. But I am afraid to say we have not seen anything that resembles a keyhole in this place."

"Yeah..." Peter added. "I know Never Land like the palm of my hand and I've been flying about every corner of it since the Heartless arrived, searching for their hideouts and stuff. I still haven't seen anything similar to a keyhole."

"Then it could be somewhere else." Tish ventured to guess. "Perhaps there is another place near Never Land where we could look?"

"Um... I don't think so. Except..." Peter mumbled, thoughtfully.

"Yes?" We urged.

"Maybe it could be somewhere in London." He said, doubtfulness in his words. "You know, where Wendy came from. I dropped her off a few nights ago with her brothers. Maybe she can tell us."

"London?" Ranma cried. "The whole city? You mean we're going to have to look for one Keyhole in a whole city? You've got to be kidding me!"

"Come on, Ranma. We've had worse..." Akane murmured.

"You speak of London as if it were the largest city in all of the worlds." Octavius intervened. "Clearly you have never been to Mexico City. Now that is truly an endless sea of buildings and lights, where the horizon hides behind rows and rows of bricks and cars."

"No, I've never been there, but with any luck, we'll get to visit during our journeys." Ranma replied with a sarcastic voice.

"London, eh?" I murmured. "And exactly how are we supposed to get there?"

"Well, it's easy. We just have to fly there." Peter answered.

"...Surely that's easy for you, kid." Ken replied. "You're floating in midair. But what about those of us who don't exactly know how to hover, huh?"

"Everyone can fly! All you have to do is think a happy thought and... Oh, yeah! Tink! Where are you!" the boy called all of a sudden.

"A happy thought?" Ken mumbled in a low voice. "Jeez... I don't know what this kid's been smoking, but it's definitively not the same thing Cid's inhaling."

"Shut up, Ken!" Yuffie snapped in a low voice, yet I saw that she was struggling to hold back her laughter.

"See? That wasn't so bad. I got you your happy thought, eh?" my friend chuckled.

"I can't stand you!"

"Ah, here she is!" Peter announced. He then flew left and let us see the being he had called: a little fairy with short, golden hair and a splendorous glow similar to that of Tish's, although not as ancient or as wise.

"Well, I finally got to meet my colleague." Our fairy giggled. "I could not seize the opportunity last time..."

"Tinkerbell says she's glad to meet you all." Peter said. "Oh, by the way, don't bother trying to understand her. I'm the only one who knows what she talks about."

"Pay heed to that, my friends." The dragon said. He let out a long sigh and stepped forth. I could see in his eyes that he was still somewhat troubled. Nevertheless, Octavius had been right: now was not the time to talk about that. "All you fellows need is a bit of pixie dust to fly. Those of you who cannot think of any happy thoughts may ride on my back..." he silently eyed Sephiroth, hoping, I suppose, that he would manage to think something, anything that would make him fly, whatever it would be.

"Think about a happy thought?" Sora said. "That's easy! I've got lots of them!"

"I don't think it's that hard." Donald added, with a dreamy smile. I take it he was thinking about his companion, Daisy...

"That's the easiest thing we've had to do yet!" Goofy laughed.

"I'm ready for my pixie dust ration!" Felicia declared.

"Take a deep breath, Tink... it looks to me that these guys are ready to soar the skies!" Peter said, taking a hold of the little fairy by her wings. He gently shook her and golden dust fell from her body. He flew about us and spread the dust on us. It wasn't difficult for me to find my happy thought... And to tell the truth, I found lots of them, many of them related to this adventure and many others linked to my former journeys.

I thought about my many sessions of training with Ken when we were practicing martial arts under the watch of master Gouken. I especially remembered that one time when he gave me the red bandanna I always wear. I thought about the many tournaments I had entered and all of the friends I had made there (as well as enemies, but that was really unimportant at that moment). I recalled all the great moments our group had had... My mind returned to the friendly tournament we held on the Coliseum of the Olympus when we arrived there for the first time. I had been very excited back then. I remember my fight with Leon... I'm sure he didn't fight with his full power. I can't tell why, though, but anyway...

And I also remembered Shun, that little boy who thought he was my little brother. No, I mean, my little brother. I thought about all the happy moments he, Ken, and I had shared. I recalled his specialty, pork with beans. Man, that was tasty food... Although I missed him terribly, I didn't think about his passing. Just the fun we had had together and how he had looked up to me. And it was then, just as the image of his face appeared on my head, that I began to float.

My friends gasped in surprise as they found themselves floating beside me as well. Then we began to laugh. I had never felt a sensation such as that one before in my entire life! I think that there hasn't been a single person who hasn't dreamed about flying. And there I was! Even Octavius had thought of something, for he flew too!

Of course, not all of my friends needed the little fairy's dust to fly. Morrigan and Camille could very well fly on their own, as well as Tish... In the end, all of us were flying, except for one person. I suppose you can guess who that was.

"I feared this would happen." Will sighed. "Very well, then. I shall carry you on my back. Yet do not think for once that I will not be wary."

"I didn't think you would." Sephiroth replied coldly as he hoped on the dragon's back.

"Okay, then. Let's go to London already!" Peter urged. I could see excitement in his eyes; I'm not sure if it was either the sensation of having a new adventure or the urge to see that Wendy girl again. "Let's hurry up. We'll be there in no time!" and so he was off.

We soared across the seas of Never Land and flew up, up into the starry sky. Soon, a thick fog covered the waters of Never Land and then they vanished. There was a moment of uncertainty in which the fog only allowed us to see Peter's shape traveling forth without stopping. We followed him and Will without question. The moment soon came to an end and we found ourselves flying high above the streets of London. I felt a strange sensation all of a sudden, as if I was about to fall onto the ground, yet then I remember Tinkerbell's magical dust. Some of my friends couldn't help but to let out a cry of fear and surprise.

"Oh, crap!" Ken exclaimed. "Oh, man...! I never thought I'd see that city from this height without being inside an airplane and without a parachute in my back..."

"Lucky us, that we have invisible wings, my friend!" Demean cried with a laugh.

"Wait a second! Be quiet, guys!" Felicia said. Her ears moved forth for a moment and then she smiled, claiming: "I can hear the Big Ben!"

"If that is a bell tolling then I can listen to it as well!" added Link.

"Oh, yeah! That comes from the clock tower!" Peter exclaimed. "Come on, I'll take you there if you want!"

He flew faster than ever, with Will and Sephiroth right on his back. The rest of us, non-flying creatures, had a bit of trouble to catch up with him at first. Nevertheless, after a few moments, it appeared before us... the Clock Tower of London. It was still working, as breathtaking as ever.

Peter Pan landed right above one of the clock's four faces, while Sephiroth leapt off Will's back and landed near him. The rest of us quickly caught up with them and managed to stand on the tip of the tower. Except for Will, who still hovered in midair, making fierce drafts of air with every flap of his wings, we all stood right above Big Ben, I should think.

"Well, here we are." Will said. "This is truly a spectacular place. I never thought I would see a city of the sort."

"I've been here a couple of times." Ken said. "I picked up one or two fights, by the way. One of them was against this lady... you remember her name, Ryu? It sort of slipped off my mind."

"...Cammy?" I recalled.

"That's the one! Man, she was good. And hot. Though not as hot as Chun – Li, eh, Ryu?" my friend chuckled, elbowing my side. He knew I sort of had a weak side for Chun – Li, a woman as beautiful as they come, with incredible strength in his arms... and legs.

"...I guess so." I limited myself to reply.

"That is one story we will have to hear about later." Tish said. "But right now we have to find that keyhole and seal it. I can sense the evil of the Heartless about and it is making me feel uneasy. The presence I feel is more eluding and infinitively more powerful than the one we fought on Traverse Town."

"Don't worry on the elusive part, Tish." Felicia said. "After all, we have the Heartless-radar with us."

"I'm not a radar." Sephiroth growled. "And I'm a bit worried myself, too, because I can't exactly tell where the smell of this Heartless comes from. It seems to come from everywhere and nowhere, if you can tell my meaning."

"Yes and no." Morrigan said. "But either way, it sounds dangerous. We have to be on our guards."

"That is not all." Octavius added. "The city is almost void of humans. There some there, hiding fearful in their houses and in other places. But I smell other presences. And I am not exactly comfortable with them about." He ducked as he silently sniffed the air. "Yes, there they are. Here, there, all about. Those cursed undead... vampires."

"Vampires?" we all gasped. Siegfried gulped and then ventured to say in a low voice: "Of all the places..."

"Demean, did Wilheim have any acquaintances in London?" Ukyo asked.

"If my memory does not fail me, he did not meet any vampires here, but Magnus and Hommaph." The elf replied.

"Yeah, that's what I remember too." Ukyo sighed with a bit of anger and fright on her face.

"We do not have to worry much about Magnus, since he has already died." He went on. "And I very much doubt Hommaph would be here, in London. It is possible, yet not likely. One thing is certain, however. You are in danger, Ukyo."

"Me?" the girl asked. "Why me? What do you mean?"

"He is right." Camille added, snapping her fingers. "My dear, you carry Renamark."

"...Oh, damn." Ukyo murmured.

"Um, could you please explain what is going on to the rest of us, mortals?" Ranma asked. "I know that that sword is very powerful and all, but why is Ucchan in danger?"

"And who the hell is Hommaph?" intervened Siegfried. "Was he friends with my brother?"

"No way. Magnus and Hommaph forced Wilheim to do something terrible when he was here. But I don't want to talk about that now." Ukyo said. "The thing is, answering your question, Ran-Chan, that I'm in danger because Renamark is a very powerful weapon of the vampires."

"Oh, and you're not one of them..." Akane inquired.

"Well, that, and the fact that lots of vampires are after it. Wilheim said that he had to fight some of them when they came after him... and before him, his former owner was forced to kill many of them."

"Unlimited greed. How strange, to see that in a vampire." Octavius grumbled.

"Now, now, were-bear, we had already talked about this." Tish said.

"Besides, I sort of used to be one, you know." Siegfried added.

"Then I will keep my comments to myself." The were-bear said.

"Chill, Octavius! You're becoming almost as bitter as the Heartless-radar." Felicia said.

"I'm not a radar!" Sephiroth cried angrily while Cloud and some others laughed aloud.

"If there are vampires here, then let us hope they were friends with Wilheim." Demean said. "Otherwise, the Heartless will cease to be our only concern."

"Still... checking the streets of London one by one isn't exactly the best of ideas." Shun said. "It might take us forever."

"Perhaps we should wait until daylight." Hyoga suggested.

"The presence of the Heartless is way too strong." Ikki answered. "Maybe there is no day here. It could very well be a waste of time."

"Time is a luxury we don't have." Added Seiya. "I say we start looking for that keyhole now."

"I agree with Seyia and Shun." Leon said. "We have to start searching for the keyhole right away, and we should split up."

"I'm into that idea." Dante said. "But I say that we remain close to each other... mostly, we should remain close to Ukyo. If Demean and Camille are right, the vampires could strike at any moment."

"I hope you're wrong." Kairi said. "I'm not very fond of vampires."

"They're not all bad, Kairi." Sora mumbled, placing a hand on her shoulder. "If that's how we're doing it, I'm going with Ukyo."

"So am I." Demean added. "I swore I would protect her at all costs. I intend to be true to my word."

"Let's hope you're all wrong, guys." Ukyo said. "I'm really not in the mood of fighting vampires."

"Neither am I." Siegfried sighed. "Aside from the fact that I was once one of them, I was ridiculously strong back then. I take it that I was nothing more than a cockroach compared to those guys."

"Don't feel that way, Mr. Siegfried." Merryck replied. "Even we, the 'weakest' of fighters, can do something well every now and then. Besides, you're strong. To tell the truth, I was quite amazed when..."

"There you go again, Merryck." Cloud chuckled. "Once you get going, there's really no way to shut you up, is there?"

"He's a little parrot, just like Wilheim." Yuffie added, with a giggle. The hobbit chuckled as well and remained silent.

We all remained quiet for a few more moments, looking at the streets of London. There was not a soul on sight. I had never seen something as creepy as that. Just to see such a big place, so empty, so silent, so dark can make your hair stand on end. I took a deep breath and tightened my headband. It was certainly just a matter of time before someone, anyone attacked us. I had to be on my guard...

"I sure hope that one of the vampires Octavius smells is Gustav." Ukyo said.

"That would be wonderful." Tish quickly agreed. "Let us hope he is here."

"Okay, time to get this over with." I declared. "Let's fly down there and find that keyhole."

"Since there are no men or women down there, I suppose it's okay for Will to come along, right?" Sakura inquired.

"I do not care if I scare people; my intention is not to harm them." Will said. "I am here to fight against the Heartless alongside you, friends, nothing more."

"That settles it, then, I guess."

"I'm gonna go and check on Wendy." Peter said. "You guys go on ahead. I'll catch up with you as soon as I see she's fine."

"Say 'hi' to her from us." Seiya said.

"Enough talk." Shiryu announced. "Come on. Let's go slowly and quietly."

It was a very long way down. Luckily, we reached the ground just in time before Big Ben started tolling again. I take it that would've made our eardrums explode. We looked at each other for a brief instant and nodded to ourselves as we all headed in different directions. Ukyo, Sora, Kairi, Siegfried, Demean, Tish, Octavius, Ranma, Akane, Shiryu, and Seiya took one of the roads to our right. I went down a center road, along with Ken, Hyoga, and Yuffie.

Keeping our eyes peeled and our senses sharp, we made our way through the dark street. There were just a few lights on, barely enough to let us know where we were going. Yuffie and Ken kept their eyes on the left while Hyoga and I scanned the right. There was nothing. No sign of the keyhole, of the Heartless, or of the vampires. Yet I could feel many presences. And what was most alarming was that sometimes they even approached us. And just when we thought they were going to pop out of the ground or behind a wall, they would simply go.

"They're toying with us..." Hyoga whispered. "They're beginning to get me very nervous. I'm one step away from blasting my Diamond Dust into the walls."

"Try to remain calm, Hyoga." I said. "That's probably just what they want us to do."

"I wouldn't know, Ryu." The saint replied. "I have never fought against a vampire before."

"Any bright ideas, Ken?" Yuffie asked.

"Kid, you know I'm not exactly the brains on the group." Ken answered. "At least not when it comes to how to fight an invisible opponent. Put me against a solid enemy and I'm your man, but otherwise..."

"I thought I was the best."

"Keep dreaming, girl."

"Stay focused, guys." Hyoga said.

We continued our search but found nothing. The street went on forever (at least at the pace we were walking), and the presences didn't seem to go. They kept harassing us silently. Hyoga seemed pretty nervous and mad, but Yuffie and Ken weren't very scared at all. As for me, I think that I was the one with the best chances of actually spotting something...

Yet suddenly, we froze on our tracks. A tremendously fierce howl filled the air about us. It had sounded like the wail of a wolf that chants to the full moon. It was then that we thought what was most logical to think, given that there were probably vampires all around us...

"Do you think there are were-wolves in here?" Yuffie murmured.

"It doesn't sound crazy." Ken said. "That doesn't sound crazy at all."

"Should we go see what that was? Or should we keep away?" Hyoga asked.

"Perhaps it would be better to let the... creatures of London be." I replied. "Although chances are we'll meet that thing anyways."

"Gee, thanks, Ryu. Now I'll know who to speak to whenever I'm scared." Yuffie growled.

"I'm not saying that to scare you, Yuffie. I'm just saying what I think will happen."

"Hence the statement, Ryu." Ken added. "Come on, let's quit wasting time."

We kept on walking through the dark street, but the cries of that being wouldn't let us be. The howls turned into menacing growls, fierce barks, and, from time to time, sudden yelps. It became clear to us that a battle was being waged. We soon came to a stop as our ears sharpened and listened to the fight more carefully. My alertness grew and I hastily realized something.

"There is a battle going on." I affirmed. "I can feel two great powers. And one of them seems to be fading."

"That's true." Hyoga added. "And the howls are getting weaker. That can only mean that our were-wolf is losing."

"Should we go and see what we can do?" Yuffie whispered in a frightened, yet curious breath.

"I don't think we should meddle in these affairs." I said. "Unless it would be the Heartless fighting, I think. But I don't sense any presence of the sort right now... Hold on a second..." I abruptly murmured as a third presence entered the fray. We heard loud yells of rage and felt how the newcomer engulfed herself in power. There was no doubt. We had all sensed such power before. "Oh, God! That's Felicia!"

"What the hell is she doing?" Ken gasped. "We have to go to her!"

"Let's go, then!" I cried and quickly started to run at the place where the battle was waged. I ran ahead of my companions with only one thought in mind: to save our friend.

But suddenly, I heard how my companions stopped running. I turned back and noticed they had been cut off by a large group of Heartless that had popped out of the ground. I hated them when they did that! I was about to throw myself at them when Ken raised his hand in the air.

"No, Ryu!" he cried. "We'll be fine, don't worry about us! You have to go and help Felicia!"

He was right. Her powers were beginning to diminish.

"Hurry up, Ryu!" Hyoga added. "We'll join you just as we finish beating these Heartless morons!"

"You're still here? Go!" Yuffie pressed.

"Okay! Good luck!" I answered and kept on going.

Felicia was no doubt giving the fight of her life. However, the other being battling her was too powerful and his strength wasn't waning, not even a little. It was as if her foe hadn't been touched by her at all, and knowing Felicia's quickness and power, that was very unlikely.

She must be fighting a vampire! I thought. That creature must be regenerating! That must be it! "Hold on, Felicia, I'm coming!"

They were just around the corner. The presence closer to me was that of the creature that my friend was fighting. With a speedy leap, I unleashed a powerful kick as soon as the wall at my side disappeared. I managed to hurt the being before I saw his face. He rolled over the ground and stood up a few steps away from us. Felicia quickly went by my side, breathing heavily. I could see she was wounded, yet she could still give battle.

"Are you all right?" I asked, concerned.

"I'm okay." She answered. "But this guy's power is amazing..."

"What?" unexpectedly cried the being I was now facing alongside the cat-woman. "Another one? This has got to be a joke! The world versus Adrian! I don't think it's funny, goddamn it!" his voice had been young, manly. And as I lay my eyes upon him, I no longer knew if I was facing a youthful enemy or an ancient adversary.

Just as I thought, the being in question was a vampire. I could tell from the magical glitter in his black eyes and the small but sharp fangs coming out of his mouth. He was tall and muscular and had long, lank dark hair. He wore a black coat, a black T-shirt, and black jeans. I expected that he would be wearing a pair of battle boots, but instead, he had comfortable, black sneakers on his feet. If his skin wasn't as white, he could've melded with the shadows about. In his hands, he held a razor-sharp sickle that shimmered as if it were a piece of moon. What surprised me most about him was his face: he looked so familiar and yet so unusual. I don't know exactly how else to describe him. But that wasn't all. Right across his nose, there was a large, angry scar that disappeared right by his cheeks. He must've gotten that while he was still I human, I supposed... And strangely enough, although his skin seemed soft and silky, it gave me the impression that he had fought more battles than any of us.

And just then, I discovered the vampire's former adversary. Again, we had been right: his opponent had been a were-wolf. His body was strong and tall and was covered by bluish fur, stained by his own blood. He only wore dark shorts and a red piece of cloth around his waist. I could see his sharp teeth behind his lips and a blue gaze that refused to let go of Felicia. I take it she had come to his aid. But the were-wolf had been beaten; there was no way he would give battle again any time soon without some healing spells or potions.

"Who's that?" I asked Felicia in a low voice, eyeing the were-wolf.

"That's Jon!" she answered.

"...Jon Talbain?" I muttered in a surprised breath. She had once talked about him with me.

"Yeah! He saved my life once... now it's time I returned the favor! I found this vampire beating him down! And I'm not going to let you kill him, do you hear me?"

"He, a were-wolf, saved the life of you, a cat-woman?" the vampire asked, seemingly confused. To be honest, it was a little hard to believe such a thing. "...Oh, well. Stranger things have happened."

"Get away from my friend, vampire!" I said menacingly, putting myself between him and Felicia. "Or I'll strike you down, you can count on that!"

"Hey, try to relax a bit." The vampire answered, quite calmly, I might add. "Either way, I've got a better deal for you both. You leave me the were-wolf and you get your butts out of here. This is none of your business."

"Jon is my friend, so this is my goddamn business!" Felicia cried.

"And Felicia is my companion." I added. "If she chooses to fight you, then I will join her. You should best leave, vampire, before we show you what we're really made of."

"So you really want to fight, eh?" the vampire murmured, his face turning serious and the grip on his sickly growing firmer. "First a were-wolf, then a cat-woman, and now a hunter. I'll have a lot to brag about if I make it..." and with that said, he raced at us with incredible speed. I barely had time to dodge his sharp weapon. I rolled over the ground and quickly got up to face him just before he took a swing at me again. But fortunately, I managed to evade his attack once more.

The vampire attacked with amazing speed and power. I instantly realized he might very well be the toughest opponent I had fought so far. At that moment, I really wished I could've seen Wilheim battle a bit more when he had been a vampire. I could've possibly thought of some strategy before the fight. But since that would never happen, I knew I had to come up with a plan right away before the vampire would cut my head off.

Felicia tried to come near us and take a swipe at him with her claws, but our opponent kept pushing her back with quick kicks. My friend didn't have the strength to evade them anymore, and the vampire knew this. Yet I wandered why he didn't go after her first if she was so weak. Perhaps it was his way of giving us just one last chance...

As the vampire tried to sink the blade of his sickle into my chest, I managed to grab his hands and threw him back as hard as I could, slamming his body against a wall. The foe twisted his body with ease and landed back on the ground without a scratch on him. This would certainly be harder than I had thought at first.

"Very good!" he said, sounding excited. It seems to me that he was a bit like myself: always thrilled to face strong opponents. But unlike him, I wasn't exactly fond of killing my adversaries... "I keep underestimating you, hunters. And I've told myself hundreds of times not to do it. Sometimes I can be stubborn, you know."

"Why do you call me hunter?" I asked.

"What, do I look like an encyclopedia to you? We're here to fight!" he answered, throwing himself against me once again. This time, Felicia successfully got in the way and knocked the vampire off his feet with a nimble kick. I leapt high into the air and tried to punch his back while he lay on the ground. But our opponent turned into mist and my hand passed right through his now ethereal body. He materialized himself right behind me and tried to cut me in half with his sickle. I rolled forward, getting only a superficial cut in my back. It could've obviously been worse.

Felicia took a hold of the vampire's sickle with her hands and struggled to take it away from him. As they thrashed about, I got up and readied myself to fire one of my energy waves at the foe. Felicia quickly realized this and leapt aside as I expelled a fireball from the palms of my hands.

"HADOKEN!"

My projectile hit the vampire on the stomach and sent him flying against a lamppost. He hit it so hard that he bent it with his body. Yet he hastily got up, letting out a growl of pain, the burns and scratches in his body already healing.

"I didn't see that one coming..." he muttered to himself. "Now I'm thirsty..." and without saying anything else, he dashed at Felicia with incredible speed and caught her between his strong arms. He sank his teeth into her neck and began to drink. My friend let out a surprised cry and tried to free herself from his grasp, but it was useless.

I braced myself to hit the fiend with a powerful attack and started to run at him. But just then, the vampire looked up and released Felicia. He quickly leapt back just in time to avoid a furious stream of fire. He then looked at the person who had saved Felicia and had just attacked him... it had been Ukyo. She had already unsheathed Renamark and was letting it thirst for blood, letting its magical fire flow.

Without losing a moment, I took a hold of Jon Talbain, who was now nearly unconscious, and raced to my friends' side. Felicia was weak, but could still stand up by herself. She could still fight a bit more. And Ukyo's strength was now beyond comparison, thanks to Renamark's power. At last, the vampire had no chance of winning.

"What in the hell...?" the vampire mused in a shocked voice.

"Get away from us, fiend, unless you want to taste Renamark's fire!" Ukyo threatened.

"How can...?" the enemy mumbled, his eyes fixed on the sword. Yet after a few moments of remaining quiet, he looked at Ukyo and said: "Only the true bearer of Renamark can understand its power. That can only mean one of two things. Did Wilheim give that sword to you or did you take it from his dead body?" his voice had been demanding and dead serious.

"...What if I told you I killed him?" Ukyo said, coldly. I was taken aback by the statement, but I then realized she had just said that so we could figure out what side was the vampire on.

And when he answered, I didn't know whether to feel worried or relieved...

"Then we're going to go medieval on your butts."

He banged the floor with his sickle once and remained silent and still. His face revealed intense anger, a desire to kill us all right at that moment. But he dared not move. I then sensed presences. They were far away from us at first, yet just a few seconds, they were all around us. I became very alarmed, and so did Felicia. I raised my fists and looked in every direction, only to find nothing but the shadows of the streets. And, despite our obvious preoccupation, Ukyo remained calm, with Renamark at the ready.

The shadows began to dissipate and the vampire's companions started to show themselves. The first one to appear on the scene was a tall vampire woman with long, black hair and bright, red eyes. Her skin was as white as the one of our adversary, and she also held a scythe. She too wore a dark coat, shirt and jeans, only that she did wear a pair of black boots instead of comfortable sneakers. Her face was very beautiful, very tempting, to tell the truth. Her small fangs, rather than augment ferocity, gave her a sensual look...

She appeared from behind one of the walls behind our opponent and looked at us with a serious glance. Then she noticed Renamark in Ukyo's hands. Her face changed into a stupefied expression and after a few seconds, changed into an enraged stare.

Behind the woman, came another vampire. This one was just a bit shorter than Octavius, his hair also long and black, as his eyes. He was slim and had strong, athletic arms. He carried a pair of bladed nun chucks under his arm and seemed eager to use them against us. Like the vampire woman, his face had first revealed surprise and then anger when he had seen Ukyo holding the sword.

From the opposite wall, appeared a fourth vampire. He was also dressed in black, but instead of jeans he wore elegant pants and a button-shirt. A white scarf adorned his neck. He wasn't as tall as his other companions, but his power was definitively greater. His skin was also paler and his blue eyes shone so magically that, with the right amount of light in them, they appeared to be as white as the rest of his body. This one held a rapier and was just as mad as the others.

Many other vampires started to come from behind other walls. Some others appeared on the ceilings of the houses nearby and looked at us with silent fury. Red-headed, dark-haired, and blonde vampires surrounded us. Some of them had beards, which seemed a bit strange to me: I had never thought of a vampire with a beard. But that was not my biggest worry, obviously.

"F-Felicia..." murmured the weak were-wolf. "G-get out of here... You and your f-friends should l-leave... I'll stay behind a-and..."

"I'm not leaving you here, Jon..." Felicia answered in a low voice, kneeling by his side and letting his head rest on his lap. "Whatever happens, I'll try to protect you. It's my turn, now..." she raised her head and her eyes became frightened as she saw that nearly thirteen vampires had answered our adversary's calling. "...Octavius, where are you?"

"Where are Sora and the others, Ukyo?" I asked in a low voice, but the girl didn't answer. She remained still, with a firm grasp on her sword, her eyes fixed on all of the vampires. I took it our other friends had been delayed by the Heartless as well. I could only hope they were okay... I could only hope we would be okay.

The ground abruptly shook under our feet. It seemed to me that something had hit it with great force. I turned around and nearly let out a surprised yelp as I saw a huge vampire. He was just, amazingly, a little bit taller than Octavius and just as large. He wore the same attire as the other vampires (all black), but he had the longest, most bushy beard of them all. It was white as snow, just a little bit whiter than his skin. His eyes were blue as well, only that his gaze was much deeper and seemed much wiser. His fangs were a bit larger than the rest of his friends' and his gaze was angrier too. I was shocked... that monster measured more than seven feet! I don't even want to talk about the power I sensed in him... His weapon of choice was an enormous iron hammer.

And just as I thought we were facing our most powerful foe, I felt yet another presence whose strength made me shiver. I looked around and found out that another vampire had entered the street. He walked towards Ukyo, staring at her with great rage. He was just a bit shorter than Octavius, but just as muscular. Again, he was dressed in black, only that he wore a purple cape. His hands were covered by leather gloves. In his right one, was a gigantic, razor-sharp sword. Its sheathe hung from his back. The skin of this vampire was spectral and beautiful, like the one of an angel or the one of a ghost. His eyes were the most magical and frightening of all the creatures... their furious golden glow was unlike anything I had ever seen. I supposed that was their leader.

The large vampire's eyes then drifted to Ukyo's right arm. There was Wilheim's bandanna, firmly tied against her skin. The vampire the looked into her eyes again and spoke with a grave, booming voice that made Felicia quail in fear.

"You dare to wear that thing as if it were the claws of a lion you have murdered? Is it a trophy of your victory against a warrior such as him? Too long had he suffered, too long had his gaze been plagued by sadness and despair. And you boast his defeat by wearing his headband in your arm?" he raised his sword at her furiously. "Step back, comrades. I will deal with these traitorous hunters myself!"

I raised my fists, knowing that, either way, there was no way we could win. But Ukyo, on the other hand, slowly lowered Renamark and her head. She removed her bandanna and, with a sigh, explained:

"This isn't a trophy. It's a memento..." she gulped, as she searched for the right words. I was really worried that the vampires wouldn't let her finish... "You know? He once told me that the rightful carrier of Renamark should be the one that doesn't wish to take it along with him or her... He was the just owner of the sword. That's what you said to him, correct?"

The rage in the vampire's eyes began to fade. All of the creatures began to lower their weapons as she kept speaking.

"That's... that's why I can't be the rightful owner of Renamark, even though he gave it to me." She said. "Because I want it. I want it because it's the only memory, along with his headband, that I have of him..." a tear escaped her eyes. She quickly wiped it with her arm, using the bandanna to dry her face. "It's my fault he's dead. He died to save me... Because he loved me. And I love him with all my heart... That's why I can't give you this sword, even though I'm not meant to be its rightful owner..." she paused and for a second, it appeared that she was trying to remember something. Then I realized she wanted to call him the same way Wilheim had called him. "..._Herr_ Gustav."

The vampire slowly closed his eyes, the fury in his face completely vanished. All of the undead sighed sadly and put away their weapons. Felicia, Jon, and I sighed silently in relief...

A bloody tear escaped one of Gustav's eyes. He hastily wiped it off and remained quiet for a long while. Our opponent didn't cry at all, but he didn't seem too happy. All of the other vampires wept in silence, even the monstrous creature behind us. To tell the truth, I think he was the one who cried the most...

"Alas!" Gustav finally said. "Wilheim has gone. I was unprepared for this news. Not even six-hundred years of existence could prepare me for this. He was the one who had lived..."

"It's all because of the Heartless." Ukyo quickly said. "...But there is good news, I could say. For one part, I think that we can bring him back. I don't know how, but I can feel it in my heart... And also, Wilheim, my friends, and I achieved what no vampire had managed to do so far. Magnus is dead." When she said these words, all of the vampires turned to her in amazement. "I drove my former weapon through his body and Wilheim cut him in half with a swift blow. We set him free... and he became a human again, with Lady Gabrielle's help. He... he was my boyfriend. My beloved."

The vampires smiled... Whew! That had been so close!

"Shy, little Wilheim actually got himself a girlfriend!" the vampire-woman said with a low giggle. "I knew he would do it sooner or later."

"...So we're all cool?" Suddenly Felicia said, getting up.

"Like I said, there's no argument with you." The vampire who had fought us said. "But that son of Gaia there isn't quite off the hook, yet."

"Why? He has done you no harm! I know Jon! He's a good person... I mean, were-wolf!"

"Are you an acquaintance of Wilheim?" asked the vampire with the rapier. "Answer, cat-woman."

"Yeah! We all knew Wilheim!" she replied. "Except for Jon... But I'm sure he would've liked him!"

"Wilheim's friends are our friends." Boomed the biggest of the vampires with the gravest of voices. "Yet we are not precisely fond of the children of Gaia. For now, however, there will be a truce between us. There are more important matters at hand."

"What is your name, girl?" asked Gustav, his voice turning soft and gentle. He had addressed Ukyo.

"I'm Ukyo Kuonji." She answered. "My friends' names are Felicia and Ryu. I've just met Jon..." she stopped for a moment and then asked: "I haven't felt you invading my mind... Why haven't you read it?"

"I trust your words, dear Ukyo." Gustav said. "Moreover, who would ask such a question, if not Wilheim's beloved?"

"...Right." Ukyo giggled. "I'm sorry about the misunderstanding..." she said to our former rival, with an apologetic glance.

"Don't worry about it." The vampire replied.

"What's your name?"

"Your friends might've caught it when I was cursing my luck." The vampire answered.

"...Adrian?" Felicia inquired.

"There you go."

"By Wilheim's descriptions, I think I know who most of you are..." Ukyo said.

She was about to start guessing the vampire's names when we heard rapid footsteps behind us. We turned around and noticed Ken, Hyoga, and Yuffie had arrived. Their fists were raised and they were eager to fight. Yet when they saw us safe and unharmed, they slowly let their guards down.

"Um... hello?" Ken muttered. "Did we miss something?"

And before any of us could answer, the rest of our friends, all of them, arrived at the scene. They all froze for an instant, but then, the ice was broken.

"You!" cried Adrian, staring at Demean.

"Oh, dear God!" Demean laughed along with Tish. "I did not expect to find you here, my crazy friend!"

"Crazy? That may be, but you're still crazier than me! Ask anyone!"

"Demean and Tish." Gustav said, with a smile on his face. "I did not expect to see you here. It is quite a pleasant surprise. Ah! And the lady of the night comes with you, too!"

"I am also happy to see you once more, Gustav." Camille said. "This is a merry encounter. To see so many wise, strong vampires makes me feel at ease..."

"And there are three great elders, no less." Tish added. "Gustav, Rofell, Olaf... What a strange sight indeed. It is a pity, however, regarding the circumstances."

"Indeed." Gustav said. He looked at all of our friends and asked: "Do they come with you?"

"Yes, they do." Answered Demean. He took a step forward, his face turning serious and added: "I am afraid I have grave news, Gustav."

"Spare them. Ukyo has already told us many things..." the great vampire replied. And suddenly, his eyes were filled by amazement. His mouth opened, but from it came no sound. The rest of his companions seemed alarmed by this fact and hastily looked to where his stare was fixed. "This is impossible..."

"This cannot be!" added the vampire holding the rapier. I later found out this was Rofell. "Your image in Wilheim's head was supposed to be the memory of someone long departed!"

"...Oh! I... um... I don't really know what happened... I think it was because of what my brother did that I'm here." Siegfried said, realizing all of the vampires had thought him to be dead.

"...This is Siegfried?" asked the biggest vampire. He was the one called Olaf. "Wilheim's younger brother? Magnus's cruel halberd had supposedly finished you!"

"...I don't know..."

"Um, guys...?" intervened Sora. "I think we should talk this through some place else... or better yet, after having beaten the Heartless... you see..."

"The Heartless?" asked a blonde vampire who held a spear. "Are those the shadows that have been attacking London?"

"Perhaps we should talk after kicking their butts..." Dante intervened, but Gustav shook his head.

"The dawn is nearly upon us." He replied. "We must seek refuge from the sunlight. Yet we will not sleep today. There is much we want to hear. You seem to know more about what is going on than ourselves." And so he finally sheathed his sword. "I am confused and tired. I could use a bit of rest. And I thirst. There are not many humans about. We have barely fed."

"I suppose you have run out of resources, have you not?" asked Octavius in a defiant tone. "For that is what you vampires do: bring darkness to wherever there is light, death to wherever there is life."

"Dude, shut up!" Cloud whispered in a frantic breath as the vampires looked at the were-bear with a cold stare.

"So the rumors are true." Gustav said. "There is an immortal Narsua who wishes to spill the blood of the sons of Cain. Yet there is not much you can do and we intend to do nothing, for we shall not battle our comrades' friends. Nevertheless, stay your wrath, were-bear. You will have to come with us tonight."

"So be it. I only hope I will be able to stomach the stench of a vampire hideout." Octavius replied.

"Octavius, please be quiet!" Ariel pleaded, fear filling her eyes.

"You will have to wait for us in the streets if you are incapable of doing so." Gustav said, calmly. "Let us go. The sun comes."

_(Change of scene)_

We were very lucky the vampires didn't get mad at Octavius's remarks. Thankfully, we were all friends with Demean, Tish, and Camille, who seemed to be in excellent terms with all of the vampires...

We spent the day inside their hideout, except, obviously, for Will, who stayed outside the building we had entered. The vampires told him that they had felt no evil presence during their slumber, so he could very well rest his body with a good, long sleep. The tired dragon welcomed the opportunity and quickly dozed off. Tifa gently patted him on the neck and he smiled in his dreams as we all followed the vampires. The sun had already come out.

The place was, unbelievably, very, very cozy. It felt like an elegant bar from the fifties. There were even bottles of many types of alcoholic beverages all around. Wines, whisky, champagne... you name it. Some of my friends even asked if they could have a drink. Rofell, who was actually the rightful owner of the place, kindly said that we were all welcome to do whatever we wanted...

There were lots of empty tables with comfortable chairs about them. We took these and sat in a circle. There was plenty of space for all of us to form one. The dim light of the candles gave the place a welcoming feeling. Almost everything was made of fine wood carved into beautiful shapes. Everything was clean. It surprised me how nicely the place had remained despite the Heartless' doings.

During that time, we answered many of the vampires' questions and got some of our own doubts cleared. I got to learn a few interesting facts. For instance, I was made aware that most of the vampires present had taught Wilheim some fighting skills. Rofell had showed him how to use the rapier; Thor (the vampire with the nun chucks), had showed him how to fight bare-handedly (along with Olaf) and had also taught him the way of the katana, and Gustav had trained him in the art of the double-handed sword. No wonder he had been so strong. He had learned from the best.

Most of the vampires in the room came from the Gangrel clan. In fact, Gustav, Rofell, and Adrian were the only undead that didn't belong to said kin... You see, that's a long story. I'll just say that the vampires live in different societies. Those are the clans. Most of them get along just fine, but there are a few exceptions... Olaf was the elder vampire of the Gangrel, while Rofell was a leader of the Toreador and Gustav was the boss of the Malkavian. Adrian came from the clan of the Ventrue, a clan of vampires who especially enjoy fighting. He was no elder, however. The rest of the vampires were Olaf's underlings. I tried hard to learn all of their names, but there were twelve of them! I'm sure Ukyo knows all of them by heart; however, I only managed to learn three: Thor, Christen (the vampire with the spear), and Lucrecia (the beautiful-vampire woman). I think another one of them was called Balinerth, or something of the sort... Don't pay much attention, because the truth is I can't remember any more of them.

Some of our friends, remembering the vampires' need to feed, kindly offered their necks to them. I had always known that Wilheim had been shy and reluctant when it came to these matters. But these vampires were different. They accepted gratefully without waiting to find out if any of them had second thoughts. Of course, they barely hurt the volunteers. Rather than that, they seemed to enjoy the sensation of having their blood sucked, most evidently (and disturbingly), Camille and Morrigan. I mean... for God's sake, there were kids in the room!

"I... I thought you guys didn't drink human blood..." Ukyo shyly said to the Gangrel after having witnessed Christen drinking from Camille.

"On one hand, Camille isn't human." The vampire said, with a smile. "And on the other, beggars can't be choosers."

"You say that as if you had not enjoyed yourself, young vampire." The succubus mused with a sensual voice.

"_Au contraire_, dear Camille. I'm grateful and delighted."

"Well, you have had your fun, children of Cain. It is time we speak about the Heartless." Tish said, a bit maddened by the vampires and even our friends' lust...

"Um, Sora... have you ever had your blood sucked by a vampire?" asked Kairi in a very low voice. "What does it feel like?"

"I've never had the opportunity... although it does seem... OK, I'm going to shut up now." Sora murmured.

"Let us sit down, my friends." Gustav said, the veins on his face gone, his skin a little more lively. "There is much to talk about and the days in London have grown short. Come."

We all did as he said and waited for him to speak.

"Tell us your story." Rofell said. "You have been through much, have you not? That is why you surely know much."

And so we began to tell our tale to the vampires. They all listened carefully and with excitement in their faces. It seemed to me that they felt like little boys listening to a story told by their elders, even though only a handful of our friends were actually older than they. Everyone spoke about our travels and battles. The vampires occasionally interrupted to ask a few questions and then they fell quiet once more. The only ones that didn't say a word were Octavius and Sephiroth.

Well, now that I think about it, the latter did say some things... We did tell them about the fight some of them had had in Never Land (Peter Pan was the one who talked the most during this); however, although we mentioned an evil foe of terrible power, we never pointed out Sephiroth's name. Thanks to Octavius, things were already a bit tense (or at least for me. The vampires almost completely forgot about him as soon as we had started speaking). Nevertheless, it was not long before one of them pointed out the obvious...

"You, there." Said Thor after one of us had stopped talking. He was looking at Sephiroth. "The Heartless' emblem... you have it on your arm."

"Here we go again." Sephiroth murmured in an exasperated breath.

"I am curious." Thor continued, paying no heed to his interlocutor's words. "How is it that you became one of them? Better yet, how is it that you are now on our side? I do not suppose you are a spy of the Heartless: some of the beings that come with you are too intelligent and witty to be so easily deceived. For that, I am not uneasy of having you here. But I am still curious."

"...Well, you are the first creature that didn't freak out when you saw the emblem." Sephiroth said, calmly. "My companions have failed to mention a few things that happened to them during their travels. I suppose I should be grateful for that. But, what the hell? I think our hosts deserve to know the truth."

And so he spoke. I became nervous as he went on. I didn't know what to expect at the end. Some of my other friends seemed uneasy as well, while some others smiled in silence, hoping, I suppose, that the vampires would kick the living crap out of him. When he was done, there was a brief stillness, which was broken by Olaf's booming voice.

"You would have made a fine Assamite."

"Is that an insult?" Sephiroth asked.

"That depends. To you it might be a compliment, but I am not precisely fond of them."

"...Come on, guys, there's no time for verbal abuse." Ukyo intervened. "Let's just stick to our story and the Heartless, okay?"

"...As you wish, my dear." Olaf replied gently, smiling tenderly. The girl couldn't help but to smile back.

"So Merryck Goldengrass proved his worth as a hero, eh?" Gustav said, smirking and looking down at the hobbit. "It does not surprise me. Adventurer's blood has always run in your family's veins."

"...What do you mean, Mr. Gustav?" asked Merryck.

"I met your great-grandfather once." The vampire answered, to the hobbit's shock. "Demean and Tish asked me to see him. As I understand, he had lots of escapades because of his desire to meet fantastic creatures. That nearly got him killed a few times, if my memory does not fail me. So, rather than letting him go to dangerous places to meet these creatures, Demean and Tish thought it would be best to take one of said beings to his home. He was very excited to see someone like me."

"I don't believe it!" the hobbit laughed.

"That was a long time ago. Right about the time Rofell became a _Vampyr_, I believe."

"I have a question..." I intervened after a brief pause. "Adrian kept calling me hunter when we were fighting. Why is that?"

"I suppose I should be the one explaining that." Adrian said. "_Garous _are were-wolves, _Bastets _are were-cats, _Narsuas _are were-bears, _Vampyrs _are... well, that one is a bit obvious. Anyway, hunters are humans like yourself, that is, with supernatural strength. Humans who have managed to dominate the energies about them and channel them into their body to use them in battle."

"Oh, I get it. Thanks for the tip."

"Don't worry about it."

"So, guys, what can you tell us about the Heartless that roam these streets?" asked Leon. That was just the way he was: always to the point.

"I do not suppose they are unlike anything you have encountered before." One red-haired vampire said. "And even if they are, there is no need for you to be concerned. All of them fall quickly after a swift blow of our weapons. There is, however, one foe whose weakness we have yet to discover."

"What are you talking about?" asked Dante. "I thought you said they were all easy as pie."

"He was talking about the lesser foes." Olaf intervened. "Yet I am sure you, as a hunter, sensed the tremendous evil force that lurks about the streets. Right now it rests, but at nights, its foul power clouds our senses. It is that great."

"Yeah, I sensed it. I think we all did. Anyway, what about it? We know it's a Heartless but, have you seen it?"

"Just twice." Said Olaf. "For luckily, the fiend does not appear in the middle of the streets and attacks. He merely harasses us with his presence. There is only one place where he can be found: in the starlit sky of London, near the clock tower." He paused, as if waiting for one of us to say something. Since we all remained quiet, he went on. "He first appeared before us one night the Heartless had taken our battle to the skies. Many gargoyle-like creatures and wyverns had come from the shadows and had damaged many houses and buildings. We went after them and torn many asunder. But then they flew to the clock tower... we followed and stopped short as we felt how that malignant presence drew close. He then appeared before us: a specter with no face, fingers long and cold like ice, a blue cloak covering his ethereal body, and a strange, yellow orb floating below him...

"We decided to go after him first; let the other Heartless scatter, we would find them sooner or later. Regrettably, as we flew to him and attacked, we realized that our punches, kicks, and swings of our weapons did him no harm. They passed right through his cloak as if it were mist and bounced off the orb, which we assumed was his weak point, as if it were made out of diamond.

"The foe's attacks are vicious." Said the vampire, his voice darkening. "Although we cannot touch his body with our hands and legs, he is perfectly able to harm us with speedy, ferocious blows. One of those attacks was enough to knock brave, strong Lucrecia out of combat."

"His touch was something I cannot possibly describe." The vampire-woman interrupted. "It was like fire, ice, and lightning together. I have never felt so much pain. And though he didn't cut my skin, the pain was so great that I couldn't stand up against him any longer."

"But that is not all." Thor continued. "The creature uses another ploy, which is much more devastating. You see, he somehow takes control over our energies and makes them diminish one after the other. The numbers in the clock tower become lit with blue fire. As the hands of the clock turn, the flames begin to wane, and when all of them go out, the phantom leaves one of us with no more energy to even move a muscle. I know this, for I was victim of this technique. I failed to flap my vampire wings and plunged into the streets of London. I was lucky to have Christen by my side; otherwise I would have met a certain death."

"He also possesses one last skill." Rofell said. "He summons a red light from the palms of his ghastly hands and throws it at his closest victim. This spell is fierce: once it gets inside the body of its prey, it will drain him from all his energy. I myself felt I was having my blood sucked. In a matter of moments, the fiend had defeated me."

"The first time we met him it was an accident." Adrian added. "He practically mopped the floor with us. 'Course, that's not exactly correct, since all of us were fighting..." he shook his head, realizing that was... trivial. "Never mind. Anyway, the second time we faced it, we thought we were prepared. We fought with all of our strength and thought he would crumble. We were very wrong and got our butts kicked again."

"He used the same techniques." Rofell declared. "And yet we were unable to conquer him."

"Demean..." Gustav said in a serious tone. "You know that we are all fine warriors and that some of us are amongst the most ancient of vampires. I myself am the oldest of this small group, yet six-hundred years of wisdom and strength did not suffice to end with this demon. Though there certainly is a way to destroy him, I do not know it."

"I see..." the elf murmured, his eyes filled with confusion and despair. "So, not even the strongest children of Cain could undo this creature. This is more serious than I thought."

"Maybe he's only vulnerable to the Keyblade." Dante inquired. "In which case, Sora could beat him."

"One problem." Sora replied. "If he's only vulnerable to my weapon, guess who that thing's going to try to kill first."

"He'll try to kill you either way, since you're the Keyblade master." Leon said. "What confuses me is, why didn't he try to come after you now?"

"Do you suppose he only appears near the clock tower because there is something of utter importance there that he must guard?" Morrigan said.

"...You mean he's guarding the keyhole." Tifa murmured.

"That doesn't sound so preposterous." Adrian claimed. "Only that none of us saw something even resembling a keyhole, and we were all over the clock tower, flying like fearful crows."

"Then it's safe to assume that this enemy is a bit like Digaia." Cloud said. "Maybe the keyhole won't appear until he's been defeated."

"That could be true. Only that that brings us back to the first problem." I said. "How do we kill it? We have to find a way around his skills if we want to stay alive."

"I... I have an idea." Aeris intervened. "But... no. It's too dumb. I don't think it can work."

"Girl, we are desperate. There are no dumb ideas of any kind." Gustav said. "Please, share your thoughts with us."

"Go on, Aeris. Tell us what is on your mind." Link said gently.

"Well, it's about the hands in the clock tower." Aeris finally said. "You said that they kept moving and when all the numbers' fire went out, one of you lost all of his energies."

"One by one, he began to consume us with that spell." Christen said. "That's why we fled."

"Well, what if the clock hands couldn't move?" she went on. "Could it be possible that the spell lost its effect?"

There was silence for a few moments in which all faces appeared thoughtful. Personally, I didn't think it was a bad idea.

"Again, it doesn't sound so preposterous." Adrian said.

"But I've smelled the power of that Heartless." Sephiroth interjected. "It's like the vampires say: he's strong beyond comparison. Don't you think he'll be able to melt the ice that you're surely thinking about using to cover the clock hands to freeze their movement?"

"I wasn't thinking about ice. I was thinking about countering fire with fire." Aeris said.

"Do you know a spell that can stop objects in their tracks?" one of the vampires asked.

"Yeah. And I'm almost sure Donald knows it as well. Tish, Dante, and Sora might now it too, but if they don't, I could teach them. I don't consider myself strong enough to beat the Heartless' spell, yet if we all work together, maybe we'll be able to beat him."

"I've seen you conjure it once or twice." Sora said. "But I haven't learned it yet. You'd have to teach me."

"Same here." Dante added.

"I'll help with the teaching." Donald said. "I know what you're talking about, Aeris."

"I suppose I could try." Tish said.

"That would take care of one of our problems." Link said. "Yet we would still have to worry about an army of Heartless. I reckon they have not deployed all their forces against you, vampires."

"Perhaps we can help you there." Olaf answered. "If the Heartless unleash their fury, they will see the power of the children of Cain."

"That's a good idea." Sora said. "We should break up into two groups. The first one should attack this ghost, and the other should go after the rest of the Heartless."

"I sure hope your Keyblade can damage that phantom, sugar." Ukyo sighed.

"We have nearly three more hours before the sun goes down." Christen said. "That's enough time for the mages to learn the spell the sorceress spoke about, I should suppose."

"Right. Let's get to it, then." Donald exclaimed, getting up from his seat. "It's time to teach you all something to make you useful."

"I'm going to become Donald's student." Dante murmured. "This must be a bad dream. Dear Lord, it has to be."

"Yes... Perhaps it is not rest what we need, but to train." Thor said. "And speaking about training, I sense you could use some, young Siegfried."

"Me?" Siegfried stuttered. "Oh, but I..."

"Come with me, young Siegfried." The vampire went on, not giving him a chance to speak. "I see you have a sword and a shield. Though a couple of hours certainly are not enough, I am convinced that I can teach you a thing or two. After all, I am quite the weapon's expert. You may ask any of my friends."

"Don't you ever shut up with that, Thor?" Christen laughed.

"Well, I can't blame him this time." Lucrecia said. "I suppose it will make him feel better, to instruct Wilheim's best friend. I reckon it will make all of us feel better."

"When the time comes, I shall educate him, too." Rofell interjected with a smile, getting up from his seat and putting his hand on Siegfried's shoulder. "I do not feel much grief. Perhaps it is because of what you said, but to have you here is quite the miracle, _Monsieur _Siegfried. I am most certain that, when Wilheim returns, he will the happiest."

Siegfried remained silent for a few moments. Then he smiled and said, shyly:

"Thank you... though I don't know if you'll be able to teach me much in such a short time."

"Nonsense!" cried Olaf, walking towards Siegfried and slapping his back. The boy even lost his breath under the vampire's mighty hand. It was then that I recalled Wilheim telling us that the Gangrel vampires nearly killed him with their... 'warmth'. "Come now, boy! And you too, miss Ukyo! Even though I feel much power in you, there is always a thing or two which you can learn!"

"Be glad to!" exclaimed the girl.

"While our enthused friends learn new techniques, I suggest we start to think about a more profound strategy." Tish said. "This battle will not be easy."

"Some of us could do that, but I see some of you need a bit of rest." Gustav said. "Let some of us plan and some others sleep."

"I'm still good to go." I said. "Maybe I could help a bit with the planning."

"Excellent. The Heartless are going to wish they were never born... created... or whatever." Adrian added.

_(Change of scene)_

Considering the very short amount of time we had before night fell, I think we did quite well with all the training and the planning. To be honest, it didn't take us more than half an hour to get our strategy ready. All of the vampires would stay either on the streets or in the skies, looking for Heartless that might try to interfere with our battle and would take them out. The only two vampires that were going to come along with us were Adrian, who said he was sick of Heartless and needed to live a bit more intensely, and Gustav, the most powerful of the children of Cain. Of course, Jon Talbain was coming with us too. Although we trusted the vampires with OUR lives, we didn't quite confide them his... Either way, this plan suited all of us just fine; we were a huge force. I didn't think that the ghost would cause us so much trouble being as many as we were...

Anyway, many things happened during those short two and a half hours, so I'll just sum it up to you. First of all, Ukyo and Siegfried learned a few techniques from Thor and the young man even gain some knowledge from Rofell, who taught him a thing or two about the fast use of the rapier. It amazed me how fast those two found out so important (because they weren't exactly many) new things over so little time.

Even more remarkable than that were our group's mages. Although not particularly efficient in magic, Dante was the first one to learn the spell of time which stopped the movement of all things and he actually learnt how to cast it with great haste... his magic was not the most powerful one, however. Not the same could be said for Tish, who took the longest in learning this new spell. Nevertheless, her incantation, even though it wasn't easy for her to conjure it, was the most powerful of all, even surpassing the magical strength of both Donald and Aeris. It was remarkable. Adrian volunteered to be a Guinea Pig for the spell casters, knowing that nothing would harm him, and when Tish conjured the time spell on him, he didn't move again after nearly a minute.

"That's what I get for raising my hand." He said. "Without exception, Adrian is always living on the edge."

Meanwhile, Ken and Yuffie started to get along with Christen quite well. Like them, he was a natural joker. Demean spoke with Gustav about matters that I quite didn't get... most likely about friends of old. I did hear Wilheim's name being mentioned a couple of times, but I also heard lots of other names which I can't possibly remember. Octavius and Felicia looked after Jon Talbain; the later cleaned his wounds while the were-bear kept... an eye out for vampires. He still didn't feel safe at all. I can't imagine what they did to him so that he would hate them so much. What shocked me afterwards is that I later learned that he was actually in very good terms with one of them (not present at the moment). All I remember was that he murmured the name 'Tempest' once or twice to Felicia and Jon...

But most important of all was that which happened between Link and Aeris once she had finished training the others. They went to a corner of the place and sat one at one of the tables. There, I saw them talk to each other; Aeris had a terrified expression on her face at first. She was nearly on the verge of tears when she spoke and her hands trembled. Link noticed this and grabbed her tenderly. Her face never ceased to be calm, gentle, and comforting. When she was done speaking, he replied to her unperturbedly. I can't tell what words he said to her, but whatever it was that he spoke of, he achieved his goal: Aeris's face changed from a horrified appearance into a peaceful one as a small tear rolled down her cheek. Relieved and no longer trembling, she let her head rest on his chest as he put his arms around her, tenderly kissing her lips. Feeling much more relieved as well, I let out a happy sigh as I saw them together and decided that I had snooped around their affairs long enough.

I turned around and noticed that Cid had taken Adrian into a corner and was whispering something to him. Somehow, I had the feeling that I knew what he was up to. Knowing that I wouldn't be asked to leave, I went by their side.

"So you can really read minds?" the pilot asked in a low, anxious voice.

"As far as I'm concerned, yes." The vampire replied.

"Good. Because I need to ask you a favor." Cid said.

"Um, I'm sure you think I'm crazy (everybody does, anyway), but I'm not the sort of person... vampire, I mean, that likes to snoop around people's heads." Adrian replied. A most valid answer, I should say.

"I don't care! Didn't you hear Sephiroth's story? I want to know if what he's saying is true! If he's lying, then we're all in danger! You can't possibly imagine how powerful that son of a bitch is!"

"Ah, never fear. I can take him." The vampire said confidently, a big smirk plastered on his face. I nearly burst out in laughter as Cid's face was filled by exasperation.

"Has there ever been a moment in which you have been serious?" the pilot asked, almost greeting his teeth.

"Hey, try to relax a bit." Adrian said and stopped smiling. "Okay. I'll do this just because of what he's said." He took a deep breath and focused his eyes on Sephiroth. I quietly turned to our new companion and watched him as I waited for Adrian to speak again. For a moment, I even began to feel nervous... "Oh, man." He finally muttered in a grim voice, nearly bringing my heart to a stop.

"What...?" Cid murmured.

"He's lying." The vampire confessed. I couldn't believe it. How could I have been so blind? "He's still as powerful as he's ever been. He's just waiting for you guys to drop your guards so that he'll get even with each and every one of you."

"...I knew it..." the pilot growled. His grip on his spear grew stronger to the point where he nearly cracked it. For my part, I was without breath.

But after a few moments of staring firmly at Cid, Adrian began to laugh.

"Huh?" Cid muttered. "What's so goddamn funny? You still don't realize how powerful Sephiroth is?"

"I'm pulling your leg!" the vampire confessed, doing his best not to collapse on the ground from laughter. "He's telling the truth! He is planning to take you where he said! He isn't going to betray you! Well, he doesn't like you much, that's for sure, but..."

"You son of a bitch!" Cid exclaimed, filled by rage, which fueled Adrian's laughter even more. The pilot quickly got away from the vampire, who quickly tried to quiet down and exclaimed:

"Come on, don't be like that! I was only joking! Hey, wait, I'll tell you what: he's got hearted-boxers!"

At that moment, I couldn't stand it anymore and I too began to laugh. Cid didn't even glance at me, but I take it he wasn't too happy about that... I slowly walked to Adrian, who was on the verge of tears, leaning against a wall. I put my hand on his shoulder and whispered in his ear, trying not to chuckle:

"Is that true? Does Sephiroth really have a pair of those?"

"Of course not. I was only trying to cheer him up. Didn't work, though..." he admitted.

"Jeez... you really can't be serious, can you?"

"Sure I can. I could even be a monk if I wanted to."

"Yeah, right... In that case, I have a question I'd like to ask you."

"Shoot."

"It's about your scar. You see, I've never seen a vampire with a scar, nor I thought I'd ever see one, since vampires can regenerate their wounds..."

"Ah, if it's there, then that must mean that I got the wound when I was still a human, don't you think?" Adrian said.

"Yeah, that was exactly what I was thinking." I said. "So, anyway, how did you get it? If you don't mind telling..." I muttered.

"Not at all!" he replied enthusiastically. "It all happened a long time ago. It's quite a curious story. A bit sad, actually... When I was a human, I had a girlfriend. She was a beautiful woman, very lively. We had a great time together... Unfortunately, things were not meant to be. We got into a really heated argument and she tried to smack me. I moved my head back and... Well, she was a very strong girl and had long fingernails, you see..."

"Ouch." I murmured. "It still looks like a pretty nasty cut."

"Tell me about it." He said. "All my friends laughed at me when it happened. That hurt even more."

"Really?"

"No. They were quite sympathetic, actually."

"God..." I chuckled. He really couldn't be serious at all. "How long has it been since then?"

"About a hundred and eighty years."

"Whoa... how old are you?"

"About two-hundred years."

"You must be one of the oldest vampires around here, right?"

"Not really. Rofell is a little over three-hundred years old. Olaf is about four hundred and fifty... Well, and you heard how old Gustav is."

"Six-hundred years..." I mumbled. "Still, you're strong and, regardless having a lack of seriousness, you must be wise."

"I can be serious if I want to!" he interrupted.

"Okay, I believe you." I quickly said. "Anyway, my point is... why aren't you an elder?"

"And to assume so much responsibility? No way! I'm happy being a warrior. I like to fight. I don't like giving orders."

"I see. You and I aren't so different, you know."

"I can only imagine."

"It is nearly time, my friends." Olaf boomed. "It is best that we get ready. Night will soon fall and the shadows will favor the Heartless no longer."

"Well, at least now we'll all be fighting a common enemy." Jon Talbain said in a low voice. "Let's just hope all goes well."

"You should not fear. We were-beasts must remain together..." Octavius began to say, but Felicia quickly put her hand on his mouth.

"Please, just for once, try to calm down a little bit, will you? Really, right now you're just a bit less grumpy than old Heartless Radar."

"For the last time, I'm not a radar!" Sephiroth growled. He then turned to Cloud, who was struggling not to laugh, and added: "Yes, I can see you're very amused."

"It's a good nickname. You should learn to like it." The warrior replied.

"The Heartless we will be facing is unlike anything you have ever faced, of that I am sure." Gustav said, walking towards Sephiroth. "I feel your strength and I tell you know that you will not be a match for him. It would be best if you remained by my comrades' side."

"By their side? Now you wish to baby-sit me?" he roared.

"You are the only one who knows where this Ansem is, correct?" the vampire interrupted, calmly. "Then we cannot afford to have you killed. Although you long for death, we cannot let it find you so soon. Besides, you cannot fly, so you cannot face this foe, and I very much doubt that the dragon will let you fly on his back. I have heard he is not particularly fond of you."

"...Hmm. Whoever gave you that idea?" Sephiroth muttered, letting out a final, defeated sigh. "Very well. I'll go with you, vampires. But don't for once think that I'm in need of protection!"

"I can see why you became such a feared and magnificent warrior. You boast confidence and an unbreakable will. Yet know your place, lest you wish to be conquered by this enemy." Gustav said, firmly. This time, Sephiroth didn't make a sound.

I took a deep breath and tightened my headband and hand-gloves as Rofell unsheathed his rapier and put his hand on the door that led to the streets of London.

"Ready yourselves." He said and swung the door open.

Slowly, one by one, we exited the vampire's hideout. The night was a little cold and the streets were empty. Yet the Heartless presence remained. It had, as a matter of fact, grown stronger, as if the enemy had been somehow warned about our plans. Even then, they didn't come out of their hiding place. We stood close to each other, eyes vigilant, until every last one of us exited the hideout.

"...Hold on a minute." Sora whispered. "Where's Will?"

"Up here, Keyblade master." Answered the dragon in a low voice. He was on the roof of the building to our right. "I did not feel safe, surrounded by so many walls. I could not see much; that is why I flew to the building's roof. The view from up there is better, although it is not as good as the one of the clock tower."

"You did good not to stay there, dragon. Yes, you may be able to see much, but you would have also been in grave danger." Olaf said. "For the clock tower houses the fierce opponent you will be battling tonight."

"We? Will you not accompany us in this endeavor?"

"No, for we will stay behind and unleash our fury on the Heartless."

"The fiend we're about to face is truly strong, Will." Shiryu said. "Because of what everyone's been saying, we think that only Sora can defeat it with his Keyblade. But even if that's not true, one thing is certain: we're going to need magic."

"If that is right, then count with me. I know a great deal of spells that may prove to be useful." He said and flew down, landing right beside the Dragon's saint. "Then the vampires will stay within the streets and slay the Heartless that dwell around here?"

"Yeah. Sephiroth will stay with them, too." Seyia added.

"Very well, then. Let us waste no more time: to the skies, my friends. The time to face another fierce enemy has come."

"Good luck, lads." Rofell said. "We will see each other after the battle has come to an end, hopefully."

"Never fear, Rofell. Remember, I can take the ghost." Adrian declared, to which I silently rolled my eyes and smiled.

"I do not doubt that, my good friend, but do let the others aid you in your mission."

"Right. It's not like I want to steal all the fun..."

"Enough talk." Gustav boomed. "God speed, my comrades in arms. Come on, young lads. Let us go into the night."

"I wonder if Wilheim learned to talk the way he did from these guys..." Ken whispered in my ear right before we took off.

The biting wind of the night grew colder and colder as we flew higher. The sky was cloudy and I could hear thunders in the distance. It wouldn't be long before it started to downpour. Lightning stroke and illuminated all the streets of London for a brief moment. I looked down and saw how the vampires had already melded with the shadows; the only thing that gave them away was their phantasmal, speedy movement. If I wouldn't have met them, I would've sworn that every last corner of London was haunted by specters...

"...I can smell a foul presence." Jon Talbain said aloud. "It's skulking by the Big Ben... but I can't see a thing... and what's worse, it won't be long before the streets will be covered by a mist."

"What a shame." Camille muttered under her breath. She was flying next to me. I turned to her in silence and she added, looking at me: "I have always enjoyed hazes: I am fond of the romantic feeling they place upon the scenery upon which they fall. It is a shame that it will now play a role against us."

"Well, mists may be pretty, but since they tamper with one's visibility, this one won't help us at all." I said. "I wish the night was clear, like it was a while ago."

"Dear Ryu, remember that this is London. The city is beautiful, but the weather is not precisely anyone's cup of tea."

"Funny you should mention tea." Ken added. "Look: according to the clock tower, it's five o'clock in the afternoon..."

As he finished saying this, the bells began to toll, breaking the silence in the air about us, echoing throughout every single alley of the streets below. Some of us had to cover our ears because of the noise...

"Excellent way to wake someone up." Yuffie grumbled. "If this ghost wasn't aware of our presence, he will be now, thanks to that stupid racket."

"Oh, I would not be very worried about it." Octavius said. "I can smell him... He is flying about us. As if he is waiting for something."

"For us to drop our guard, that's what." Dante muttered. "Either way, we won't let that happen."

"Yes... you mages should keep an eye on that clock." The were-bear continued. "Spells at the ready, wizards."

"Let us just hope this being does not posses a counter-curse to put an end to our conjures." Tish muttered.

"Shush! You're calling upon bad luck, little fairy!" Adrian called.

And then, as if the sky had heard Adrian, rain began to fall. It wasn't a drizzle, it was a tempest. I think that the vampire was about to complain again, but as he opened his mouth and gazed at what was in front of us, he made no sound...

A shadow appeared in the clouds as lightning fell. Thunder roared and as the sky darkened, the silhouette became one with the clouds. We all remained still, on our guards, waiting for it to appear again. Lightning fell again, illuminating the sky and revealing the position of the shade. It was slowly moving closer to us. I couldn't see his face at all... instead of eyes, nose, and a mouth, all I could see was a shadow, darker than the rest of his body. His bony hands fell at his sides as he unhurriedly and menacingly floated forth.

"Be at the ready, warriors." Gustav said. "And let us hope the demon will find his demise this time."

As he said this, the shadow raised its arms and vanished from our sight. We all looked around, trying to find him desperately, his presence circling us as if he alone was a pack of lions and we were but a single deer...

I suddenly heard other noises and quickly glanced down. A battle had begun in the streets of London and I could listen how our vampire friends were waging it. I even listened to Thor's nun chucks as he swung them from side to side; to Olaf's hammer smashing the ground and walls to bits around him; Lucrecia's scythe cutting through streams of Heartless' skins, and Rofell's rapier piercing through enemies' hearts and legs. I could even hear Sephiroth's sword furiously going from one side to the other.

Yet I remembered we had our own fight to wage and looked up. I almost let out a yell as I found the phantom floating right in front of me. He raised his hands and furiously brought them down upon me. I barely managed to raise my hands to protect my face. I then felt his arms and wailed in pain as I spun in midair. His touch was somewhat like Lucrecia had described: cold as ice and fire-like hot at the same time. It was a pain I can't possibly describe. And it nearly took away all of my energy. Nevertheless, I forced myself to stop spinning and successfully retaliated with a quick, but puny Hadoken. My projectile hit the fiend directly on the red orb that spun beneath him and that had just became visible... my energy wave dissipated like a drop of water that falls on red-hot iron.

"Ryu!" cried my friends as they all attacked the ghost together. Many blows reached their target, but none of them hurt the phantom even a bit. Even so, we didn't give up; I felt a tranquil warmth flowing inside my body and I instantly knew that my sorcerer friends had cast a healing spell upon me. I was lucky they did, because I doubt I would've lasted five more minutes with that wound.

The Phantom fended off all of the attacks by swinging his hand against my friends. They all managed to block the blow with their weapons or to evade it; no one was wounded. Then, the enemy floated away from us and stopped near one of the clock tower's faces.

"So quickly?" Adrian wailed. "What's with this nutcase? All right, boys, heads up! Here comes the big one!"

The Heartless extended his arms to the sides and a cold wind began to blow. Slowly, the numbers of the clock face began to glow with blue flames. They were just as spectral as the ones we had witnessed when we had battled against the dark golden saints at the Sanctuary. The difference was that now we weren't so enthused about seeing all of them go out.

"It's now or never, guys!" Sora cried as he raised the Keyblade above his head. Aeris, Tish, Donald, and Dante came to him as if summoned and together they concentrated all of the strength to conjure the counter-curse. Tish was the one that took the longest to do this, but the aura that surrounded her was the one that shone the brightest. And then, all of them, cast the spell at the same time.

"STOP!"

Their voices echoed through the rainy skies as the Phantom, with obvious shock, turned around as a golden smolder encased the blue flames and stopped their flickering as well as the movement of the hands of the clock...

"It looks like it works!" cried Ken triumphantly.

The Heartless turned to us, and though he had no face, I could feel his anger. The orb underneath him turned white while his hands trembled with rage. He slowly extended his fingers; I could see red vapor coming out of his hands. I raised my guard and took a deep breath, bracing myself for another attack. The Phantom had no opportunity to unleash it, however, for Octavius hastily flew at him and hit the orb with an atrocious, wicked punch. Amazingly, the Heartless' orb broke into pieces as he was sent flying into the streets of London and became lost in the fog.

"What the hell?" Adrian cried. "That had never happened before!"

"Looks like you beat him, Octavius!" Felicia cheered. "Good job!"

"I damaged him, yes!" the were-bear said. "But I did not destroy him. I can still smell..." and before he could finish his sentence, the ghost appeared behind him and hit him with a quick, hard blow. Before our warrior became lost in the fog, Felicia and Jon Talbain took a hold of him and our other friends cast a healing spell on him. Octavius shook his head as he recovered his strength and became seemingly angry.

A new orb materialized underneath the Phantom; this time, its color was yellow. We all lunged at him with fury and hit the orb as hard as we could. I thought that, even though I certainly didn't match Octavius' strength physically, maybe I'd be able to inflict some harm upon him. But my hands quickly began to ache and not even the slightest scratch appeared on the orb. Even the Keyblade proved to be useless against the terrible foe. In the end, we all had to retread from the foe's vicious attacks, which hurt many of our friends. Luckily, the sorcerers rapidly restored their strength.

"I don't understand!" Siegfried cried. "Octavius nearly murdered him with that blow! Why can't we harm him?"

Thunder roared as the Phantom flew about the tower, attacking whoever stood on his way. We had no choice but to run away from him and attack him occasionally, hoping that at least one of our assails would hurt him.

Below us, the battle between the vampires and the Heartless raged on. I glanced below and saw the silhouettes of our companions and of our enemies on the mist. The wind blew fiercely and for a moment, removed part of the haze, allowing me to see Thor surrounded by countless Heartless. I thought about going to him and aid him, but mist covered everything again after a few seconds. And again, a current of air removed the fog for an instant. There stood Thor, about to be encircled by a new wave of Heartless; the others were agonizing or had already died under his strong nun chucks. And all the other vampires (and Sephiroth) were doing quite like him. There was indeed no need to worry about them. Rather than that, I had to start worrying about ourselves...

The creature now attacked Adrian who desperately tried to fend it off by swinging his scythe from one side to another. Whenever he found himself cornered, he would turn to mist and allow the Phantom to go through him. But the Heartless quickly caught up with him, hitting all other opponents out of his way, and wouldn't let the vampire have one moment's rest.

"What's with you now?" Adrian cried. "Goddamn it! Get off me!"

Things would've certainly gone ill with him, yet Gustav managed to unleash a fiery blast that, while not even scratching the creature's orb (or his body for that instance), successfully drove it back and let Adrian fly back.

"Thanks, Gustav." He said. "I owe you one."

"That matters not for the moment. Have you found any weak points?" the big vampire asked.

"I sort of thought that the answer to that was a bit obvious."

"I see. Then let us keep on battling!"

There was no way we could find that creature's weak point. Brains had helped, but they hadn't saved us. And by the looks of it, the spell of our friends was about to wear off. Sora and Dante noticed this too and got ready to cast the enchantment one more time. If all of them would've performed it again would've been great; nevertheless, the Phantom would surely now keep a closer eye on all of the spell-casters. Even if they managed to hold the hands on the clock for a short while, that would be nice.

As both boys started to conjure the spell, the ghost got rid of the attackers he faced and flew after them. I promptly flew to him and hit the orb as hard as I could. Again, nothing happened. The Phantom turned to me and tried to hit me with his bony hands. I skillfully flew underneath and tried one more time to hit the yellow orb. Nothing. The creature counterattacked again. However, I barely cleared the blow by flying to my right side. At that moment, I turned to the boys and noticed that they had already cast the spell; the golden fumes, which had been about to go out, became radiant again and stopped the blue flames' flickering. The Phantom grew mad at me for stalling him and tried to knock me out with a flurry of furious blows. I don't know how, but I miraculously dodged all of them. And then, just as I was about to run out of luck, Will flew at the Heartless at full speed, ramming him like a gigantic bull. He charged at him so fiercely that he made him plunge into the misty streets of London headfirst. Regrettably, I didn't notice any harm done to him.

"Are you all right, Ryu?" he asked.

"Yes, thanks, Will." I replied.

"Do not thank me yet, for there is still much battling to be done..." as he said this, the Phantom slowly emerged from the mist and slowly floated towards one of the clock's faces. "Damned be this fiend! I cannot think of a way to harm him whatsoever!"

"Have you tried using magic?" I asked.

"Yes, all sorts of spells, but not one has even hindered him! I was fortunate to have pushed him so far with that charge, I deem... Either way, we must fight on..."

"Yeah... I wonder what he's up to now?" I murmured as the Phantom slowly began to summon a red light to the palms of his hands.

"Fly swiftly, my friends!" Gustav cried. "Quickly! Behind the tower, at the back of the buildings about! Hide!"

Without asking anything, Will and I did as he ordered immediately. As all of us hid behind whichever wall was closest to us, the specter finished summoning his attack and threw it at us with anger. The flaming glowworm floated above his head for a split of second and then flew at the person closest to it with great wrath and speed...

Felicia had been too close to the Phantom when it had started to conjure his assault and hadn't had a chance to hide anywhere. She flew as rapidly as she could, away from the glowworm the Heartless had shot at her, but the fiend's incantation was gaining on her. She tried going behind several buildings and lampposts in the streets of London. She even sought to circle the clock tower several times to lose the thing. The glowworm, however, would not give up on its chase.

"Damn it..." I muttered.

"I do not know what will happen to her if that vermin reaches her, but I do not wish to find out!" Will said. He left our hiding place and hastily shot an electrical spell at the Phantom's projectile, yet not to avail. The glowworm swallowed it like a frog catching a fly with its tongue. "Impossible!" the dragon cried.

Demean too tried to stop the glowworm from reaching Felicia. He readied an arrow, allowing Tish to cast a fiery spell on it. After the tip of his projectile was engulfed in furious flames, he let it fly. The arrow reached its target, but was also devoured. The glowworm was relentless and unstoppable...

"FELICIA!" Octavius yelled as he watched the evil incantation reach our friend and turn into red flames that overcame her whole body...

We all watched in horror how the evil light twisted her arms and legs and suffocated her yells. Her skin grew pale as the glowworm grew brighter. None of us knew what to do to rid her of the evil power. All that came to my mind at that moment was to fly to her as fast as possible. Leaving my hiding place, I raced at her, rain getting in my eyes, although that didn't slow me down.

The glowworm faded and our friend closed her eyes as she began to fall headfirst into the misty streets. I wasn't the only one flying to her. Adrian had already folded his wings onto his back and flew nearly at the speed of a bullet. Jon Talbain also raced to Felicia with evident concern in his eyes.

Either way, I was the one that got to her first. I luckily caught her just as we entered the mist. Carefully, I grabbed her and descended as slowly as I could. I reached ground and gently shook her, for she was very still...

"Felicia, wake up...!" I pleaded.

I then glanced around and noticed that there were many Heartless running toward us. I slowly placed Felicia on the ground and raised my fists. But before they reached us, Jon Talbain and Adrian landed next to us. The were-wolf howled furiously as he threw his body at a small group of Heartless. His fur glowed with a bright blue flame as he crashed against the enemies. As the fiends fell before the blow, he bounced off them and charged against another group, howling again.

Meanwhile, Adrian swung his scythe from one side to another, cutting arms, legs, and heads with every lethal movement of his weapon. A few Heartless tried to attack him from behind, but the vampire hastily turned to face our enemies and used a quite surprising trick. Under his right sleeve, he hid a short sword, sheathed in a spring trap. He fired it and tried to catch it with his hand, but he wasn't fast enough. Even so, the blade flew at one of the Heartless and pierced his helmet and skull.

"Whoops!" exclaimed Adrian. "It slipped through my fingers. Sorry about that!" and without giving any more explanations, he cut through the fiend's chests.

For my part, I crushed the Heartless with my fists and feet as quickly as I could, not for once taking my eyes off Felicia, who lay still on the ground. Luckily, not many fierce enemies attacked us and before long, we had gotten rid of all of them.

Adrian quickly went to pick up his sword from the ground and returned to my side, the same as Jon.

"Is she all right?" the vampire asked. "She should be all right. That spell merely weakens people, but it doesn't kill... At least that's what happened last time."

"Is she breathing?" the were-wolf pressed. "Go on, man, see if she's breathing!"

"She's all right, it seems." I murmured as I put my ear close to her mouth and heard her exhaling. "Thank goodness... She's out cold, but she's alive."

"Thank God." Jon Talbain sighed.

"We have to heal her." Adrian said. "We can't stay here looking out for her. The others need our help, and the rest of my kindred are much too busy dealing with the rest of the Heartless and I wouldn't leave her at Sephiroth's care."

"You're right... We have to go to Aeris, Tish, and the others. They'll know what to do."

"Let's hurry!" Jon cried.

I grasped Felicia as firmly as I could and slowly began to fly over the mist next to my two companions. We ascended over the mist and saw our friends again. The storm had gotten stronger and lightning was falling all around. I was beginning to grow afraid that one of them would reach one of us. But as looked at my companion's faces and noticed there was fear and amazement in them, I grew much more worried, turning to that which they were seeing.

The Phantom floated still and quietly in front of Octavius. There was hate in the were-bear's eyes, anger unlike anything I had seen before. I could feel his power rising more and more... I was really alarmed, for the power emanating from his body was neither good nor evil. It was something else...

"Demean..." I muttered, silently at first. Then I turned to him and flew to his side, next with my companions following me closely. "Demean! What's going on?" I asked him, knowing that, as the oldest one of us, he would surely have an answer.

"The Rage of the Forests..." the elf muttered. "The curse that haunts those chosen by the elders of the Narsua. Octavius is no longer himself..."

"What?"

"He has gone into a killing frenzy." Tish went on. "He will no longer know friend from foe. We must keep away from him, for if we linger close to him, he will surely tear us apart!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Adrian cried, desperately, for the first time. "Tish, Demean, please explain that in English!"

"There is little time for explanations." Demean answered. "The transformation has merely begun..."

Octavius was howling mad with rage as the rain about him turned to vapor. Green serpent-like branches emerged from the mist and crawled up to his arms and legs and penetrated his veins. He began to grow, becoming even bigger than Olaf himself. His muscles also became immense and finally tore his clothes apart. All that remained on his body was a metallic brassard, which was seemingly the one of an ancient Roman soldier. And then, he started to become a monster. The hair on his arms and legs turned into thick, red fur. His fingers became sharp claws. Bony spikes came out from his shoulders, elbows, and knees and his feet turned into eagle claws. His hair became red and spiky, as if he were a maddened cat. Two great horns emerged from his head; his jaw turned long and protuberant and his teeth changed to sharp, glittering fangs. He poked out his tongue from his mouth: it was now forked. And his eyes turned black. But they were not empty – rage still dwelled in them. The most terrible and frightening rage...

"Dear God..." I whispered to myself, as the transformation came to an end and Octavius roared so loudly that he made us float back in fear. "...He can no longer tell friend from foe?" I asked in a low voice.

"Not anymore." Demean said. "I had heard of this curse before, but never had I seen it... He will seek to destroy everything that moves until there is no life around him or until he is tired and defeated."

"Now we have another enemy to deal with." Tish added. "And a most terrible enemy, he is..."

"Dear God..." I repeated. With Felicia still unconscious in my arms, I slowly turned to the clock tower and gasped. "The counter-spell has worn out."


	38. Chapter 37: The Rage of the Forests

Hey, guys! The new chapter's ready!

Well, it took me a bit long to write it (considering I'm on vacation), but I was also busy with some other projects...

As I've said before, I'm nearly done. If all goes well, the story will be over in three more chapters. Hopefully, I'll make it before the next vacation!

I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my good friend Jorge Octavio, who returned from Spain after a year of studying there. Sadly, I won't be able to see him until the end of July. Until then, brother, take care! Hope you enjoy the movies!

Last but not least, I'd like to thank my friend Adrián for helping me with this chapter... I swear I don't know if he's one of the most creative people in the world or if he really is a nutcase :P Thanks, man!

See you later! Enjoy!

_Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Rage of the Forests_

_Narrator: Siegfried_

I wished my brother was there. I was always the one who thought more clearly than the two of us, the one who had the better ideas (although he could occasionally come up with something brilliant), the one who usually kept his cool on extreme situations. My brother frequently became very mad and didn't think things thoroughly. Not that he was stupid: I just kidded him with that. Either way, he was much stronger than me and I felt safe at his side. He had always looked after me and now that a new monster was appearing before us, I longed for him to be at my side more than ever.

Somehow, I didn't think I was skilled enough to be part of the group. To be quite honest, I was most certain that of all the thirty-something warriors in the party (without counting the vampires), I was the weakest. Despite losing his powers, which I heard were truly terrible, Sephiroth was still a very competent warrior, capable of slashing down many Heartless with quick swings of his sword. Ariel perhaps lacked the physical strength to be menacing, but she compensated this by using her potent potions against her foes and her fencing, which she had been practicing longer than I had. And Merryck... that hobbit might've looked feeble and fearful, yet in reality, he was an extremely agile combatant. His small size only made things for his opponents worse, and he was almost as good a swordsman as Link or Cloud, even.

What about me? I wasn't even a vampire now. If I still had my dark powers (which I don't miss, so don't get me wrong), I might've proven myself a bit useful. But at that moment, I felt as a helpless child that had to be constantly taken care of. And such responsibility was taken by my brother's beloved and his closest friends. I was afraid they wouldn't be able to protect me as well as he would've wished... But I was even more afraid that they would be the ones killed because of my ineptness. Wilheim would've never forgiven me if that came to happen... would he?

Well, never mind. Whatever the case may be, I was about to learn that I had to take care of myself one way or the other, because, as much as my friends wanted to watch over me, not one of them would serve as my shield forever. Perhaps I had done well against the Heartless that appeared before us in Agrabah. But the Phantom was still nearly undamaged, and the companion who had been able to wound it was now lost to us – he had fallen under the grips of insanity and a cold wind blew from his body to the rest of us, warning us to stay away from him... and this current of air was even colder than the one I had felt against the Heartless of Agrabah.

Indeed, I would have to learn to watch over myself. But I didn't know about the terrible price that I would have to pay...

Ryu, Adrian, and Jon Talbain had just returned to our side with Felicia's unconscious body in Ryu's arms. As soon as they saw her, wounded and out cold, Sora, Aeris, and Donald cast a healing spell on the were-cat. She quickly came to and shook her head as she opened her eyes.

"What happened?" she asked. "That Phantom... His attack got me, didn't it?"

"Yeah, but you're okay now." Ryu said, as he let her float by his side. "Right now, though, there are more important matters at hand... It seems things are getting worse."

"Worse?" Felicia blurted. "But how...?" her eyes then noticed the morphed Octavius and fear filled her face. "What in the world...?"

"Demean..." I muttered, slowly approaching the elf and the fairy, who had yelled to all of us, a few moments ago, to get away from the beast. "What's going on? What's happening to Octavius?"

"It is an ancient curse, Siegfried." He explained. "A long time ago, the Narsua, the were-bears, would choose a fierce and skilled warrior and would ask him if he wished to become the protector of the woods. If he agreed, an eternal spell would be cast on him... The Rage of the Forests, it is called. And now he is under its effect and has become a terrible enemy."

"Octavius must have gotten extremely angry at the fiend." Tish inquired. "For the Rage of the Forests only wakes within a Narsua when he loses his heart to rage... Now he will stop at nothing to destroy him or whatever stands on his way."

"But that's good, isn't it?" I asked. "I mean, once the Phantom is destroyed, he'll go back to being his older self, right?"

"If he is tired enough..." Demean replied. "That we cannot know. And be that as it may, we still do not know the Phantom's weak point. If the beast is lucky to find it, then the Heartless will fall quickly. But if this is not the case, then we will have to aid him as best as we can without getting in the way of his prey, lest we want him to be murdered by the Heartless."

"And we cannot hurt him. He is, after all, our friend." Tish added.

"I say we wait a bit and see what happens." Ryu suggested.

"I'm with him on that." Adrian said. "Let's keep out of this unless there's no other choice."

"We will have to fight either way." Demean assured, making a chill run down my spine. "But I agree: we should wait as long as possible before intervening."

"I still have a question..." I muttered. "Peter said we would only fly with the help of a happy thought, right? How is it that Octavius can remain on the air when all he feels inside is hatred?"

"Simple..." Adrian replied as we saw the beast finally give one leap in midair, only to come crashing against the Phantom with gargantuan strength, making them both fall through the mist... "He falls like a rock."

"We have to get down there immediately!" Camille cried. "The rest of the vampires are there and they are unaware that the new beast is Octavius! We have to warn them!"

"Quickly now!" Gustav added, taking the lead. "There is no time to lose!"

With my heart practically stuck in my throat, I followed the rest of my friends as they darted to the dark, misty alleys, now invaded by a horde of Heartless...

Ukyo, Camille, Ryoga, Sakura, and Merryck remained very close to me, practically escorting me to the streets. I was really worried... they were more concerned about me than about themselves. I noticed this as they scouted the air about us and kept an eye on me constantly, each of them with their weapon or fists at the ready. I could only fly hastily by their side, sword and shield in hand.

I put my feet on the ground and felt all happy thoughts escape my mind. I wouldn't be able to fly once again, that was for sure. I really doubt any of my friends would be able to succeed in this, of course – except for the ones who possessed wings and did not need a joyful memory to soar the skies. Taking this into account, I had to be extremely careful. No doubt there were Heartless around every corner, just waiting for a chance to attack us...

"The battle cries of the vampires seem to be coming from that way." Camille said, pointing to my left. "Let us go quietly and hastily. We must be wary. We do not want to run into a horde of enemies; or into Octavius and the Phantom, for that matter."

"Come on, Siegfried..." Ukyo urged, pulling my arm as we followed the succubus's lead.

Indeed, I could hear our allies' groans and yells as they raged on. Yet what alarmed me the most was the fact that I had begun to hear other creature's roars, snarls that I had not ever heard before until recently. This, obviously, made me feel uneasy. My friends also heard these noises and raised their guards, looking warily at the direction from where the roars had come.

"I can only hope that Mr. Octavius defeats this Heartless ghost and recovers reason." Merryck said. "Otherwise, I don't know how difficult this new battle will turn out to be."

"If we face him together, then we'll make it for sure." Ryoga assured, confidently.

I, however, wasn't so sure. The rest of our companions still battled on furiously against the Heartless. It was very unlikely all of us would be available to face him. Nevertheless, I chose to trust in my comrade's words and kept on walking by his side without making a noise.

Then, all of a sudden, Camille stopped. She tilted back her head and stared to the mist that blocked the view of the sky. She remained this way for a few instants, with us looking at her, confused by her sudden reaction.

"Camille... what's wrong?" asked Merryck.

"Dear God..." she muttered... and without saying another word, she turned to us and flapped her wings so fiercely that she sent us flying into a wall. We didn't hit it hard; no one was injured. A second later, she herself jumped to our side as quickly as she could: for in the blink of an eye, two monstrous figures came crashing down through the mist, landing in the very same spot where we had been standing moments ago. They were, as you might've expected, the Phantom and Octavius.

The beast was smashing the apparition's magical, red orb as hard as he could, making the ground beneath him shake with every punch he gave – but the Phantom wasn't taking any damage. Yet neither was he dealing it out, for even though he hit Octavius hard with his bony hands, with his touch that, according to some of my friends, meant pain unlike any other torture, the beast kept on attempting to shatter his foe. There were wounds on his skin, but they were minimal and didn't keep him from attacking brutally... I didn't know which of the two was worse.

The Phantom finally flew away a few steps from Octavius. Somehow, by the way he had his hands clenched into tight fists, I could see he was really angry. But then, he noticed us. And so did Octavius. After staring at us silently for a few moments, both of them lunged at us with mad fury. I cried in horror and hid behind my shield, while the rest of my companions raised their fists and got ready to fight, despite the fright in their faces. The creatures, however, did not attack us, because one had blocked the other's path on his way to us and had resumed battle amongst themselves.

"Let us go!" Camille pressured and we hurriedly ran away from the Phantom and the beast.

Running down the street, we stopped short as we saw a big, familiar shape forming on the haze. As the silhouette exited the fog, we saw it was Olaf, who was seemingly worried but not at all tired.

"What in the world is that creature?" he asked, pointing at the beast.

"That's Octavius, the were-bear!" Ukyo cried. "He's lost all sense and reason and he's now gone wild! If we stand in his way, he'll tear us apart!"

"Indeed he will, I can sense his power and it is much greater than the one of the Phantom..." Olaf said. "Yet... if he fails to find his weak point, then he will fall, no matter how much strength in his arms there may be."

"We must find a weakness." Camille added. "We have to, lest we want..." and before she could continue, she unexpectedly closed her eyes and fell on the street, unconscious.

"Camille!" we all cried, panicked by this sudden turn of events. What could have happened to her? There wasn't an enemy on sight, not a soul to come attack us, to take us by surprise. At that moment, the Big Ben began to resonate furiously... and I knew.

"Did anyone cast the 'stop' spell on the clock again!" I wailed. My friends looked at each other and gave no answer.

"Damn it!" Sakura cried. "Where are they...?"

As an answer to her question, from the mist, emerged Will, accompanied by Sora, Dante, Donald, and Aeris. The latter four seemed completely exhausted.

"Oh, no..." said the sorceress, with guilt in her eyes. "We were too late..." and then, looking at us, she explained: "We just noticed the hands of the clock came back to life. We had to use most of our powers to stop them. But we weren't quick enough..."

"You should pay closer attention to those sorts of things! Because of that, Camille is unconscious! And where the hell is Tish?" Sakura reclaimed.

"Calm down, girl, this is not the time for fighting amongst ourselves." Olaf commanded with a booming voice. Then we all looked at the battle between Octavius and the Phantom, which still burnt on. "We have enough trouble already."

"Tish went with Demean, after giving us a hand with that spell." Dante announced. "Will and I thought of something that might turn out to be the Heartless weak point."

"From what I've heard, it sounds pretty logical to me." Sora added.

"Let us hope our method works, Dante." The dragon said. "But if we are to find out this, then we must drive Octavius back, even if it is for a few moments."

"What should we do?" asked Ryoga.

"You and Sakura could help us with that." Sora suggested. "Try unleashing your energy waves against him to push him back."

"And use your full power." Dante said. "The way things are looking, you won't even manage to knock him to unconsciousness."

"That is not a bad idea." Olaf said. "But what do you have in mind, dragon?"

"Magic." Will replied. "Physical attacks do not harm him, so we are going to conjure some aggressive enchantments against this fiend. We will cast different incantations. One of them ought to do the trick."

"I do not believe we have much more choice than that." The vampire sighed. "All right. Do it!"

"Quickly, boys!" Aeris exclaimed. "Focus your power and unleash it!"

With a nod, Sakura and Ryoga turned back to the battle, which hadn't progressed at all. They cupped the palms of their hands together and began to gather the energy about. A warm wind started to blow in the cold streets of London, and for an instant, lifted the mist enough for us to see the two creatures clearly as they raged on. It wasn't long before rays of power started to engulf both of our friends' hands. I could see the effort on their faces. Clearly, Sakura was struggling more than Ryoga to gather all of her strength on her projectile, but it seemed to me that the energy wave she was about to unleash was going to prove much more powerful than that of Ryoga's.

At last, with a cry, they fired.

"SHISHI – HOUKUDAN!"

"SHINKUU – HADOUKEN!"

Both beams of energy hit their mark and succeeded in driving the beast back into a wall. This came crashing down upon his body, yet it was unlikely he was beaten. The Phantom, finally free from Octavius's brutal attacks, turned to us and charged. At that moment, Will, Dante, Sora, Donald, and Aeris unleashed different spells on the fiend, while Ukyo and Merryck helped an exhausted Sakura to her feet and as I dragged a beat Ryoga behind the sorcerers.

"THUNDAGA!" cried Aeris.

"BLIZZAGA!" yelled Donald.

"GRAVIGA!" exclaimed Sora.

"STOPRA!" wailed Dante.

"Have a taste of my magical fire, demon! GRAAHH!" roared Will and the five different spells hit the Phantom's orb one at the time.

Aeris's thunder spell didn't do a thing to the monster; Donald's ice melted as soon as it touched the being's orb; Sora's gravity spell failed to stop the demon in his tracks, and Dante's conjure didn't even slow the creature down. But as soon as Will's magical fire touched the demon's orb, the Phantom became still and leaned his body back, his hands twitching frantically as an indescribable, soft moan escaped its mouth covered in shadows. Seconds later, the orb shattered into a thousand pieces and the specter fell to the ground. Yet after an instant, in which his body became slightly transparent, another orb appeared beneath him, a yellow one, this time. Looking closer at the devil, I noticed that his 'cloak' wasn't as long anymore... it had worked! They had weakened him!

"YES!" Sora exclaimed, triumphantly.

"To the skies!" cried Will as he grabbed Camille and Merryck, and allowed Ryoga and Sakura to climb onto his back. Afterwards, he began to fly as quickly as he could away from the fiend. Aeris, Donald, Sora, and Dante could still soar and they recurred to whatever happy thought they still held on to in order to follow the dragon through the mist. Meanwhile, Olaf grabbed Ukyo and I and then went after our friends, flapping his dark wings fiercely, with the furious Phantom following closely behind us.

Once we had escaped the alleys of London, there were many places to run to. We all promptly escaped the ghost's wrath as he realized he wasn't about to catch up with us. Instead, he stayed hovering in the air, immobile, waiting for us to make another move.

"We did it!" Sora cried, happily, with renewed vigor. "We found his weak point!"

"We just have to find out what spells affect which color." Dante added, smiling victoriously as well. "And then, this creature's dust."

"It seems to me he uses his own ethereal body to rebuild his orb." Will interjected. "If we can harm him enough so that he will have to use all of his essence to restore himself, then there will be nothing left of him to bring back."

"We still need Tish's help." Donald said. "By the way things are going now, I think a handful of us can take him. But we still need to stop that stupid clock if we want to stay awake."

"I agree." Will said. "But fear not: here comes the elf and the fairy." He added as we all turned to our right and saw how Demean and Tish came through the mist and flew next to us. They also still had happy thoughts of their own, I reckoned.

"We found his weak point, Tish!" Sora whispered. "Now we can take care of him easy!"

"That is good news." The fairy replied. "However, we have another problem. Octavius has lost sight of his opponent, and now he rampages across the streets. We need to stop him!"

"We will go and take care of that." Olaf immediately said. "You should stay here and defeat the Phantom with your spells. I will go down and battle him with Ukyo and Siegfried's aid." He added, much to my dismay. I felt a horrid chill run down my spine again, but chose to say nothing.

"Very well, but be very careful." Demean warned. "The beast is nearly unstoppable. You will have to use all of your power – and you will have to fight alongside as much vampires and allies as you can, regarding they are available to battle something else other than the Heartless – to emerge victorious."

"I want to go, too!" said Merryck, valiantly. "I can hang on to you, Mr. Olaf! Please, I wish to battle as well!"

"Another pair of hands will come very handy." Answered Olaf, in spite of Demean and Tish's worried stare. "No harm will come to him. I will not let anything happen to any of them. You have my word." He said, noticing how preoccupied they had become.

"All right..." they reluctantly agreed.

"Make haste." The dragon intervened. "The creature is relentless and this monster will attack at any moment. We will keep the hands of the clock frozen until we emerge victorious. Now, go!"

"Watch over us, Wilheim-honey..." Ukyo murmured as she held Renamark near her face, both of her eyes closed. For my part, I looked to the heavens and also prayed for my brother to take care of me.

"Hold on, my friends!" Olaf cried with his deafening voice as Merryck put his little, yet strong arms around his neck. "Let us give battle to this beast!" and so we darted to the streets of London yet again. The Phantom tried to follow but was hastily stopped by an arrow filled with lightning essence fired by Demean and strengthened by Tish. His orb didn't shatter this time. Nevertheless, when I turned to see him, I noticed many cracks on it. The Phantom, furious, went after his opponents, while these latter ones scattered through the sky.

As we landed, Olaf let go of us and Merryck climbed down his huge back. With his hammer at the ready, the vampire began to walk forward, to the place where the battle yells came from. But before that, we would have to prove ourselves against a small group of Heartless. These popped out of the ground and from the walls; there were many small, soldier-like Heartless and there were a few truly horrific ones. A trio of dark knights riding dark horses faced us, as well as a quartet of huge spiders. I gulped and raised my sword at them, ready to defend myself. Yet before I could attack, Ukyo threw herself at the spiders, which were the enemies that stood in front of me. With a quick, powerful slash, she managed to kill two of them, while the others leapt away and tried to capture her with black webs. She skillfully dodged their attack and left the rest to Olaf, who, with lightning speed, ran behind his preys and smashed them with his hammer. At that moment, the soldiers and the knights charged at us. I hid behind my shield and waited for the perfect moment to strike. However, I suddenly felt how someone pushed me with great strength. It had been Ukyo, who had moved me out of the way and had dexterously parried all of the knights' blows. With a sigh, I got up and put myself on guard again. This couldn't go on the way it was going...

Meanwhile, Merryck fought against the soldiers. As they swung their fists against him, he dodged their blows with ease and rolled under their legs. Before they could face him again, he would've already stabbed them with his blade on the back. That's the way he fought: waiting patiently for the opponent to make a mistake so that then he would perform a brief, lethal counterattack. Many of the soldiers fell before him. Nevertheless, they kept on appearing and attacking the little hobbit. I then lunged myself against them and successfully slew a couple of them with one blow. I then hid behind my shield as most of the fiends turned against me and attacked me relentlessly.

"Siegfried!" I heard Ukyo cry, with concern. As I looked at her, I saw that she had already slaughtered two of the knights and that Olaf was just a few seconds from smashing the third to bits with his hammer. They had both received a few cuts, but nothing spectacular. Ukyo was as strong as ever and Olaf's wounds were already healing...

Before I could say anything or move, Ukyo came to my aid. Merryck had already done most of the work and had disposed of almost all of the Heartless with his nimble feet and quick blade. My brother's beloved showed no mercy and hastily cut through the rest of the fiends effortlessly. More Heartless came to us, but soon fell before a wall of flames Olaf created about us. They were all reduced to ashes in the blink of an eye.

"That was a good warm-up fight." The Gangrel said, eager to do more battle. "We should get moving."

"Siegfried, I don't know if you should go on with us..." Ukyo said, softly. "Maybe you should stay here and hide..."

"I'm fine. I can manage." I quickly replied, somewhat vexed.

"I don't know..."

"You didn't even give me a chance to fight! Come on, I can do it! So step away!" I snapped. I really don't know what came over me, but I had said these words with much fury. The girl, seemingly hurt, merely turned away from me and sighed. "I'm sorry..."

"I'm just looking after you." She replied, dryly.

"Calm down, my friends." Olaf intervened. "The boy is right, Ukyo. You should let him stand on his own. Otherwise, he will never grow up."

"I won't go into detail, Miss Ukyo, yet do remember that there are no weaklings among us." Merryck added. "I am sure that Mr. Siegfried will do quite well on his own."

"If you insist." She muttered, walking towards the battlefield again, without looking at me.

But before she could go on, three vampires came out of the shadows to meet us. It was Adrian, Thor, and Lucrecia.

"Looks like we missed the action here." Adrian said. "Well, not to worry. There are plenty of Heartless for everyone. A lot of them, if you ask me."

"What do you mean?" asked Olaf, looking at him with a concerned glance.

"The army is endless, Olaf." Explained Thor. "I do not think we have ever battled so many fiends. It must be because, if I am not mistaken, our cunning warriors have managed to hurt the Phantom."

"On top of that, that beast is on the loose." Lucrecia added. "We've tried not to cross paths with it, since its power is something unimaginable. We need to fight it together, unless we want him to cut is into tiny bits and pieces."

"That were-bear sure proved to be a handful..." Adrian sighed.

"It seems to me that they've already explained you what's going on." Ukyo said.

"So no one is fighting against the were-bear?" Olaf questioned.

"No... We're still busy trying to put an end to the Heartless." Lucrecia replied.

"And has he not attacked anyone?"

"His kind of entertained killing Heartless..." Adrian answered.

"All right... then let us slaughter them promptly so that we can later put an end to his madness..."

With that said, we started to run to the battlefield as fast as our feet could carry us. Yet, without warning, we were cut short by another wave of Heartless. This one was seemingly larger than the last. There were lots of knights, about twenty, I should think, and a dozen of giant spiders. As we saw these fiends, we all quickly raised our guards and Ukyo stood in front of me, again. I was tempted to push her aside, but I simply decided to move away from her.

"Ah, knight-riders of doom!" Adrian cried. "It's time for you to meet your maker!" he leapt at them with such speed that it seemed to me that he had rather teleported in front of them. With one swing of his scythe, he cut off three of the horses' legs. With a bellow, the beasts fell to his feet only to have their heads and the ones of their masters cut off by another quick swing of his weapon.

As a response to this, two spiders leapt at Adrian. They were caught in midair by Thor, who slammed them against the ground and then beat them to death with his nun chucks. Meanwhile, Olaf, Lucrecia, and Merryck had gone into the battle – the female vampire attacked similarly to Adrian, although her moves were much more graceful, but packed less power; Olaf, as always, hit his opponents with the elegance of an elephant falling to the ground, yet with that same strength, and Merryck, who fought against the spiders only, rolled between his enemies' legs and slashed them so that, moments later, he would climb onto their backs and unleash the fatal blow to the heads.

I remained behind, doing my best to study my opponents' and my friends' moves. Ukyo stayed by my side, of course, almost infuriating me with her insufferable babysitting. And so, sick of this, I hastily hurried to my friends' side and jumped high into the air, throwing myself against a knight, successfully knocking him off the horse. With a speedy thrust, I drove my sword through his skull and killed him. I smiled triumphantly, hoping that Ukyo had seen that and she would let me fight at peace. Nevertheless, she insisted on remaining by my side, watching over my back with fierce swings of Renamark.

However, she failed to notice the knight and spider that had just popped out of the ground and stood before me. Both Heartless charged at me with anger and, unable to think of something to do to counter their attacks, I ran away from them. My friends were too busy to stop them and kept on battling. Only Ukyo noticed I was fleeing from the scene.

"SIEGFRIED!" she yelled, but her silhouette had already disappeared in the mist.

I ran through dark alleys and some abandoned houses, desperately trying to lose my pursuers in the fog, not to avail. At long last, I came to a dead end and turned around only to see that both my enemies had stopped their charge and looked at me with devilish eyes.

Well, Siegfried... I thought. You wanted to battle on your own, without anyone to look out for you. Now is your chance... This thought, however, wasn't entirely encouraging. With a deep breath, I readied myself for their charge and waited.

My hands were trembling. There were no allies on sight. If I made only one mistake, I would surely get killed. I had to concentrate. Hopefully, now would be the perfect time to use Thor's teachings. Yet before that, I had to remember what Shiryu had told me: "Always stay focused, always keep your cool, and never lose sight of your enemy."

Both Heartless gave out a battle yell and charged at me. I held my breath as I waited for them, thinking about what would be a good thing to do. Rolling under the knight's sword wouldn't be a good idea – the spider would catch me with its fangs before I would be able to get up. It wouldn't be wise to leap over the spider either, for the knight would cut me down effortlessly. The only thing I could to was to try and push the knight off his horse with my shield. Hopefully, I would hit his hand so hard that he would lose balance. And after that, I would have to get rid of the spider quickly, before the other find came to its aid. Yes, that's what had to be done. I raised the shield, and waited...

A loud roar echoed through the streets. The Heartless stopped in their tracks and looked up. Not a second passed and Octavius came down on both fiends. With his eagle-like leg, he squashed the spider and with his claws, he cut the knight and his dark horse into shreds. He then gave out a victorious howl to the knight as I quailed in fear against the wall behind me. Against the Heartless, I had a minimal chance of survival... but against this beast, I was as good as dead. And I reckon that he knew that the moment he turned to me and stared at me with his red eyes. After growling for a few moments, he let out another terrifying roar and charged at me. I found nothing else to do but to cover my head with my hands as I screamed in horror.

Octavius suddenly halted his charge. As I heard his footsteps stop, I turned to him and saw that two chains were around his arms. Shun stood about fifteen feet away from us; he was the one who had saved me. The Andromeda's saint's chains were resistant and did not break when Octavius tried to bite them.

"Get out of there, Siegfried!" he cried. "I'll hold him!"

With a nod, I ran away from the dead end. Octavius tried to bite my head off as I passed beside him, but Shun kept him from doing so. Once I was safely away from him, the saint grunted and sent a high-voltage current through his chains in the hopes of knocking the beast out. Yet instead of leaving him unconscious, Octavius became terribly angry and grabbed both chains with his arms. With a swift movement, he lifted Shun into the air and began to spin him madly. I could only watch in horror as he yelled in horror as his body went through many building's walls again and again. At long last, Octavius slammed Shun against the ground. He was terribly wounded and had his eyes closed...

Octavius closed in for the kill. Desperation filled me when he opened his mouth, green liquid dripping from his sharp fangs. I thought of nothing else to do but to grab a rock beside me and through it at his head. Of course, the pebble didn't even hurt him. I did, however, succeed in getting the beast's attention. I backed away into a corner as he walked at me, raising his claws over his head.

"PEGASUS'S METEOR PUNCH!"

"DRAGON'S FURY!"

The two attacks came from the top of one building which still stood and hit Octavius on the chest, knocking him down. Seiya and Shiryu landed next to me, saving me from the beast.

"Leave this place, Siegfried!" Shiryu said. "Take Shun with you! He's badly hurt and needs the mages' aid to recover."

"We'll take it from here." Assured Seiya, gathering all of his Cosmo-energy, ready to unleash another potent attack. Octavius had already gotten up, and there was hardly a scratch on his body. With a roar, he approached the two saints as I backed away and carried an unconscious Shun away from the battle.

As I reached a relatively safe distance, I turned around and saw with dismay that both of the saints were getting beaten by the beast. He had grabbed Seiya by the head and had slammed him against the ground viciously. Shiryu had rushed to his aid but Octavius responded by taking a swipe at him. The Dragon's saint managed to protect his head with his shield from the beast's claws, yet was unable to stop him from hurting his stomach. He fell on his knees, breathing heavily, a huge cut across his abdomen.

"...Oh, crap." I muttered to myself, realizing that it was my turn to save those two in whatever way I could. I looked for another rock to throw at Octavius, but didn't find any big pebbles nearby. Without much further thought, I threw my sword at the beast. The blade cut his arm and although the wound was all but serious, I again succeeded in infuriating him. He ran after me as Shiryu, with great effort, carried Seiya to a safe place.

I gathered all of my strength and threw Shun through a window into a house to my right. This time, I had to save myself. My breathing sped up as Octavius closed in on me. And finally, with a terrified yell, I rolled under his legs as he threw his claws at me. I evaded the hit and the beast practically shattered the floor behind me. I then stood up and began to run as quickly as I could, my speed fuelled by fear. Yet not even that would save me from the beastly Octavius. A quick leap was all it took him to catch up with me. He landed in front of me, cutting me short. Again, he walked at me and got ready to kill me.

However, I was saved once more. I felt a blow on my right shoulder and rolled over the ground. Hyoga had arrived just in time to push me out of the way of the beast's claws... He himself had managed to duck underneath another of Octavius's swipes and had gotten a hold of his legs. Hyoga then summoned all of the chilly air about to turn into a thick layer of ice that formed itself about the beast's legs. Octavius let out a shocked howl and threw his claws against Hyoga. The Cygnus's saint rolled away from the foe hastily. Only one claw penetrated his lower back, but it still wounded him deeply. With pain in his face, he got up and stood still while Octavius struggled to break free from the eyes.

"Hyoga!" I cried, running to him. "Are you all right?"

"I'm okay." He grunted. "Right now, you should get out of here... Get your sword and go help the others." He turned back and added: "Ikki and I will take it from here."

Looking in the direction he had glanced, I noticed the Phoenix's saint had also arrived at the scene and was gathering energy to unleash a potent attack. Hoping that these two would prove more of a challenge to Octavius than their comrades, I ran past Octavius and got a hold of my sword. And as I did this, I heard how the beast shattered the layer of ice covering his legs. Before witnessing the battle, I chose to hide behind the debris nearby. I poked my head over them and saw how Ikki unleashed his attack in a desperate attempt to drive the beast back.

"FLYING PHOENIX!" he wailed.

A boiling gust of wind came from his fists and successfully slowed Octavius down, but failed to stop him. Without giving it further thought, Hyoga unleashed one of his icy attacks on the beast, freezing the ground beneath him. But as he saw the ice crawl to him, Octavius gave a giant leap and landed between the saints. He used his fist to knock Hyoga out and he kicked Ikki in the stomach, burying his claws in his skin.

"No, no, no!" I cried, realizing that Octavius had but to twist his arms to behead both saints. Luckily, we were not alone. A swift arrow pierced the mist and hit Octavius on his shoulder. He took a step back, releasing his grip on Hyoga and Ikki, and looked up, to one of the neighboring buildings' roof. There stood Link, his bow unsheathed and at the ready to unleash another arrow.

I knew what I had to do. Taking a deep breath and as Octavius removed the arrow from his body and jumped at the Hylian, I left my hideout and ran to the saints. I had to make a big effort to carry them both next to Shun. I took off my shirt and put it on Ikki's stomach, hoping that he wouldn't bleed to death. I then got out of the house I laid them in and watch in amazement that Link still stood against the monstrous beast's blows.

Both of them leapt down to the street. Link skillfully dodged all of Octavius's blows by moving left and right, leaping away from him, and rolling under his legs. He used his shield once or twice, as well. Nevertheless, he couldn't find an opening to thrust his sword into the beast. I think he was waiting for the right moment to strike in a manner in which his attack wouldn't be lethal. After all, this beast was our were-bear...

Unfortunately, I wasn't the only spectator of the battle. While Link and Octavius raged on, a silent spider crept out of one of the buildings and shot its web at the Hylian's feet. Trapped, he fell to the ground, at Octavius's mercy. This time, I was too far away from them to do anything. I could only watch in horror as the beast got to Link and grabbed his foot. But instead of tearing him apart with his claws, he threw him as hard as he could at the spider, killing the Heartless instantly. Link went through the wall in which the giant arachnid had been and a cloud of dust came out of the hole he had left...

"LINK!" I cried, running at the building, but stopping short as I felt Octavius's eyes on me.

At that moment, another ally came from an alley that was on my left. I glanced at him and let out a gasp, not knowing whether if he came to save me or to aid Octavius in his endeavor...

Sephiroth looked at me and at Octavius, who had become still at the sight of this new creature. The warrior kept on moving his head from me to Octavius for a few moments with a stupefied expression on his face.

"...Is there no one else...?" he whispered to me.

I couldn't say a word. I only managed to barely shake my head.

"Goddamn it." He murmured. He took a deep breath and raised his sword, pointing it at the beast. That was a bit relieving, I must say. Yet I had no idea that this time, no one else would come to aid me to escape my fate... "Flank him."

"What?" I muttered.

"You heard me, damn it, flank him!" he commanded. "We won't beat him if you just stand there like an idiot! Flank him, now!"

Under other circumstances, I would've probably hit him on the jaw. How dared he order me around? But considering that he was quite the expert at fighting, that I was as novice as they came, and that we were facing a humongous, nearly invincible beast, I chose to heed his words. With a quick nod, I raised my sword and shield and faced Octavius from his left while Sephiroth did the same thing from the opposite side. The beast stared at both of us without moving, not knowing, I suppose, who to attack first.

"When I say so, strike his legs, got it?" Sephiroth said. "Answer back, Siegfried!"

"I got it, I got it..." I stuttered, my hands trembling madly.

"Ready? One... two... THREE!"

As he had instructed me to, I took a quick step at Octavius and ducked under his claws as he took a swipe at me at the last moment, and slashed his legs with my blade, while Sephiroth, taking advantage that the beast had concentrated on dealing with me, tried to thrust his sword through the fiend's stomach. Nevertheless, Octavius was completely aware that Sephiroth was near and managed to grab his blade before it utterly pierced through him. However, my ally succeeded in wounding him and yanked his sword away from the beast as we both hurried away from him. Although roaring madly, Octavius stood still, waiting for us to go after him once more.

"What are you doing?" I muttered, conscious that Sephiroth had moved in for the kill. "He's Octavius, goddamn it! Don't you dare kill him!"

"How very noble of you." He snarled. "Do you think you can tell him how very much you care about him after he's eaten your head off?"

"Don't try to kill him, Sephiroth!"

"It's either him or us, boy! Make your choice!"

I couldn't believe it. Sephiroth was right. There was no way we were getting out of this without killing Octavius. He was nearly indestructible... the only way to defeat him was to stop the beating of his heart. Now I wasn't only scared... I was incredibly heartbroken. This was something I couldn't escape from. If I chose not to fight, Octavius would slaughter me and would keep on wreaking havoc. More of my friends would be killed as well... Perhaps even Demean, Tish, Ryoga, or Merryck... or Ukyo. No. I couldn't allow such a thing. With tears in my eyes, I realized what had to be done just as Octavius got tired of waiting and began to run at us wildly.

"What now?" I quickly asked Sephiroth.

"Roll right!" he instructed. I became confused by his command, since he was at my right.

"Right...?" I muttered, all but frozen by fear, for Octavius was nearly upon us.

"ROLL!" he cried.

There was no time to waste. I rolled right with a desperate breath as quickly as I could, while Sephiroth rolled left. Octavius became confused with our maneuver as well and tripped with his own legs. He fell to the ground but quickly got up. Sephiroth had been about to lunge at the beast with his sword aimed at his stomach once more, yet he stopped short when he saw that Octavius was already on his feet... We were lucky we hadn't crashed against each other.

"Now what do we do...?" I questioned again, breathing hastily while the beast glanced at us with his red, rage-filled eyes, not daring to come after us again.

"I'm thinking..." Sephiroth whispered back, a thoughtful stare in his eyes. "All right." He finally said. "Get in front of me. I want you to run straight at him and roll through his legs. Take a swipe at them as you go. I'll try to cut off his head while he's busy trying to kill you."

A gulped down hard as a chill ran down my back. He was really thinking about doing it. But, like I said, we had no other choice.

"...Okay." I said. "I'll try..."

"Go as fast as you can." He kept on saying as I placed myself in front of him. "Roll underneath him at the last second."

"Okay..."

"Ready? Ready? GO!"

At his command, I dashed at the beast with my heart pounding out of my chest. Octavius roared and raised his claws. The more I ran to him, the bigger he became and the more afraid I grew. That didn't stop me, however. Like Sephiroth had told me to do so, I rolled under the beast's legs as he took a deadly swipe at me and, with a terrified yell, swung my sword at his ankles, successfully managing to inflict a small cut. Octavius howled in pain and began to search for me, yet quickly stopped looking as Sephiroth leapt at him and tried to behead him. The beast grasped the warrior's sword just as it made a small wound on its neck and then, taking a hold of his hand, threw him at me. We rolled over the ground and got up just in time to leap aside in order to dodge a brutal charge.

"Quick blows!" Sephiroth said aloud. "Unleash quick blows! We have to hold on until we see a real opening! For now, block the faster hits with your shield; avoid everything else!"

"Oh, God!" I yelped with fright as the beast began to attack the both of us with incredible strength. Most of his blows could've reduced us to half our former selves and these we evaded as well as we could.

I leapt back as much as I could, hoping that I wouldn't run into a wall, while Sephiroth kept Octavius at bay with his long blade. Whenever the beast would find a way around it, the warrior would leap away as fast as possible and then keep on pressuring from a safe distance. I wasn't as lucky. I had to be constantly facing the bloodthirsty creature, doing my best to score a stab or two by doing quick thrusts at his chest. I did manage to hurt him a couple of times, but the cuts weren't grave at all, not to mention the fact that it would take more than massive strength to knock Octavius out, and let's not talk about killing him. Yet the more he attacked, the more afraid I became of him and the more my desire to escape the fight, even if it meant putting his life to an end. Before this onslaught of claws and teeth, I had thought that maybe we could've found a way to beat him without murdering him, but now I wasn't so sure...

"Get away!" I cried, swinging my sword from one side to the other, hiding behind my shield. "Get away, Octavius! Wake up! It's me, Siegfried!"

"He's not listening to you!" Sephiroth roared. "Goddamn it, boy, keep on fighting!"

It was no use. Octavius wouldn't let us get away. And this time, he never spread his legs enough for one of us to roll underneath him. I think he got used to the trick and realized we would take advantage of his size whenever we could. I had to find another way to escape him...

It was then that I tripped and fell on my back. Octavius growled fiercely as he got ready to squash me with the sharp claws of his foot. I had dropped my sword because of the fall, and I searched for it frantically. In the end, all I picked up was a pile of dirt come from one of the buildings and threw it as hard as I could at the beast's eyes. Octavius let out a howl of pain as he covered his face and stepped away. I turned to Sephiroth and saw how he was getting ready to strike the fatal blow. Nevertheless, the beast was all but stupid: knowing well that he was at our mercy, he began to slash the air about him with great speed and power. Sephiroth dared not risk an attack, knowing that any mistake could cost him his life. With a sigh, he went to me, helped me to my feet, and we both took a few steps away from the creature... A breather, at last.

"That was close..." I muttered.

"Even if I would've tried to attack him, his skin is too tough for my sword to go through it with ease." Sephiroth commented. "I would've only gotten him madder by cutting him superficially. We can't afford to get him angrier: the more rage he feels, the stronger he becomes. We need to land one single, fatal blow."

"...I understand." I sighed, desperately. As Octavius started to recover his sight, a final question came into my mind: "Why didn't you kill me?"

"Not right now, moron." He growled.

"Who are you calling a...?" I began to say with anger, but fear came over me again as Octavius finally looked at us with his red eyes, fully recuperated from that last assault. "Okay, never mind..."

"Let's wait for him to make his move." He said. He pushed me with his arm to the side and added: "Keep flanking him – we'll have the advantage if he goes after only one of us."

"Right, right."

The beast remained still as he moved his head from us to the buildings to our right. These still stood, although they were somewhat damaged. Not much time passed before Octavius did something neither I nor Sephiroth expected: he jumped at one of the buildings and buried his claws on the walls and then began to crawl at an alarming speed at us. He was even faster than the Heartless spiders! I didn't think the buildings would hold his weight, yet he was so quick that the walls merely shook – they didn't crumble at all. I hoped that Sephiroth would hastily think of something to do, that he would come up with another strategy to counter this surprise attack of his. But my ally was, I think, just as shocked as I was.

"Son of a bitch!" he exclaimed in a whisper. "Run to the left! Run!"

I did as he told me to and heard how Octavius gave out a howl as he leapt at us. I cried in terror as I heard him fall behind me. The shockwave he sent through the ground knocked me off my feet. I quickly rose to my feet and turned, seeing that the beast had managed to wound Sephiroth on the back with his feet's claws. The warrior lay on the ground, blood gushing from his giant cuts. He was hopeless... Octavius was about to feast on him.

Yet the debris about saved us again. I noticed a rock at my feet and realized I had one chance to save Sephiroth's life. As much as I disliked him, he was our ally, and I had to help him. I quickly kicked the rock with all of my strength and hit Octavius on the nose. The monster, mad with anger, howled at me and pushed Sephiroth aside with his feet. I could see that he now meant to kill me no matter what: I had been getting in his way for a long time now, and I had to pay the price. Once more, I stood still, trembling with fear, not knowing what to do... The creature only came closer and closer.

"Under his legs!" I heard Sephiroth cry, all of a sudden. "Roll under his legs!"

I gave a quick glance at the beast's feet and noticed that, once again, he had been careless about keeping them together. Holding my breath, I followed Sephiroth's advice and barely cleared Octavius's claws. Once at his back, I swung my sword across his back, inflicting upon him that which was possibly the most notorious wound he had. The creature hollered with wrath as he felt my steel cut through his skin.

"Shield! Shield!" Sephiroth yelled.

Without giving it a second thought, I hit my face behind my shield. I then felt a powerful blow on it and fell on the ground, hard. It was amazing how resilient this thing was: it didn't have a single scratch. Anyway, there was no time to be marveled at the endurance of my shield; I had been lucky to survive the attack. I had to keep focused.

As the beast got ready for the next strike, I saw that he had all but forgotten about Sephiroth. This latter one had crawled against a wall, and was watching the battle carefully, holding his sword firmly, practically bleeding to death. Someone had to come and heal him before he kicked the bucket – and fast.

"What next...?" I murmured to myself, still filled by fear. However, terror had fuelled my senses: I was more aware of what was going on and I reacted faster to the openings my opponent allowed me to exploit. This doesn't mean, of course, that I was confident of my skills. On the contrary: Octavius scared the hell out of me with his mere presence.

The pause came to an end. Octavius lunged himself at me in the same way that a deadly lion leaps at a helpless baby zebra, his claws aiming at my stomach. But then I became aware that he was very low to the ground. With enough luck, I would be able to leap over him... My beliefs were confirmed by Sephiroth, who promptly advised in a loud voice: "Jump high!"

I did this and scarcely cleared the maddened creature. I actually fell on his back and quickly took advantage of this by thrusting into his flesh with my blade. Again, the wound was fairly decent, so to speak. Octavius roared as he made a fist with his claws and swung it at me. I managed to block the blow with my shield and fell off him. He got up in a second and did something unexpected...

While I was on the ground, I let out a horrified yelp as he came closer to me. I covered my face with my shield, thinking he would try to squash it with his legs, or to bury his claws in it. Instead, he took a hold of my shield and yanked it with so much strength, that he dislocated my arm and left me without said item. I cried in pain and crawled away from the beast as fast as I could...

"Get up, get up!" Sephiroth exclaimed.

Barely finding the strength to do this, I swung my sword madly at Octavius's face, who took a step back, and waited for an opening. Now he was fighting calmly, almost intelligently, I might say. With terror in my eyes, I tried to thrust at him as best as I could, remembering Thor's teachings: my swings had to be quick if I didn't want to be disarmed; I had to go for the enemies weak spots, such as the jugular, the stomach; I had to remember that my opponent could also become the attacker, and so on. But the Gangrel's knowledge didn't help much. I managed to touch Octavius's skin a few times, yet my blows didn't pack enough strength to even cut him this time. I was lost, and I knew this just as soon as my back hit a wall... I was cornered.

It was then that Octavius pulled his right arm back and got ready to strike my head with all of his power. And for a moment, in his eyes, I saw the same stare I had witness on Magnus's glance when he had drove his halberd through me...

"Move your head right!"

Hastily, almost instinctively, one would say, I did as Sephiroth told me to. Octavius's arm just about touched me, leaving a superficial cut on my cheek as he buried it with wild power in the wall behind me. His face was right in front of me and I had my blade at the ready.

"Pierce his skull!" Sephiroth cried hysterically. "KILL HIM! KILL HIM!"

My heart pounded so hard I thought my chest was going to burst. I had less than a few seconds to drive my sword through the creature's cranium and put an end to the fight. I knew this... but then, several thoughts invaded my mind with the speed of lightning.

Sephiroth had told me to murder him. Yet I had already done much killing in the past. I had been forgiven for my sins once... and when I had come back to life, I had sworn I wouldn't do it again. And this was no ordinary creature – this monster, standing with rage in front of me, with no other thought in his head that destroying me, was in reality Octavius, my friend. I couldn't bring myself to kill him. If he had to die, then it would not be by my hand, even if this cost me my own life.

Fear faded for a split of second and there was determination in my eyes. I grasped my sword firmly and with the hilt, hit the beast on the jaw as hard as I could. Octavius reeled back a bit, letting out a surprised grunt, (for I suppose he didn't feel a lot of pain), and allowed me to see his legs. I twisted my blade and aimed the tip at one of them.

"I'm sorry for this, Octavius..." I murmured and then, I thrust as hard as I could to one of his feet. With a loud yell, which had not been filled by fear, but by willpower, I pierced his left foot and buried my sword on the ground, nailing him to the pavement.

Octavius let out a most horrifying yell of pain as blood gushed from his foot. I tried to roll away from him as quickly as possible before he would tear me apart with his arms. There was, once more, a small opening between his legs, for his free foot thrashed madly and was far from the other. The wall behind me began to crumble under the might of his arm. I had to be fast...

The beast snapped its head forth and bit down. I gasped in surprise as I felt a strange pain throbbing through my face. I chose not to pay heed to this for the moment and rolled away from Octavius, who now struggled madly to remove the sword from his feet. It was then, when I had taken a few steps away from him, that the strange pain became unbearable. It was as if someone had spilled acid on the right side of my face. I yelled loudly as I tried to remove this substance from my body, but it was too late. No matter how much I scratched my cheeks and forehead, the acid burned like the flames of hell...

Unexpectedly, I found myself unable to yell and unable to keep standing. I fell on the ground and felt how my muscles began to tense. My head was directed at the skies. The mist had gone, but the rain still feel; nevertheless, it did not soothe my wound. I saw my friends fighting against the Phantom: his cloak had nearly vanished and his orb was riddled with cracks. It went after Dante and tried to hit him with his bony hands, yet the boy hastily flew aside and fired an icy spell at the blue orb beneath him. The Phantom thrashed and reeled back as more cracks appeared on the orb. And then, before he could do another move, Will appeared behind him and cast a mighty spell. A block of icy completely engulfed the Heartless and then broke into a thousand pieces. The orb broke along with the frost and the Phantom started to fall to the streets. And the more he fell, the more transparent he became... until at last, he vanished under the rain.

My head snapped left and tensed. I became unable to move my neck or any other part of my body, for that matter. All my muscles began to twitch as I started to drool uncontrollably. My vision became blurry and an intolerable pain began to invade my chest. I tried to yell, yet soon found myself out of breath. I couldn't breathe... no, it wasn't that. I was choking on my own tongue!

The pain grew stronger, my convulsions grew fiercer. I barely felt warmth on the right side of my face and I knew that I was bleeding. My hearing also began to fade: it's like when a terribly loud noise blasts near you and you can only hear a faint whistle... well, said whistling grew louder and louder, until the voices about me turned into faint echoes come from a deep cave.

As I kept on convulsing, I managed to discern how five figures had begun to attack Octavius. They were the five saints, who had fully recovered... Shun held his arms with his chains again; Seiya, Shiryu, and Ikki hit him madly on the face, chest, and abdomen, respectively, and Hyoga had already managed to freeze the leg I hadn't wounded. Next, five other figures came into view: one of them, I think, was Adrian, who started to strike the creature's jaw with the hilt of his scythe; the other was Olaf, I'm sure, for I could scarcely distinguish his immense hammer hitting Octavius on his back. Link had also recuperated from his fall and smashed the beast's face with his shield as well. The fourth was Gustav – he had summoned a horde of what seemed to be white spirits which attacked Octavius viciously, slowly wearing him down. The attackers were slowly but surely weakening him... the beast could now barely stand. And finally, the fifth figure appeared. I have no doubt that it was Ukyo who, with a loud cry, hit Octavius on the back of his head with Renamark's hilt. The legendary blade gave her so much strength that I, in my deranged state, felt the shockwave it emitted. The beast at long last closed his eyes and fell to the ground, breathing heavily. After that, it all started to turn black.

I could still feel the pain growing stronger, even though my spasms were beginning to fade. I was so scared... I wanted to call for help, but I was unable to speak. My tongue kept me from doing so. Yet all of a sudden, I felt a strange, unexplainable warmth invade my body. I knew it wasn't blood, for I hadn't been wounded in the stomach. And then, I heard faint voices, like the ones coming from a deep forest out into an immense, open field...

"...Poisoned...Esuna..." they said.

The hurt diminished a bit as the voices kept on repeating these words over and over again. Yet there was no way I could fight the darkness any longer. Fearfully, I gave up and let it take me.

_(Change of scene)_

"Guys... guys! I think he's coming to!" I heard Felicia say. I struggled hard to open my eyes and slowly, everything started to become clear once more.

"What... What ha...?" I stuttered. Seeing that I was lying down, I tried to sit, yet dizziness overcame me and I fell on my back again. Many of my friends came to see if I was alright. I could see that the cat-woman, the five saints, Link, Aeris, Gustav, Olaf, Adrian, Ryu, Ken, Sora, Goofy, Demean, Tish, Merryck, and Ukyo were standing about me. The latter smiled tenderly and put one hand on my forehead.

"Easy, sugar." She said. "You've done a lot already."

"What... happened?" I finally managed to say. I was still too weak to speak fluently.

"Octavius managed to bite you earlier." Aeris said. "I saw it from the sky. I thought you'd be okay, but his fangs had venom. A most potent one, I have to say. You nearly died..."

"That's why... I c-convulsed?" I asked.

"Yeah." Adrian replied. "It was pretty nasty. You looked as if someone was giving you electric shocks."

"O-Octavius..." I stammered. "Is he OK?"

"He's all right. Back to his former, charming self, now."

"That's good... I see that y-you guys are okay... How's... how's Sephiroth?"

"He had a bad cut across his back, but we quickly took care of it." Donald declared.

"You sure are lucky, Siegfried." Goofy added. "I almost thought we had lost you, when I saw you on the ground... I was very scared."

"Yeah, I was also very f-frightened." I said, with a weak chuckle.

I let out a sigh and relaxed. Everything had gone well. I closed my eyes for a moment and smiled. I then looked at my friends again. They were all smiling... but their smiles were strange. One wouldn't be able to tell if they were happy smirks or sympathetic grins. As if they felt sorry for something... As if someone had died.

"What's wrong?" I hastily questioned.

It was then that Ukyo's expression turned to a saddened one. Tears began to roll down her cheeks as she said with a broken voice: "I'm so sorry, Siegfried... It's my fault... I-I should've been there to look out for you!"

"Don't blame yourself, girl." Adrian quickly said. "This had nothing to do with you."

"I should've been there...!"

"What are you...?" I started to say. Yet, as I looked at her, I knew.

I could only see the people on my left. Every one of them had turned to Ukyo and tried to comfort her. Some of them also shed tears, though they did so silently. I couldn't see the folks on my right. I could listen to their comforting voices; I could listen to their breaths; I even felt Aeris's hand as she gently touched my shoulder. But, now matter how hard I struggled, I couldn't see them. And I had both eyes opened.

"...What's wrong with me?" I asked in a low voice as I felt my heart sink in my chest. Fear grew as I passed my right hand over my eye and saw nothing. Only its blurry silhouette through my left eye.

"Siegfried..." Demean said softly, kneeling beside the bed I lay on. I turned to see him and urged him to explain. "Octavius bit you on the face and hurt your eye. The venom flowed through it and destroyed your nerves as it touched them. The poison of the creatures cursed by the Rage of the Forests is extremely fierce... It is unlike anything I have ever seen before. No matter how hard all the magicians tried to cure the effects of the poison, they only succeeded in saving your life. Yet I am afraid they could do nothing for your eye..."

"This venom..." Tish added. "Is not ordinary venom. I fear it is... sort of fabricated venom. Created with magic, I daresay. And an ancient, powerful magic it is... The creatures infused with the curse of the Rage of the Forests are old, much older than Demean or myself. Against such elderly power, my own conjures paled. I..." a small tear came out of her eyes as she said, with a sob: "I am sorry, Siegfried. We could not heal you."

"Have... have I lost sight of my right eye?" I asked, still unable to believe this. "...Forever?"

"I am so sorry..." was all the heartbroken, little fairy muttered.

I couldn't breathe. I was completely shocked. I felt as if someone had hit me with an iron ball in my stomach. For a moment, I even felt like regurgitating. But I only limited myself to turn away from the elf and Tish and let out a long, sad sigh. Closing my eyes, I could only feel my friends staring at me with pity.

"Let us go." Gustav said. "The boy needs to rest a bit."

Everyone began to leave. But after a few moments, someone stopped and then I heard Adrian's voice as he asked Gustav:

"What about you, Gustav? Are you two staying?"

"I shall be with you all in a moment. Go comfort young Ukyo. She is very disturbed and needs your aid, also."

"Sure. Good luck." He answered.

Gustav sat down by my side and then another person mimicked him. It had been Olaf, who had also remained behind. And before long, came Rofell, too. The three elders sat near me, shielding me from the rest of my friends' preoccupied glances. I was somewhat grateful to them for doing that, although I wasn't sure I wanted them to see me themselves in such a state.

"How are you feeling, boy?" asked the bearded elder.

"I... I lost my right eye..." I whispered in a broken voice. I was now unable to contain my despair and sadness and these escaped in the form of tears, while I struggled hard not to sob.

"It is all right, lad." He said and rubbed my shoulder gently as I buried my face on the bed. Strange... even though he certainly looked like the type of 'Men-don't-cry' people, Olaf was actually the most sensitive of the vampires. "It is all right, Siegfried."

"It is truly a shame this happened, Siegfried." Rofell added. "A real misfortune. But great sacrifices do not go unrewarded."

"W-What are you t-talking about?" I asked, trying desperately to calm down my crying. Olaf noticed this and said:

"Do not feel ashamed, lad. Let it all out."

"You are undoubtedly a most valiant warrior, my good Siegfried." Gustav said softly, putting his hand on my shoulder. "You overcame your fear and saved your friends from a certain death. Few would have done that, for Octavius was truly a terrifying vision. And what is more – even in the face of death, you chose to spare his life. That is even more admirable. You might have lost your eye, but you have gained supreme glory, my brave friend."

My desperate sobbing grew fiercer. Even so, I felt a comforting warmth inside. Unable to answer with words, I limited myself to nod my head, both thanking him and asking him to go on.

"Few have achieved what you have done, Siegfried." Said Rofell. "I do not know if it will help you to know this, but we are most proud of you. And I am certain Wilheim, your brother, would also be proud."

I kept on weeping for a long time, clutching the sheets of the bed hard. The sudden mention of his name made me more miserable, yet it also gave me the courage I needed to get to my feet... eventually, of course. It took me a while to calm down. When I did this, I let out a long sigh and dried my tears. At least I could still shed them. Sitting down next to them, they all smiled at me kindly and I smiled back, struggling not to start sobbing again.

"W-What does it l-look like?" I asked in a low voice. I was afraid I would have a hole or a hideous cut on the right side of my face...

"Your eye is still there." Gustav said. "Its color has turned grey – very much like the one you had when you were a vampire." I was puzzled at first when he said this, but then I remembered they had read Wilheim's mind when they had met him. "The venom also kept your friends from completely healing the wound the fang made across your face. It left a scar – yet worry not, for it is a thin line that goes from your eyebrow to your cheekbone. It is notorious, yes. It does not, however, make you look horrid, by all means."

"...That's good to hear." I muttered. I was no longer as weak and felt enough strength to talk smoothly. "Thank you, Gustav. Thank you, Olaf. Thank you, Rofell."

"You need not thank us, Siegfried." Olaf said, putting his humongous arm around my shoulders and pressing me gently with a kind smile on his now merry face. "After all, what are friends for, eh?"

"Yeah... So, I won't need an eye-patch?" I asked.

"That is for you to decide." Rofell answered. "Although personally, the scar gives you quite a mysterious look. Some ladies might love it."

I let out a chuckle and nodded my head. Lowering my face, I sighed again and forced myself to say:

"Well, it could've been worse."

"Indeed, you were lucky, my friend." Gustav assured.

"It's a shame. I was starting to become effective. I don't think I'll do much good now with just one eye."

"Do not discredit yourself, my boy." Olaf said. "Your friends will make sure you are ready to carry on with the mission as soon as possible. And I say this because you must leave soon, now that the Heartless here are finished. But do not doubt that, if you were to stay here, we would be more than happy to help you go through this, my lad."

"Thanks... but... I can't stay, right?"

"Oh, of course you may." Rofell declared. "You are more than welcome to remain by the side of the vampires. Yet we can see in your mind that you are loyal and most brave (even though one does not need to have our powers to see this), and this is why you will go with your friends in search of the Heartless. Am I wrong?"

"...No, I don't think so." I chuckled. "Well, thanks a lot, guys. I... I can see why Wilheim liked you all."

"And I am sure all of us can see why you and he were brothers." Gustav added. He patted my back gently and they got up. I promptly did as they. "It seems to me that you are all right, now. You should probably lie down and rest a bit more."

"Thanks... but I need to go and talk to Ukyo." I said. "I... I'm concerned about her. I don't want her to blame herself. It wasn't her fault. It wasn't anybody's fault."

"Very well. If you feel you must... then off you go. We shall see you in a while, Siegfried."

"Go, my lad." Olaf said, rubbing my shoulder one last time. With a sigh, I started to look for Ukyo.

As I began to move about the vampire's hideout, I could see that all of the _Vampyrs_ turned to me and smiled gladly. Some of them even bowed. Moved, I could only mumble words of gratitude and return the bows. I was happy to be by their side, and their kind words and their gentleness gave me courage. And as soon as I saw my friends, they started to do the same. They were all great.

Anyway, I couldn't find Ukyo anyway. So I decided to go to Adrian to ask him. Perhaps he would make a joke to make me feel better... he was good at that.

"Hi." I said, approaching him.

"What's up, Siegfried?" he asked, joyfully. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm better." I said. "I mean, it could've been worse, right?"

"It can always get worse." He agreed. "Unless you die. Thank God that didn't happen."

"Yeah, I understand." I said. "I guess now we both have scars, right?"

"So it seems."

"...How, if you don't mind my asking, did you get yours?"

"It's okay. It's something funny, actually. You're going to laugh a lot." He leaned against the wall and began to speak. "See, when I was a human, I used to be a lumberjack. I went to the woods with a couple of friends to chop down some trees. It was fun work. A bit tiring, but fun, nonetheless. We never got cold at nights. Anyway, the thing is, one day, we were chopping down a tree which had a very irritable inhabitant... I hit the trunk with my axe so hard that all the branches began to shake. A little squirrel lost its footing and fell from the tree... on my face."

Knowing where he was heading, I began to struggle to contain my laughter. It would've been most rude to explode in laughter at his tragedy. I certainly wouldn't have liked it if he had laughed at mine.

"Well, said squirrel started to trash like mad. It bit down on my face real hard and I let out a high-pitched yell. I sounded like a girl. Either way, I grabbed it by the tail and pulled it off my face. The thing is, it had already bit me and didn't let go. I pulled it in such a way that its teeth left this scar..." he paused for a few seconds and looked at me with a smile as he noticed I couldn't hold it in much longer. "Go ahead, laugh it up."

Just what I needed. I covered my face and laughed in a low voice, but for quite a long while, to the point where tears began to run down my cheeks again.

"I'm sorry!" I whispered.

"It's okay. I wanted to cheer you up, anyway." He said, chuckling.

"Jeez, it must've hurt a lot!" I exclaimed, looking at his scar. The squirrel must've been really big. "So you got bitten by a monster squirrel... you were lucky you didn't get a disease..."

"I know, but you were luckier to survive. Either way, it's much more heroic to get a scar from saving your friends than from a mad, miniature, otherwise harmless mammal."

I nodded my head, chuckling a bit more.

"Yeah... well, I needed that. Anyway... have you seen Ukyo?" I asked.

"She went outside." He replied, pointing at the door.

"I think I'll go talk to her. I'll see you in a while."

"Be my guest."

_(Change of scene)_

As I exited the hideout of the vampires, I let out a relieved sigh and smiled softly, noticing that I had slept through the day. The sun was already hiding behind the buildings. Octavius, the Heartless, and ourselves had managed to bring down some of them, but London still stood. We had saved the city, at the expense of some sacrifices that had to be made... my eye among them, sadly.

Will was resting near the hideout of the vampires, his arms crossed on the ground and his head resting on them. He had his eyes closed, yet he didn't sleep, or at least I hope he wasn't snoozing, because when I came out, he looked at me and smiled.

"It looks that you have finally decided to wake up." He said. "That is wonderful. I am glad you are well. Although I must say I am most sorry about what happened to your eye."

"Thanks, Will. It's alright." I replied. "I could've died, so I guess I just have to think that what happened to me is better than the alternative, so to speak."

"Indeed it is, lad. Besides, you might have lost your eye, but you won a kind of glory no one can take away from you."

"Thanks again... You did quite well yourself against the Phantom."

"Oh, it was a tough fight at the beginning, I will grant you that..." the dragon said, letting out a sigh and rolling his eyes. "Nevertheless, once we discovered his weak point, the fight turned much easier. Slow, yes, but steady it went."

"Now that I think about it, I haven't seen Camille... She's all right, isn't she?" I asked as the image of the fainted succubus flashed in my mind and nearly brought my heart to a halt.

"Be at ease, young Siegfried, she is all right." He said. "She was also concerned about you. She is not too happy about what happened, yet, as we have said to her numerous times, it was not her fault."

"It wasn't her fault at all." I said, firmly. "Nor was it Ukyo's... or Octavius, for that matter... By the way, where are they?"

"I believe you will find her easily. You just need to turn your head, lad."

I looked behind me and saw her. She was sitting down on the steps of a building, head resting on her hands. She looked very sad, but wasn't crying. Instead of witnessing the beautiful sunset on a clear sky in London (a rare thing, I've been told), she had her eyes pinned to the ground with a miserable stare.

"...OK." I muttered. "Thanks, Will. I think I'll go talk to her."

"If you feel in the mood for talking, then I suggest you also had a word with the were-bear." Will said.

"Why? How is he?"

"More miserable than usual, your friends say..."

"...I'll see him as soon as I'm done with my brother's girlfriend." I declared. "Well, I'll see you in a while, Will."

"Good luck, lad." Replied the dragon with a yawn and closed his eyes, letting his head rest on his hands again.

I approached Ukyo while looking at the sunset in tranquil silence. I was still marveled by the feel and look of it: I had been a vampire for too long and I even these last sunsets and sunrises marveled me. I was especially enthralled with this one, for it was truly beautiful. I could only hope that its splendor would bring some sort of peace to everyone's heart. I could also use some serenity myself. I was very calm; much more than my other friends, I would say, but there was still a bit of sadness in me. Hopefully, it would go after I had a talk with her. I especially needed to be at ease if I wanted to go and have a word with the were-bear...

Seeing me come close, she moved a bit so I could sit down next to her. What a relief... For a moment, I almost thought that she would get up and run away from me. But when I saw that didn't happen, I accepted her invitation and, with a sigh, took a seat.

"How... how are you feeling?" I asked in a low voice after remaining quiet for a few seconds.

"Funny that you're the one asking me that." She replied. "Yet, what can you expect? I feel like crap."

"Why is that, Ukyo?"

"Come on, Siegfried... you know why." she let out a long sigh. Looking at her, I could see she was struggling hard to hold back her tears. "I failed you, Siegfried... And by failing you... I let him down. I should've been there to watch over you. Maybe I would've been able to stop Octavius. I don't know... Either way, I'm sure I wouldn't be feeling so guilty right now." She turned to me and looked at me with her pretty, blue, sorrowful eyes. "I'm really sorry, Siegfried. I didn't mean this to happen to you. It should... it should've been me."

"Don't make me get mad at you, Ukyo." I said, both firmly and tenderly. "Please – and make sure you get it into your head – what happened to me wasn't your fault. And I'm sure my brother would agree with me. What befell me, I brought it upon myself. But I'm not sure I would've taken another path if I had the opportunity to do so again... At least I managed to save some lives, even if they saved me as well."

"Still... I promised I would look after you, and..." she stared at my scar and started to weep. "God, I'm so sorry I did that..."

"It's okay, Ukyo... come here." I said, putting my arm around her and gently lowering her head so she could let it rest on my chest. She cried quietly for a while, holding me tenderly. "You have to understand this is a dangerous mission... You can't expect yourself to be watching my back all day long, because if you do that, you won't be able to protect yourself and you'll end up getting killed. You have to trust me... Listen, I'm still here, right?"

"U-Uh huh..." she mumbled.

"It's not your fault. If you take care of me all the time, I'm going to start to worry about you; hence, I'm going to be taking care of you as well. Because, by God, I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you. Not after what my brother did to bring you back to life."

"T-thank you, Siegfried." She sobbed, drying her tears. She sat up straight and looked at me once again, and this time, smiled. "You're such a sweet man... It's easy to say why Wilheim took so much pride in saying you were his little brother."

"Thank you, sister-in-law." I chuckled. "And don't worry about me. I may have a bit of a hard time adapting to my new condition, but I'm sure I can manage."

"...Yeah, I'm sure you can." She said, wiping the last tears off her cheeks.

Before either of us could say anything else, another one of our companions emerged from the corner of the block. It was Sephiroth. He looked very tired, yet he also seemed at ease. He gave us a quick glance and went on, heading to the vampire's hiding place.

I let out a sigh, knowing that there was something that I still had to do regarding him.

"I'll be right back, Ukyo." I said. "This will just take me a second or two, I deem."

"Sure, Siegfried." She said, patting my back gently. And so, I got up and hastily caught up with Sephiroth.

"Hey!" I cried, making him stop in his tracks. He turned around and stared at me in silence. Funny... I could almost swear there was a faint smile on his lips. I remained quiet for a few moments, not entirely sure about what I should say. "...Go on, say it." I blurted at last, a little, I must confess, annoyed by that subtle smile.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"I know what you're thinking." I went on. "I should've stabbed him, on the head, right? Otherwise, I wouldn't be like this. I'm a coward for having spared his life, right? I should've behaved like a man and killed him when I had the chance."

"You're right, regarding the first part." He answered. "If you would've killed him, you wouldn't be wounded now."

"This makes you terribly happy, doesn't it?"

"Well, to be perfectly honest..." he muttered and stopped smiling. "I don't find it hilarious or tragic. I'm just curious."

"...Huh?" I stuttered, finding myself at a loss of words.

"I clearly told you the beast would spare no mercy on any of us. For a moment, I thought you had understood my words. No, actually, I'm sure you did. So I'm curious: why, if you knew you could've died, did you spare his life?"

"Because he's my friend." I hastily answered.

"Ah, friendship. Yes, some say good things about it. Believe in it if you will." He turned his back on me and got ready to go back to the vampire's hiding place. I, however, still wanted to ask him a few more things. I couldn't let him go just yet.

"I'm not done yet!" I exclaimed. "Wait a second, will you?"

With a sigh, he faced me again.

"Do you... do you remember that I asked you earlier why you hadn't taken my life?" I questioned, now calmly.

"What? You still want me to answer that?"

"No. Truth to be told, I've got a better question than that: why did you save me?"

He let out a long sigh and broke eye-contact. He remained silent for a while. I could see he was thinking of something to say: this time, his answer wasn't going to be as mechanical as his other replies. For a moment, I was almost sure he would say something cold and hurting...

"Well, for starters, you had to stay alive." He confessed. "You were my only hope. If you had died, then I would've also been killed. On the other hand, whether we like it or not, we're companions. I know you're not exactly fond of me and, quite frankly, I don't like any of you. But I am doing my best to behave as my older-self, when I was but a young fool. I'm trying real hard to be a team player, boy. And if I am to be a team player, then it is my duty to aid my other companions as well. When I was in SOLDIER, I worked alongside many men and, when the time came, I helped them, unless I knew there was no way they would be saved or if by doing so I would put the mission's objective at risk." At last, he looked at me again and added: "Anyway, that doesn't matter. Satisfied?"

I quietly nod my head. And, after an instant, I forced myself to say: "Thank you, Sephiroth."

And again, he amazed me. Instead of saying something like 'As if I really cared' or some other stuff of the sort, he simply returned the nod and turned around. I was really, really shocked. It was as if I were talking to a different person...

"Sephiroth!" I heard Ukyo cry. We both turned to her as she ran by my side and stood still. "Look..." she began. "...I just want to thank you, for what you did back there. I want to thank you, for saving Siegfried's live. He..." I could see she was really having trouble saying all of this. "Without your help, chances are he would be dead right now. I mean it... thanks."

"Whatever..." he muttered and turned away. Yet, after taking a few steps away from us, he stopped, took a deep breath, and answered: "You're welcome."

With a faint smile, Ukyo and I looked at each other and went to the steps we had been sitting on. But then, it was he who stopped us.

"Ukyo..." he muttered and stood beside us. "I have a question I wanted to ask you."

"Yes?" she said.

"What did that guy, Olaf, meant when he said I would've made a fine Assamite?"

"Oh..." Ukyo murmured, lowering her head. "It's a vampire clan. They're not well-liked, I'm afraid. They're expert assassins. And most of them kill just for the heck of it, just to test their strength, so to speak..." after a small pause, she promptly added: "They're respected, nonetheless. Otherwise, they wouldn't be considered a clan."

"I see. And have you met any of these vampires?"

"No, this is the first time I've met another vampire other than Wilheim. Although he did come across one... anyway, I don't want to talk about that."

"All right. Now, if you'll excuse me, I do need to rest a bit." He said and this time, he entered the hideout. Will, who was nearby and had witnessed the whole scene, looked at us and said in a soft voice:

"It is hard for me to believe this is the same Sephiroth we faced in Never Land. He is so changed..."

"Because he's powerless, that's why." I replied.

"I'm not so sure, Siegfried..." Ukyo muttered. "Anyway, let's not talk about that, right now. I think you should get some rest."

"Oh, no. Before that, I have to talk to Octavius."

"Oh..." she mumbled, lowering her head again. "Right. I had forgotten about him."

"You... didn't say anything to him, did you?" I asked.

"No, no, nothing of the sort. After all, it wasn't his fault." She scratched the back of her head and walked back and forth for nearly a minute without saying a word. Finally, she stopped and said: "I'll wait for you inside, okay? Octavius shouldn't be far from here. You go look for him. But get back soon, all right? Even though you're feeling well, you still need to rest. And that's not just me saying it – Will agrees with me. Right, Will?"

"Of course I do, and I do not say this to be in good terms with her." The dragon chuckled.

"Okay. I'll try not to take too long, then." I said, and left.

_(Change of scene)_

Octavius walked about the streets near the vampire hideout with his head aimed at the sky. The sun had already gone down and the only sources of illumination were the light posts that hadn't been broken during the brawl, and these weren't many. The expression on his face was the same as usual: serious with a touch of sadness and anger. Yet his eyes were now a bit different. They shone as if he was about to shed a tear, although this didn't happen.

I approached him quietly, still unsure if it was a good idea to talk to him or not. He was back to his former self, yes; but I still felt a chill run down my back as I imagined him as the fierce beast he had turned into last night. I could still feel the venom of his fangs running through my face, destroying my eye...

There was no use in torturing myself with these images. I quickly forced myself to remember that I was there to speak to a friend in pain. I can only imagine how guilty he felt after what had happened. I had to let him know there were no hard feelings. Taking a deep, determined breath, I went to his side at a steady, yet convinced pace.

"Hi." I said to him as gently and as friendly as I could.

He gave me a quick glance and then looked at the sky again with tortured eyes.

"Why do you force me to endure such an ordeal?" he asked. "No, do not answer that. You are right: I deserve to be in pain, for I have caused much myself."

"No, no... Listen Octavius, I don't come here to blame you for what happened..." I murmured.

"Then you are an idiot." He said, a bit of desperation in his voice. Some of my friends would say that it was miraculous to hear some emotion on his words other than anger. "If you do not hold me responsible for the loss of your eye, then you are a fool... Sephiroth and the others told me what happened. You should have killed me when you had the chance."

"Don't say that!" I cried, also in despair. "I know you feel terrible for what happened, Octavius, but it wasn't your fault. You have this curse cast upon you: that's a shame, but you're not the one to blame for that! I came here to forgive you for what happened: why can't you forgive yourself? What's more, there's nothing to forgive... And I didn't kill you because you're my friend. Friends don't go around killing each other!"

There was silence among us for a while. Octavius stopped his frantic walking and sat down in a pile of debris.

"It's okay..." I went on, now a bit more calmly. "Really, it wasn't your fault. You just became mad because you thought the Phantom had killed Felicia, right? There's nothing wrong with that. You were just concerned about a friend."

"Your words might hold true, yet they do not justify my actions, nor do they console me." He answered, bitterly.

"But..."

"You said so yourself, young Siegfried." He interrupted. "'Friends don't go around killing each other'. Why do you still think of me as a friend after what I did to you?"

"Friends also forgive each other." I said, shrugging my shoulders. "Besides, you weren't yourself at the moment."

"That is of no importance. That did not stop me from doing horrible things in the past."

"...What did you do?" I asked.

The were-bear took a deep breath and turned away from me. I went by his side and sat next to him, waiting for him to decide whether he was going to answer my question or not.

"When I was young..." he said, at last. "When I had already had cast this curse upon me, I returned home. I was eager to see my mother and my pets... My father was a brave Roman soldier who had fought many hard battles well and had earned money enough to afford many pets and servants. He had just died recently at the hands of a being whose name I do not wish to mention for the moment. Suffice to say that this bastard is the being I look for – I only wish to destroy him...

"He arrived at our house one day and locked up the servants and my mother and most of my pets. He taunted me by facing me with a hostage: my little dog; a lovely, dark little canine, she was, adorable and tender. That bastard... he beheaded her in front of me." He made a pause and closed his eyes. I could see that all those images were appearing on his mind and that he was struggling hard not to let them drive him mad. "At that time, my feelings were not as hidden as they are now. I went mad with anger – and the Rage of the Forests did its work. No longer knowing friend from foe, I attacked whoever was closest. The bastard had already gotten away. There was no enemy in the house. Only my servants, the rest of my pets, and my mother..."

"Oh, my God..." I muttered, shocked.

"I killed them all. When I regained reason, my mother was just a breath away from death. I held her between my arms in disbelief as she told me in a whisper: 'I forgive you, my dear boy'. And then she passed away..."

I could not think of what to say. I never thought Octavius life had been so tragic. And chances are there are still worse parts of which I have no knowledge.

"So you see, young Siegfried..." he said. "The Rage of the Forests has burnt on my veins more than once. It is a terrible curse. The only way to stop it is to be void of feelings... for if wrath strikes my heart, then it is too late. That is why I am no longer a reliable companion: I have made a terrible mistake. I care for you... for all of you."

"But there's nothing wrong with that." I hastily responded. "If you care about your friends, then it's even better. That way, you'll fight more fiercely to save their lives, and you'll be able to trust them with yours. You're not a bad man, Octavius... The only thing you have to do is to watch your temper. More important, you have to understand that this mission is dangerous... any of us could die at any moment. I understood that when I fought beside my friends against the Heartless in the desert. Yet I also know they'll do whatever they can to save me."

"Hmm. So you think that, if a friend cares for you, he will fight with more ferocity to save you?" he asked, laughing low and bitterly.

"I know so."

"There is, however, a problem with your theory. Sephiroth was the one who saved your life, remember?"

"And I also saved his, I think... I talked to him and... Let's just say that I consider him very professional."

"If you say so..." Octavius sighed, getting up. "So you are saying I am not a threat to you?"

"By all means, no." I said, rising to my feet as well. "And I bet that all of my friends think the same... And to be perfectly honest, I think you should tell Felicia how you feel about her."

"I beg your pardon?" he muttered.

"That's why you got so mad, isn't it?" I inquired. "You care about her, don't you?"

"Yes, I told you I care for all of you, unfortunately, perhaps."

"No, no, that's not what I meant..."

"For God's sake, man, I am endangering you all by traveling by your side. I cannot let such a feeling invade my heart... It could very well be the worse thing I could do."

"I know why you think it's dangerous to have feelings, Octavius, but no man can be void of them. You have to let them into your heart, or you'll go mad. Perhaps you think that by being so dry and serious all the time you are keeping the door to you heart closed to them. In fact, you're just opening a window for desolation and frustration. Better to let some other feelings in. If you keep on going like this, you might even turn into a Heartless yourself."

The were-bear gave no answer. He only looked away and let out a sigh, his head directed to the clock tower as its bells tolled six o' clock. When all became quiet again, he looked at me and announced: "I am going back to the vampires' hiding place. I shall meet you there."

"I thought you didn't want to go inside anymore." I muttered, disappointed. It was as my words had gone into one ear and exited from the other.

"Yes, but, strangely enough, I do not think these vampires are like most of the ones I have met before. They remind me of a friend of mine. Perhaps not in behavior... yet they are not evil. By all means." He said. I could see he was about to make his way to our refuge, but something stopped him. He took a deep breath, turned to me, and said, with sincere gratitude yet with dryness in his voice: "Thank you, Siegfried."

"...You're welcome!" I answered late, a bit surprised by his words. Nevertheless, he had already gone. I had taken to long to answer him. At least there is hope. I thought.

I let out a long yawn. I was still pretty weak. I needed to rest a little longer, like most of my friends had suggested. There was still much fighting to be done, I deemed. All I could do was to relax a bit before our next raid on the Heartless. With any luck, their stronger minions had been already taken care of. I was not in the mood to face another Phantom that would piss off Octavius enough to trigger the Rage of the Forests.

It was no use worrying about that now. Besides, I was a little dizzy. I suppose I had just begun to experience the effects of the loss of my eye. I opened it widely and waved my hands in front of it. Nothing. Only darkness. Well, it was useless to cry about it again. What was done was done. I gave one last glance to the clear, now starry sky, and then headed to the vampire's hiding place. Once there, they provided me with a room in which I slept in peacefully.

_(Change of scene)_

It was night by the time I got up. I was feeling much better now. A little dizzy, still, but nothing terrible. As I looked about my room, I noticed someone else was with me. It was Sora, who was sleeping on a chair. He looked rather exhausted... Doing my best not to rouse him, I snuck out of the bed and headed towards the exit. However, the wood of the floor was a bit old and suddenly cracked loudly under my feet. The boy promptly opened his eyes and gripped his sword in alarm, only to relax again when he noticed it was I who had made the racket.

"Sorry I woke you up..." I said.

"It's okay, Siegfried." He replied, yawning. "You woke me up just at the right moment. We'll be leaving soon, anyway."

"Soon?" I asked. "I thought we would be leaving at daylight."

"That's not the best thing to do with a vampire around." He replied. His answer puzzled me and it showed upon my face. "Oh, right, you haven't heard. Adrian is coming with us."

"Adrian is joining?" I asked, with a smile. "That's good!"

"I know. The elders said he should come with us, while the rest of them stayed behind and looked over the city. Adrian didn't seem to like it at first. 'That's right, always bossing Adrian around! Always telling him what to do!' he said. 'Oh, well, but since I'm such a nice person, I guess I'll play along. I'll go, then. But no more "We should do something to screw Adrian up", okay?' That guy truly can't be serious."

"I know. Even the story about how he got his scar is funny... Although I didn't mean to laugh at him when he told it to me."

"I understand." Sora chuckled along with me. "I had a hard time not to laugh when his friend started to strike the air like mad and he got in the way trying to calm him down and to instruct him on how to fight."

"Ye—what?" I muttered. "What are you talking about?"

"The wolves." He tried to explain. "Remember? Three wolves came to his village, he and some other guy tried to stop them, his friend panics and starts to swing his weapon right to left, Adrian tries to calm him down, gets cut, and they both start arguing, forgetting about the wolves, which sort of got bored and ran away..."

"...Did you just make that up?" I asked, still confused by his words.

"No, that's the way he got his scar. I thought he had told you."

"He told me a squirrel had done it."

"A squirrel!" Sora cried with a big laugh. "You're the one who's making up things!"

"No, no, it was a squirrel! And he was a lumberjack!" I insisted.

"Maybe you dreamt that."

"Maybe you did."

Before we could continue the discussion, Ryu knocked on the door to our room and let himself in. Seeing us standing in front of each other, a little exasperation in both our faces, he felt compelled to ask: "What's going on?"

"Nothing, it's just Siegfried and I can't seem to agree on something." Sora stated.

"What do you mean?" the fighter questioned.

"He claims that Adrian got his scar because of a clumsy friend when both of them were trying to fight off three wolves." I answered. "When in fact he told me a squirrel bit him across the face."

"...I thought he had gotten it from an angry girlfriend of his." Ryu muttered, confusion in his eyes as he closed the door behind him.

"What?" Sora and I blurted.

We all looked at each other, not knowing what to say. What had gone wrong? It was impossible that the three of us were wrong... For my part, I wasn't playing a prank, and by the look in their faces, I was most certain they weren't joking either. Not much time passed before we all came to the conclusion that it was easier that one single person played a joke on three.

"I don't think he was telling the truth..." Sora murmured.

"I don't believe: I'm sure." I said.

At that moment, Jon Talbain opened the door to our room and also came inside.

"You should hurry up, fellows." He said. "Your other companions are almost ready to leave."

"Huh? You're not coming with us?" asked Ryu.

"Oh, no. I should probably stay behind and help the vampires watch over the city." The were-wolf replied.

"Are you sure?" asked Sora, raising an eyebrow. "You can come if you want to. There's plenty of space... Okay, maybe there isn't. But you'll be more than welcome, either way."

"I know, my friend, but I must decline." Jon answered. "Don't be worried about me: I trust that the truce between the vampires and I will last for a long time. I have spoken with one of their leaders – Olaf, and he has told me that, for now, I can consider myself as their ally. They will not harm me while I'm here, and I think that they won't attempt to seek me and destroy me when the war is over. Nevertheless, I also have the certainty that they will not try to make friends with those of my kind because of this little episode."

"...If you say so. Either way, it would've been nice to have you with us."

"I know. I do, however, have a favor to ask you."

"You want us to take special care of Felicia, don't you?" I guessed.

"Indeed." The were-wolf smiled. "Although I am sure that Octavius will be more than happy to do this."

"...You're not... upset about... you know...?" I asked.

"Oh, a gentleman doesn't discuss such things." Jon laughed, locking the door behind him. "Now look what you have done. I must change the subject, by all means. What were you fellows speaking about before I interrupted you?"

Respecting his wishes, I shook my head and replied, with a grin:

"We were speaking about Adrian's scar story. He told me that he had gotten it from a mad squirrel: Sora tells me he said to him that a clumsy friend of his cut him when they were fighting off three wolves, and now Ryu claims that an angry girlfriend of him scratched him, or something..."

Jon Talbain looked at all of us with wild puzzlement in his eyes for a few moments before replying in a murmur: "I thought he was a knife-juggler."

"A knife-juggler!" we all cried. Another moment of silence, and then we were all unable to contain our laughter.

"I can't believe him!" Sora exclaimed. "Four different stories! He is sure one hell of a liar! Even though the story was unreal, I surely believed him when he said it!"

"Guys, we're about to leave, come on!" unexpectedly called the crazy vampire as he opened the door, nearly knocking Jon to the ground as he did. "Sorry... We're nearly out of here."

"Hold on a second." I said. "Before that, we want to know how you got that scar of yours: the REAL story."

"I already told you, didn't I?" he said. "I think I told the tale to the four of you."

"You said to me it had been a girlfriend of yours who got mad at you and practically scratched you across the face." Ryu said.

"That's correct." The vampire answered.

"Yeah, but you told me it had been your friend, with the wolves, and all." Sora intervened.

"Yeah, that's right." Adrian replied, pretty convinced of himself.

"And the squirrel?" I asked, without giving any more details, hoping that he would answer something like 'What squirrel?' But no.

"Yeah, I know. It was pretty tragic."

"Weren't you a knife-juggler?" Jon added. I nearly burst out in laughter. Although the were-wolf never went into detail, I am sure the story was hilarious.

"Yes, I was."

"Okay, is either of these stories true?" asked Sora.

"Of course. They're all true." Adrian replied, to our surprise. "But then again, they could all be lies. Think whatever you may."

"...WHAT?" we all blurted out at the same time, and then Sora inquired: "So we could assume that a maddened squirrel who was your girlfriend and was helping you fight off a pack of wolves threw a knife at you so you could juggle it and cut your face by accident?"

"Okay, okay, I give." The vampire said, locking the door behind him. Again, we were isolated from the rest of our companions. I suppose he didn't want anyone else to listen to his madness... "I'll tell you what happened for real.

"When I was a human, I was the best there was in the house-changing business. Everyone who left their old house and went to a new one gave me a call so I could help them with their furniture. Yeah, I've always been strong... Either way, this one time, I was in this big house which had stairs in it. They said I had to take a huge mirror to the upper floor. And when I say huge, I mean it. If you could've seen that thing, you would've started to shake in your boots. But I decided there wasn't anything too big or heavy for me to handle. Big mistake.

"Actually, it wasn't my fault. I was on my own and no one even offered to lend a hand. I was doing really well until I got to the final steps. Some kid had already left a toy there... I slipped. The mirror broke into a thousand pieces and one of them got in here." He pointed at his scar... "It hurt pretty much, I can tell you that. And you know what the worse part was? They made me pay the stupid mirror! On top of things! Unbelievable, don't you think? Damn! I get mad just by thinking about it! Stupid kid! Stupid Mrs. Cadbury! Damn them!" and then, genuinely angry, he left us alone.

I wish you could've seen our faces. All of us stared at the place where he had been just seconds ago, speechless, our mouths and eyes opened widely, our bodies motionless. I suppose we all didn't know whether to curse him for being such a clown or praise him for his... originality.

"...I'm... I'm at a loss of words." Jon finally muttered.

"Oh, God!" Sora finally exclaimed and was twisted by laughter. He nearly fell to the ground, but held on to me to avoid this. "What in the world was that?"

"I have no idea..." I stuttered, between chuckles.

"My friends, we are late!" Demean suddenly cried. "We must go now, before sunrise!"

"I didn't know it was so late..." I mumbled. "Okay, enough laughs, guys. Let's go."

"Then make haste. I'll stay behind." Jon said. "I hope we meet again some other time. If that happens, I would appreciate it if you would tell me how he really got that scar. Or at least, I would like to hear another crazy story of the sort."

"We'll do what we can." Ryu assured, shaking the were-wolf's hand. "Take care of yourself, Jon."

"You too, Ryu. Good-bye. Good-bye, Sora, and Siegfried. I hope everything goes well."

"All right. We shall see you later, I hope." I said, exiting the room.

"See you, Jon." Added Sora, following Ryu and I.

I quickly said good-bye to all of the vampires. I surely was going to miss them. I told all of them that I hoped to see them again. Especially, I was a bit sad to say farewell to Rofell, Olaf, Thor, and Gustav. I was also going to miss Lucrecia... mainly because she was so beautiful and tender.

"Take care of yourself, my dear boy." The great Gangrel said. "And take care of your friends as well. Remember, you are more worthy than you might think."

"Do not forget what I taught you." Added Thor, patting my shoulder. "I wish we could have had more time together. Oh, well... perhaps when the war is over I will take you under my wing for another while."

"You will do just fine, my friend." Rofell declared. "I am sure you will make us proud."

"Go, good Siegfried." Gustav said. "And bring swift wrath to the darkness that lurks the worlds."

"I will t... I will." I assured, doing my best to be confident. "I'll see you then!"

"Good-bye, Will; good-bye, Peter." Merryck said to them as he shook their hands with a smile. "Keep guarding the world as you have thus far. I doubt you will have much more trouble."

"Let us hope you are right, my dear hobbit." The dragon replied. "I will pray for the safety of your journey."

"Take good care of yourself, Merryck." Added Peter. "And hold on to your happy thought, okay?"

"I will never let go, my friend!" Merryck assured, his smile growing bigger.

"Good-bye, vampires! Thank you for everything!" Ukyo exclaimed as she waved at the undead from our ship as it began to take off. "We'll see you again!" And so we were off.

Adrian went on Vincent's ship. That meant that, as long as he wasn't near, I had the perfect opportunity to speak with the person that surely at least had an idea of what happened to him.

"Hey, Demean..." I greeted, approaching the elf and the fairy.

"Hello, Siegfried." Answered Demean, with a smile. "It seems you are feeling better already."

"Oh, yes... I think I'll be able to handle it. It's bad, but it's not fatal, I guess."

"That is the spirit!" cheered Tish. "Do not worry; we will help you in any way we can."

"I know you will... thank you." I paused briefly and then asked: "So how long have you known Adrian?"

"For a very long time, actually." Demean replied. "We knew him before he became a vampire."

"Is that so? Then you wouldn't happen to know how he got that scar, wouldn't you?"

"You should ask him." Tish said. "I am sure he will tell you straight away." As I saw her and the elf, I noticed their smile had changed. It seemed to me that they could burst out in laughter at any moment. No doubt they already knew.

"Yeah, right." I mumbled. "And what do you think he would say this time?"

"Ah, I see you have already asked him, have you not?" Demean chuckled. "Well, what did he tell you?"

"I wasn't the only one." I answered and took a deep breath as I started to explain for the nth time. "He told me he got bitten by a squirrel; he told Sora that a friend of his had cut him during a fight with some wolves; he told Ryu a girlfriend of his had scratched him because she was angry at him, and he told Jon Talbain that he was a knife-juggler."

"A knife-juggler!" both of them cried and burst out in laughter. I merely shook my head and smiled silently as they knocked themselves out. "That is unbelievable!" he said, at last. "I do not think I have ever heard those stories before!"

"No, no, I think I remember the one of the angry girlfriend." Tish intervened. "I believe he had already told that one. Nevertheless, the others are new. I cannot believe how creative that vampire is. It seems to me that, over the years, he does not run out of ideas."

"So this isn't new?" I asked.

"By God, no!" said Demean. "He has been like this since I know him, I believe. He can tell all sorts of stories. He has only to think of a job found in his time and he can come up with a crazy tale. A detective, for example..."

"Or a mailman." Added the fairy.

"A baker, perhaps."

"A farmer."

"I also remember one where he was a carpenter."

"Let us not forget about the one where he was a watercolorist."

"Oh, that was a good one! But among his best is the one of the engineer..."

"I agree."

"Whoa! So... the list goes on?" I asked, stopping them.

"You have no idea." The fairy said. "He rarely tells a story more than once."

"...He really is nuts, isn't he?"

"Absolutely." Demean laughed. "But he is a good friend, and a superb fighter. I do not doubt he will aid us much in our quest."

"Yeah, I'm sure about it too, but..." I muttered, not really on the mood of changing the subject. "Do you know how he got it? I mean, for real..."

"Yes, we do." Tish said. She still smiled, yet her voice had turned serious.

"...And?" I pressed.

"I believe that if Adrian tells all of those stories, there must be a reason." Demean said. "Perhaps it would be best if you heard it from his own mouth."

"Uh-huh." I murmured, with a sigh of disappointment. "And don't you think he'll just keep coming up with silly tales?"

"Maybe, maybe not." The fairy said. "If you truly want to know, you will need to be patient. He does not tell people the real story of his scar so easily. Yet some people know how it happened, because he has told them."

"Were you among those people?"

"Not really." The elf responded. "For we witnessed how he got it in the first place. Yet let us not speak about it for the moment. In fact, I believe, Siegfried, that you could use a bit more training. We must, at least, train your new sight. What say you?"

"...Okay, I guess." I said, unable to hide the curiosity I had in Adrian's cursed scar.

I believe Demean and Tish were the only ones in the group that knew how he had been wounded. Perhaps some of the other vampires knew, yet I am not sure. One thing is certain, though: to this day, I only know a lot more of his crazy stories: I haven't got even a clue of how it really happened...


	39. Chapter 38: The Last Keyhole

Hi again, guys. Again, I have two news: one good and one bad.

The bad news first, as always: I'm back at the University. Again, not that I don't like it, but it doesn't give me time to write...

The good news. This semester, although far from being a piece of cake, is a LOT better than the last in terms of the hours I spend there. My teachers are also much more flexible... I've regained freedom on Friday evenings and, most importantly, on Saturdays! That's the reason I'm posting this new chapter now and not in December. With any luck, I'll manage to post another one before said month, although I must warn you: the last two chapters are going to be pretty long, I think.

Well, that's about it for now. As a final note, this chapter is mostly a present for my friend Adrian, who turned 22 on August 25th. Sorry for the delay! Hope you enjoy it. Hope you all do. :)

See you later!

_Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Last Keyhole_

_Narrator: Adrian_

Oh, I don't believe this! You've come here to hear how I got my scar, haven't you? I thought so. I don't know why I've become so popular lately. It's just a scar, for crying out loud. I bet you can get one as well. But no! Adrian's scar is much more interesting because he's a vampire, and vampires aren't supposed to have scars because they can regenerate! So, why the heck does he have one, anyways?

Oh, well. I guess I can tell you. No more complaining, I promise. I'll stop whining now. I suppose it can be a bit interesting. Either way, the story isn't so long and it's a bit weird...

It all started back when I used to be a mailman. I was carrying this really heavy sack of letters across town to deliver them. I really felt like a crane: the sack weighed a lot. It was a really cold day – so cold that it was snowing. This didn't help me much, because I had to struggle through the snow and believe me, that's no piece of cake. Anyway, the thing is, I was so tired, that I didn't see this little pond of frozen water right in front of me. I stepped on it and down I go.

What? Do you think I got the scar because of the fall? No, that's not how it happened. You see, I was walking near a fence and my sack got stuck in it. When I fell down and pulled it, I tore it by accident, and all of the letters flew out of it. They all fell all over me, but there was one specific one – I don't have the least idea of what the hell was inside it – that fell right in my nose and... Well, there you go. I got fired that very same afternoon. As if the stupid letter in my nose hadn't been enough. I get mad just remembering it.

Say that again? You don't believe me? Oh, well. It's your loss, because I'm telling you: that REALLY happened. Why would I lie?

Well, I suppose that's not really the point of the story, is it? I can talk about how I got my scar any day, but I guess it's not ordinary to be in the company of so many beings from different races on a mission to save the world... excuse me – worlds. Yep: it turns out our little Earth wasn't the only world out there. But I suppose you already knew that.

Actually, I'm sure you know a lot of things by now. Suffice to say, I think, that we were now getting ready to go to a place these guys had already visited. It was called Hollow Bastion. They kept talking about this keyhole that needed to be closed and in order to do that, they had to lock some other keyholes first, so that the evil in there would lose power. I wouldn't have minded. I could've gone there and beat all of the Heartless by myself, without even breaking a sweat. The rest of the guys, however, thought it would be a better idea to weaken the monsters by doing all of this.

Oh, well. Fine by me. I was willing to help them either way.

The situation was as follows: I was traveling on a ship that was being piloted by this dark guy, Vincent. He wasn't much of a talker – nor was the were-bear that came with us. I know I tend to be a clown from time to time, but at that moment, I couldn't afford the luxury to be the ship's fool – too much. I was a bit concerned about Octavius: he hadn't been precisely friendly with us. I'm almost sure that he hadn't attacked us because his friends would've stopped him (mainly Ukyo, I should think) and because we were so many. But now I was by myself and the girl holding Renamark was on another ship. I had to be wary of the were-bear. True, he never attacked me or even looked at me in a way that announced that he was going to attack me, yet I sometimes tend to be a little too careful. Call it pessimistic if you will – I call it realistic. After all, he did make a nasty remark or two about my race. I won't say what; I don't think it's worth it.

Thankfully, we didn't stay within the ship for long. After only a mere day, we disembarked on a world that seemed to be a part of an African jungle. Not much time passed before I learned that we indeed stood in a fragment of that continent. Vincent was the one who told me this; one of the few times he spoke to me, actually.

"I've been here before." He said. "This was where Felicia, Tish, Sakura, Morrigan, and I met Tarzan. I do hope he's safe and sound."

"Tarzan?" I asked. "So, what is he? A researcher? A hunter? A naturalist? I can't think of any other sort of people that could be found in this place."

"Actually, he was a member of a group of gorillas." He replied. "I believe they found him when he was a baby and raised him as one of their own. In fact, he didn't speak very much English when we met him: I only got to fully understand his words when Lady Gabrielle gifted me with the ability to comprehend the language of the apes."

"I should've thought of that." I said. "A man raised by apes... Perfectly normal. All right, then; let's go find him."

Even though it was nighttime, it was horribly hot. I had to take my jacket off and tie it to my waist. I don't like taking my jacket off. I use it to keep some weapons out of my opponents' sight. I used to carry a shotgun, but I like the little sword better now. It's really fun when an enemy approaches me from the front and then, SHAZAM! Out comes the blade.

Oh, I'm digressing again, right? Sorry about that.

Well, we found the man Vincent mentioned along with a couple of gorillas and a British girl. They seemed really happy to see Vincent and the others again and were delighted to meet the rest of us... Don't you just love that word? 'Delighted'. 'Oh, I'm delighted to meet you, fine sir.' 'Oh, I'm delighted too! Jolly good!'

Okay, I'm stopping now, I swear.

"Delighted to meet you all." The woman, Jane, said, and I'm not making that up.

"We are pleased to meet you as well, Miss Jane." Demean answered. "Tish told me about your perilous experience with the Heartless. I am glad that you are all well. I trust they have not come back..."

"Oh, they have." She said. "But luckily, Tarzan has kept them at bay; right, Tarzan?"

"They not as many as before." Tarzan added in a guttural voice.

"I see your English has gotten much better." Felicia pointed out, with a smile. "You've been practicing much, haven't you?"

"Yes." He replied. "I found something strange near waterfall. A tree with a strange hole in it."

"Tarzan showed me this a few days ago." Jane said. "The hole he speaks about has the form of a keyhole."

"A keyhole, eh?" Sora mused, a cocky smile spreading on his lips. "Are there Heartless about this keyhole?"

"Yes, but not many. Tarzan and some of his friends have beaten most of them."

"That's good to hear." Sora added. "Don't worry guys. It'll all be over soon enough. Can you take us to this place, Tarzan?"

"Yes. Follow me." The man said and exited the camp we had arrived to. We went after him as he crossed the jungle and headed for a waterfall nearby.

In its entrails, aside from a more than welcome cool air, we found, at the top of the rocky cliffs hidden behind the veil of water, the tree Tarzan had talked about. There were hardly any Heartless. Those that dared attack us were literally squashed. Too bad there were so few of them... I was kind of hoping for a better challenge. Anyway, that wasn't the reason we were there for.

The tree had many blue butterflies surrounding one of its sides. It was very strange, to see so many butterflies so late at night. Tarzan gently drove them away and as they fled, they uncovered the keyhole the wild man had spoken of. With a triumphant glance, Sora approached it, spun his Keyblade in midair and then aimed its tip at it; a beam of light went through the hole and made it vanish.

"Done!" he said. "Thanks for showing us the way, Tarzan."

"No problem." The man replied.

"So what do we do now, guys?" asked Sakura. "The way I see it, we've practically locked all of the keyholes of the worlds we have been in. That should mean that the army of Heartless in Hollow Bastion must be pretty weak by now, don't you think?"

"That's possible." Leon said, thoughtful. "Although I'm not sure if we should try to find some more worlds to lock their keyholes and weaken the Heartless even more."

"I really don't think that will be necessary." Sephiroth intervened.

"How come?" asked Ken."

"I'm not feeling so well..." the warrior replied. As we studied him more carefully, we noticed that his eyes revealed weakness as well as his posture. It was as if an enormous, invisible rock had fallen on his back. "Damn it... This always happens when you guys lock a keyhole... But never had it been so strong..."

"That's interesting..." Cloud mused. He kept silent for a few moments and then declared: "I think we should go to Hollow Bastion and see how things are around there. If we're lucky enough, we'll be able to go inside and to lock that keyhole once and for all."

"I'm not so sure about that, Cloud." Cid retorted. "If we just go there to check things out, we might be attacked by a whole army of those things, and then, it's 'good-bye cruel world'. No; I say we go and visit more worlds before going back to Hollow Bastion."

"But we are running out of time, Cid." Dante intervened. "True, that might weaken the Heartless more, yet we're also giving Ansem a chance to find out another way to gain strength. Let's attack right now, before things change for the worse."

"I agree with Dante and Cloud." I announced. "Let's get to Hollow Bastion straight away."

"Oh, and I suppose you could take on a whole army of Heartless if it comes to it, huh?" Cid grumbled.

"Are you kidding me? Who do you think you're talking to? Of course I can take them. You can even blindfold me if you want. Never fear; Adrian is here."

He remained silent for a few instants and then, he did something I didn't quite expect from him: he smiled and shook his head.

"A-ha!" I hastily cried, pointing at him. "So you do have a sense of humor after all!"

"Whose idea was it to bring him along?" he asked, with a chuckle. I'm telling you: none can withstand the might of Adrian.

"They're right." Donald added. "Let's go to Hollow Bastion and kick some Heartless butt."

"Do you think that's what we should do, Sora?" asked Goofy.

"Let's just take a different way to get there." He suggested. "That way, we might be able to sneak by the Heartless ships without being noticed."

"Sora... do you think Riku will be there?" asked Kairi in a low voice.

"I... I really don't know." He confessed. "But even if he isn't, we'll find him for sure, right?"

"Right." The girl said, nodding her head. "Thank God you're always so positive."

"At least a few of us have to be. Don't you agree, Adrian?"

"Speak for yourself. I tend to be rather pessimistic." I answered.

"Really? I thought you said you could destroy all of the Heartless by yourself." Tifa said with a smile.

"Did I say pessimistic? I'm sorry, I meant realistic."

"And to think that there was a time in which I considered Felicia to be the group's clown." Ryoga muttered, with a low chuckle.

"Hey!" exclaimed the cat-woman. "That's not a very nice thing to say! That sounded like something that would've come out of the Heartless' radar's mouth!"

"I-AM-NOT-A-RADAR!" Sephiroth roared, exasperated.

"Oh, it seems you've regained your strength, already!" exclaimed Felicia, cheerfully.

"You can sometimes be quite infuriating, Felicia." Octavius muttered.

"What? You keep yourself out of this, mister, if you know what's good for you!"

"Whoa... Look at all the mayhem I create by just being here." I said. "Very soon I'll have control over them all... Mwa ha ha ha ha!"

"Guys, please! Let's focus on the bigger picture here!" Aeris cried, as Octavius, Felicia, and Sephiroth had started to discuss between each other. "Hollow Bastion, right? Sora says we should take a different route from the one we took last time: I agree with him. And I suggest we get moving right away."

"Well said, Miss Aeris." Merryck added. He walked to Tarzan and murmured in an apologetic voice: "I'm sorry you've witness this show, dear sir. I pray you forgive my friends'... How should I call it...? Madness." He was so proper in the way he spoke... I had a hard time trying not to laugh as I heard him talk.

"Not worry." Tarzan replied, smiling. It was so funny to see those two talking to each other... they were total opposites.

_(Change of scene)_

We bid Tarzan, Jane, and the unseen gorillas farewell before the sun rose over the sky of the jungle. Even though Adrian can take on entire armies with just a dagger and a frying pan as weapons, he can't do much when the sun's out. Being called 'mister crispy' isn't exactly his idea of fun... No, I can't take on the sun. What, you thought I was invincible? You must be crazy, then.

Well, never mind about that. The thing is that, after Sora's words, everyone decided to follow his advice: Hollow Bastion, wherever that place was, turned out to be our next destination. I was traveling along with Felicia, Octavius, Ryoga, Ranma, Akane, and Sakura. During our trip, we didn't talk much. Everyone was sort of tense. When I asked one of the guys, Ryoga, why was everyone so edgy, he explained to me that Hollow Bastion was the place where they had lost Sora and Wilheim. Sora had returned thanks to his Keyblade, apparently, but Wilheim hadn't been so lucky. Rumor had it that we could still bring him back... I could only hope it was true. I was really looking forward to meet him.

Anyway, things didn't turn out to be as awkward as I first thought they would. This was mainly due to a comment Felicia made, which started a very important conversation between us all.

"You know, I was thinking..." the cat-woman said. "Since we've met people from ancient Greek mythology, wouldn't it be nice if there was a world in which we could meet comic books' superheroes?"

"Excuse me?" Sakura blurted, and then let out a loud laugh. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, why not?" Felicia went on. "I mean, wouldn't it be cool if we just landed on a world and have Superman greet us?"

"Superman?" I intervened. Someone had to stop this madness. "No, please don't tell me you actually like that blue Boy Scout!"

"Huh? I didn't think a vampire would know about superheroes..." Akane muttered. "On the other hand, we're talking about Adrian..."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked as Akane put her hands on her mouth and giggled.

"Never mind that; how can you not like Superman?" Felicia questioned.

"Please! I can't stand him!" I answered. "He's so ridiculously powerful! Nothing can harm him! Only kryptonite can damage him, and it's not like you can get into a pharmacy saying 'I'd like two ounces of kryptonite, please.' 'Why, certainly. We're having a sale, so I'll let you have that for fifty cents.'"

"That's precisely why he's the best."

"No way! Where's the fun in that? Besides, he thinks himself the father of humanity. Plus, even though he's really strong, there are still other superheroes who can take on him."

"Yeah, right. Name one." She demanded.

"Thor." I hastily replied. "Thor can kick his butt without even making an effort."

"That guy's a god. What did you expect?"

"He's still a superhero."

"...Okay, name another one who ISN'T a god." She said.

"Captain Marvel can put up quite a good fight, even though he's even more of a Boy Scout than him."

"Captain Marvel?" asked Ranma. "Who the hell is that?"

"SHAZAM!" I yelled.

"That's the one." Felicia said. "He's a boy that, when he says that word, he turns into this really tough superhero. He gets his powers from the gods, or something... Either way, he's strong, but he doesn't have heat vision or cold breath..." She added, turning to me. "Or X-Ray vision."

"First of all, that X-Ray vision thing is just plain stupid." I retorted. "Superman can't possibly have 'X-Ray' vision. If it would truly be an X-Ray vision, then he wouldn't be able to see a thing."

"What do you mean?" Akane asked.

"It's just that everything we see is in the frequency of light. The X-Ray frequency is completely different from that of light. So that means he doesn't see in the same frequency – therefore, some one with X-Ray vision is literally blind." I explained them... and I swear on my life, this time I wasn't joking. "I know it's fantasy stuff and all, so that probably is a bit off the point... I just thought you guys should know. It's not a proper name for that power."

"That's interesting." Ryoga murmured.

"Anyway, point number two: Superman gets his power from the sun. Captain Marvel doesn't need the sun to get his powers. His strength is magical. That's a lot better." I countered.

"Whatever you say, Superman is the best." Felicia insisted. "Tell me then, wise guy, who's your favorite superhero? You obviously know a lot about the matter, so tell us already."

"Actually, I sort of have two." I said. "I like both J'onn J'onzzand Batman a lot. And both of them could beat Superman any day of the week, by the way."

"What?" she blurted. "Okay: J'onn J'onzz could possibly defeat Superman if he were having a bad day... But Batman? Don't give me that. He's an ordinary man (well, a crazy, ordinary, rich man) with plenty of gadgets, for crying out loud!"

"Brain over brawn. It's that simple." I said. "That guy can afford to buy kryptonite. And if he can't buy it, then he can get it on his own."

"Uh-huh. Whatever." She scoffed. "What do the rest of you guys make out of this? Do you really think Batman could beat Superman?"

"Don't ask me. I'm not a fan of either of those guys." Sakura said. "I actually like Spidey more than any other."

"Spidey?" Ranma and Akane exclaimed, with smiles on their faces.

"That's the way we fans call him." The girl added, smiling. "Spiderman."

"I know who he is, but it sounds so cheesy when you say it like that!" Ranma laughed.

"Oh, buzz off!"

"Spiderman's okay." I murmured.

"Do you like him because Ryu likes him?" asked Felicia, playfully. She then eyed Ryoga and, sticking her tongue out, said: "I'm just teasing, kiddo!"

"Okay, okay..." the boy said, chuckling.

"Not really." Sakura answered. "Actually, I think Ryu's favorite superhero is Cyclops."

"From the X-Men?" Akane asked.

"No, no, no!" I wailed. "I can't believe it! I'm surrounded by Boy Scouts!"

"Come on! What's wrong with Cyclops?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, never mind..." I sighed.

"I suppose Ken likes Cyclops too, right?" Ryoga guessed.

"Nope: Ken's a Gambit fan." She replied. "What about you, Ryoga? Who's your favorite superhero?"

"Huh? Wow... I haven't thought about that before." He said, thoughtfully. He remained silent, pondering about it for a moment, and then answered: "I don't know... The Thing?"

"The Thing? How come?"

"I sort of got identified with him... You know, he has a hard time finding a girlfriend and all because of the way he looks..."

"Oh, but you're not a freak!" Sakura giggled, kissing him playfully on the cheek. "You're so very cute!"

"Thanks, Sakura."

"How about you, guys?" Felicia asked Ranma and Akane.

"I have to say Wolverine." Ranma declared.

"Nice." I said.

"...Rogue, I think." Akane added.

"Nice choices." Felicia said. Then she turned to Octavius, who, up until that moment, had only minded the ship's controls. "What about you, muscles? Who's your favorite superhero?"

The were-bear slowly turned to face her and replied:

"You must be joking if you think I am going to engage in such a foolish conversation."

"Damn it, Octavius!" she exclaimed. "I won't allow you to be a party-pooper for the remainder of our journey! Now tell us who your favorite superhero is!"

I could see the were-bear didn't really want to reply. If anyone else had asked him, he'd probably hit him in the face. But for Felicia, people said he sort of had a soft spot. Of course I believed the rumors: after all, when she fell to the Phantom, Octavius had gotten really pissed off and had triggered the Rage of the Forests within him... Nevertheless, he tried to crawl his way out of our chat one last time.

"I do not read comic books." He said.

"But you are aware that there are things called comic books..." Felicia insisted. "And that superheroes appear on them. You've wandered the world for what? Two thousand years? And you're telling me that you don't even know one superhero? I'm not believing that! For once try to be a little more cheerful than the Heartless Radar! I even think he's even beginning to become a little less bitter than you."

"Then I must commend him."

"You have three seconds!"

"Dear Lord..." he sighed. "If it is enough to silence you, then I shall talk."

"That's not precisely the reply what I had in mind, but go on."

"I suppose I lean towards Batman as well." He admitted, at last.

"There you go! Was that so hard?" Felicia meowed.

"No. Now let me pilot the ship at peace." He muttered.

"You know, I always sort of thought you'd be a Hulk fan." Felicia went on, without minding his words. "Seeing how huge you are and the fact that you like brute strength..."

"Must I beg?" he asked, surprisingly, exasperated.

"I love getting on your nerves!" Felicia laughed along with the rest of us. Octavius merely shook his head and kept quiet. Only a frustrated sigh escaped his lips after a few moments.

"You know, Akane is right." Ranma said. "To see a vampire who's interested in all this superhero stuff is quite interesting, you know. I thought Wilheim was the only 'young' vampire."

"Being young is nice." I replied. "I have all the time of the world. That's why I'm in no real hurry for becoming bitter and sick of life. One has to enjoy it. I enjoy it being the way I am. There's nothing else to it. And regarding your other statement, you'd be surprised... Even Demean and Tish would have a saying on this conversation."

"Really? Who do they like?" asked Akane.

"Demean, like Sakura, is also a Spiderman fan."

"He's always been a wise elf." Sakura giggled.

"Tish, strangely enough, has two favorites: Batman and Wolverine."

"That is strange." Akane said. "I never thought Tish would've liked those sorts of characters..."

"Like I said, you'd be surprised." I added.

"I really do hate to interrupt your incredibly fascinating conversation, but we are almost there." Octavius interrupted all of a sudden. That was quick... "Look at that. It seems the boy was right, after all."

We all shut up and went next to Octavius. Our friends' ships were by our side and remained in the void of space silently and without moving. The world's atmosphere was riddled with Heartless ships. Yet there was a small breach of their defenses in the back. Looking at each other, we realized we would have to follow Sora's advice and circle the planet without being noticed. The ships lurked over the world like a swarm of bees: one could hardly see where we were going.

"There are plenty of asteroids for us to hide." Suddenly said Dante into the radio. "We have to move slowly and, preferably, one by one. That way, it'll be easier for us to evade the Heartless. If we move as a group, we'll be discovered for sure."

"Let's hope your plan works, kid; because if it doesn't, there'll be nothing left of us." Leon answered.

"Let's just do it carefully and silently and it should all be fine." Assured Sora.

"We'll, come on!" I urged. "We don't have all night! Assuming it is night in there, that is..."

"We will have to wait for the moon to rise if that is not the case." Morrigan said. "We will need all the help we can get."

And with that said, one by one, we snuck behind the asteroids about, past the Heartless and landed on Hollow Bastion's castle's rear. Shame... The conversation was turning out to be quite soothing and interesting. Up until that moment, that has been the last conversation of mundane matters I've had.

_(Change of scene)_

"The place is riddled with Heartless." Sephiroth said in a low voice as we all looked at the tall, immense castle. "The castle's stench is nearly unbearable... There must be thousands of them inside."

"Can you smell any strong presences?" asked Ryu.

"It's difficult to say." The man replied. "There are too many of them: I can't tell one from the other apart. But by the look of things, I wouldn't be surprised if there was one incredibly powerful Heartless. You've encountered one in most of the worlds, haven't you? I presume it's accurate to think that there is one of those terrible bastards inside."

"I suppose he's right about that." Cloud muttered. "What do you suppose we should do? Stick together? Or travel by groups?"

"I should think it would be wiser to traverse the castle together, if what Sephiroth says is true." Shiryu pointed out. "We'll have more of a chance of survival if all of us cover each others' backs."

"As expected." I said under my breath. "Adrian is always living on the edge."

"Besides, we need the Heart—" Felicia said, making a small pause as Octavius eyed her. "Excuse me – Sephiroth by our side if we're to find the keyhole quickly."

"We shouldn't worry too much about that." Sora interjected. "I already know where it is."

"Don't tell me." Donald sighed. "It's in the room where you and Wilheim fought Riku, isn't it?"

"Ansem, not Riku." The boy corrected. "But yeah: that's where it is."

"If only the bastard were here..." Sephiroth murmured.

"We just have to lock this thing and then you can take us to him." Seyia said.

"Do you guys always speak so much before going into the battlefield?" I asked, beginning to grow impatient. "Why don't we just leave the chit-chat for later and actually begin to take out some monsters?"

"Rather impatient, are we not?" Demean chuckled.

"That's what they call me back home."

"The bloodsucker is right." The were-bear said. "Let us make haste. We have lingered here for too long."

With that said, we all walked towards the castle. We had landed on the backside of the fortress; my companions said that, on the other side, there were some strange, magical waterfalls, their waters rose high into the sky, rather than to fall into a lake or something. I'm sure I've seen weirder things... only that I just can't quite recall them at the moment. Oh, well. They'll come back later, you'll see. They always do, whether they're real or not. But all of them are real, I mean, of course.

There was an entrance to the castle not far from where we stood. Anything could've been on the other side and we wouldn't have seen it: the shadows covered it all. And the passageway was very narrow: only about three of us could stay next to each other. Forming a great line, little by little, we entered the evil fortress. Sora, Ukyo, and Cloud led the way, followed closely by Goofy, Donald, and Siegfried. At the very back, walked Leon, Ikki, and Octavius, all of them keeping a wary eye on the outskirts of the castle.

The place was surprisingly cold. I'm not of the kind of being that gets cold. My jacket didn't make much of a difference. Not even by staying so close to my comrades was I getting any warmer. It was amazing. As if the Heartless' foul presence by itself was creating that chilling air. Well, I wouldn't die of a cold either way.

As we advanced through the dark tunnel, some light from somewhere began to pour on the passageway, revealing to us that we were inside some sort of a sewer. We kept on walking for a few more minutes before Tifa said aloud:

"Hey, I know where we are! Beast and I traveled by this place together last time we were here!"

"So were we." added Cloud, eying Demean, Tish, Octavius, Ryoga, and Sakura. "Unfortunately, this thing is a maze. I don't think either of us recalls the way to get out of here. How about you, Tifa?"

"Perhaps if we get to the place where Beast and I fought the Heartless..." the girl replied. "But until then, I'm just as lost as you are. We'll have to keep on walking until we find either that spot or the exit out of pure dumb luck."

"Dumb luck... That doesn't sound very encouraging." I muttered.

"Oh, will you give it a rest?" Felicia meowed. "I hate it when people are pessimistic."

"I've already said I'm not pessimistic, I'm..."

"Realistic." She said along with me. "Right, I forgot. Well, instead of being realistic, try to be a little bubbly about stuff, okay?"

"Never!" I whispered, with a chuckle.

"Dear God, you really are hopeless." Morrigan giggled under her breath, shaking her head.

"That's what they call me back home."

"Quiet, guys!" snapped Ikki, taking a step forward. "Can't you hear that?"

As he finished saying those words, I understood what he was talking about. There was someone heading our way. And they were a lot of them; that was for sure! I could listen to their angry footsteps as they approached us at great speed. I had heard those sorts of footsteps before, all right. Gripping my scythe firmly, I knew that we were just a few moments away from being attacked by two hordes of Heartless... For Ikki wasn't referring to the bunch that came at us from the front.

I then heard roars and groans as Ukyo, Sora, Cloud, Donald, Goofy, and Siegfried started to swing their weapons at the enemies that were now attacking our group head-on, while Octavius, Ikki, and Leon mercilessly destroyed the foes that charged at us from behind. Shun, Aeris, and Link joined them in battle... The rest of us however, were sort of stuck in the middle, and were unable to do anything. We could only watch and hear how our friends fought valiantly and fiercely to slay all of the Heartless beasts. Yet the fiends kept on coming and coming... And I wasn't getting any!

"And here I thought I was supposed to be helpful!" I complained.

"Damn it! They're doing all the fighting!" Ranma grumbled. "They'll be overrun if we don't do something! I hate this stupid tunnel, it's so narrow!"

"Well, I don't intend to just stay here and watch those guys take all the fun." I said. "Excuse me..."

I then turned into mist and quickly flew through my friends. I went past the duck, the Keyblade bearer, and the others, and through the enemy's lines. If I might add, these seemed endless. I flew about two minutes, turning this way and that, before I actually spotted a place for me to rematerialize. Every other spot was occupied by one of those evil monsters. In the end, though, I was going to get my fun...

I was far away from my friends, so I was guaranteed some of those 'The world versus Adrian' combats. That was for me at that moment!

The Heartless didn't notice me as I appeared behind them. They were too busy peeking over their companions' shoulders to see if they could get a glimpse of the fight. Nevertheless, there were many turns left, so the best they could hope to see was a wall. I cleared my throat loudly, but they were making too much noise to actually hear me. Rolling my eyes, I walked to one of them, which seemed to be some sort of punk, and patted him on the shoulder. He turned to me in surprise.

"Well! It was about time you minded me!" I exclaimed. "You really are quite lousy hosts!"

The Heartless growled and got ready to hit me with one of his chains. But before he could even move, I swung my scythe at his neck and decapitated him, along with other two Heartless. The rest of their companions finally saw me and roared in anger.

"Uh oh..." I stuttered and, screaming like mad, turned tail and ran as fast as I could. There was quite a horde stepping on my shoes!

Again I turned left and right, hoping to find a way out. What? Do you actually think I was afraid? Ha! It seems like you don't know me at all yet. The great Adrian is afraid of nothing! Well, perhaps squirrels and the sun, but other than that... I'M INVINCIBLE!

Okay, there I go again. I apologize. Seriously, though, I wasn't afraid of facing the Heartless, of course. I just did that to catch their attention and to drag them with me to some other place to ease the burden of my companions. Hopefully I would get to fight the fiends in a more spacious area.

"Run, run as fast as you can!" I taunted them. "You can't catch me, I'M THE GINGERBREAD MAN!"

But woe is me! I made a final turn to my right and ended up facing a wall.

"Damn it..." I muttered to myself. "Dead end..." I turned around as the Heartless horde finally caught up with me. "Oops." I pushed myself against the wall as my numerous adversaries walked to me slowly and menacingly. "Come on, guys, I was only kidding back there! Do you really mean I intended to do that? Well, maybe I did, but hey! We all make mistakes, right? Come on, don't kill me!" I raised my arms at them. "Why don't you take me as a prisoner? Maybe you'll get a bigger reward, or something!" One of them, which held a gigantic shield with the head of a dog in front of him, approached me, and I don't think his intention was to take me prisoner.

Suddenly, something that I had not foreseen happened. My short sword popped out of my arm and went through the Heartless' head, killing him!

"Oh, God!" I cried, hysterically, as the other Heartless gasped in surprise and then looked at me with rage. "I'm so sorry! I don't know how that happened! Oh, my God! Oh... I think I'm going to..." I covered my mouth and put a hand on my stomach as I turned around and put my head between my legs.

The Heartless weren't willing to take any prisoners. They approached me with an unnatural, sadistic expression upon their face. And so, realizing it was now time to actually get serious, I grasped my scythe and swung it at yet another three enemies, beheading them instantly.

"Ha! You thought I was afraid of you?" I laughed. "There ain't no bug-eyed freak that's gonna get the best of Sir Adrian...! Okay, I exaggerated with that 'Sir' thing..." but before they let me explain myself, they attacked me. One of those punks tried to hit me in the face with his chains, while the other attempted to catch me by my feet. I leapt high before either of them got to me and stood upside-down on the ceiling. I then ran at them and beheaded many of them and cut some others in two. After that, I landed next to a wizard, which tried to fry me with a lightning spell. I hastily ran under him and then sliced him in two before his magic could harm me.

It was then that I realized something horrible. I had left my short sword behind! I'd be damned if some Heartless was going to keep it as a souvenir. I sliced my way through the horde, desperately seeking my blade. There it was, lying on the watery floor, surrounded by some Heartless that looked as if they were mafia members, or something. Three of them wielded sharp swords, and other three carried machine guns. They all fired at me at once, attempting to leave me like a sewer lid. One of them actually got me: a bullet of his hit my arm. I grunted in pain and turned into mist before the rest of their shots would get at me. I then flew through them and quickly materialized behind them. With a quick movement, I slashed their stomachs and cut them in half. As the wound healed by itself, I kneeled to pick up my precious sword. At that moment, one of the other Heartless tried to cut my head by swinging his blade at my neck. I parried his steel with my own and smiled triumphantly.

"What?" I said. "Did you think I only knew how to throw it?" And with those words, I stabbed him on the chest only to turn speedily and slice his other two companions.

There were still lots of Heartless. Luckily, as I peered over their heads, I realized we were not far from a cross road. Perhaps I'd be able to get away from them a bit and regroup. I ran up the wall and raced through the Heartless as they foolishly tried to cut me but only managed to swipe the air above their heads. Falling back to the ground, I spun my scythe and waited for them to make their move.

"Come and get Adrian if you dare." I challenged.

They hastily responded by roaring furiously and throwing themselves at me. Yet before they got to me, a thundering noise made the walls about us tremble. A huge blast of several energies, accompanied by a pair of magical arrows and lots of chains made their way into the corridor we were in, and literally annihilated every single monster. I leapt back in surprise, retracting my arms from the awesome explosion, genuinely shocked.

"BY THE GODS!" I exclaimed.

Moments later, my friends came out of the tunnel. Shun, who was the first to pop into view, saw me and ran at me with a concerned expression upon his face.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

I merely stared at him in silence for a few moments, my eyes turning serious, and so I answered:

"Those were mine, you know."

"Oh, good." He sighed in relief. "I see you're fine."

"They were my catch!" I repeated.

"You should be grateful we saved you." The saint answered. "Besides, I wasn't the only one who did that. Our friends helped."

"But I distinctly saw your chains." I retorted. "You should know better than to go around stealing other peoples' preys!"

"Wow, aren't we touchy?" he chuckled.

"Touchy?" I blurted. I pointed at my eyes and then at him. "I'm watching you!"

He only shook his head, laughed and walked away.

"Well, guys..." Tifa said, as she studied the place were we now stood. "It seems to be coming back to me. If my memory is right, Beast and I fought against some Heartless just a few passageways from here... The exit must be that way!" she exclaimed, pointing at the tunnel I was in.

"How can you be so sure?" asked Cid, a doubtful expression on his face as he puffed on his cigarette.

"See that?" she said, pointing at a wall. It had been previously scratched. "Those are Beast's claw marks. I'm sure they're his. He must've damaged a wall. I hadn't notice up till now."

"Well, if you're so sure, then let's hurry up." Dante added. "I hate narrow spaces..."

_(Change of scene)_

Following Tifa's lead, we eventually got to a gondola which carried us all the way to the gigantic castle's main entrance. This one, of course, was guarded by lots of Heartless. There was no way to get around them, so before long, we decided that, to save time and frustration, it would be best if we went through them. We let ourselves be seen by the monsters and managed to slay a few of them before they could come at us.

The Heartless weren't as numerous as the ones we had encountered back on the tunnels, or at least that's what I felt. Their lines weren't as long, for starters. Anyway, we all fought fiercely and the army didn't last long against us. There were a few highlights that I should mention...

First of all, of course, me. There I was, minding my own business, killing my own selection of Heartless, having much fun, and before I knew it, I was down to my last enemy. With a sigh, I threw myself at it, ready to dish out the final blow. Can you guess what happened? A chain suddenly pierced his skull and killed it instantly. I stopped short, confused at first, and then I turned to Shun: the little brat had taken my victim from me! The nerve of that guy!

"What the heck is your problem?" I demanded.

"I'm sorry! I didn't see you!" he quickly apologized, with a smile on his lips.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, you didn't see me!" I snorted. "Adrian is invisible! Adrian is invisible! You knew I was there! That's two in a row you've taken from me!"

"I swear I didn't mean to!"

"Yeah, right. Next time, get your own Heartless!"

As I said these words, I noticed that he thought I wasn't kidding anymore and nodded silently. But hey, I'm rarely serious anyway. I smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"I'm just joking, man. Just don't go doing that again, deal?" I said.

"Oh! Right! For a moment there, I thought you were serious..." he chuckled.

"Come on, you must know when I'm joking..."

And then there's the other highlight. Just as I finished saying these words, just as we all finished mopping the floor with all of the Heartless, we all froze in shock as we heard angry yells (and these weren't jokes) coming from Cid's mouth. Near him, stood Siegfried, his head lowered and ashamed.

"What the hell's the matter with you, boy!" he questioned. "You almost killed me with that lunge of yours! What's on your freaking mind? I thought you knew how to fight!"

"I'm sorry..." Siegfried muttered in a low, embarrassed voice.

"What's going on here?" asked Leon, approaching the two.

"Siegfried nearly drove his sword through me!" the pilot answered.

"I didn't know you were so close... I'm sorry..." the boy repeated, a little louder.

"What do you mean you didn't know I was so freaking clo— Oh..." Cid muttered, his anger instantly changing into regret. "Oh... I..."

"It's okay, Siegfried." Ukyo murmured gently, stroking his arm with a sisterly touch. She then turned to Cid and said, calmly: "I think he still hasn't gotten used to tell how close or how far something is."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Cid stuttered. "Yeah... I forgot about that. Jeez... I'm really sorry, man." He added, rubbing the back of his head. "It totally slipped my mind."

"No, you're right." Siegfried interrupted. "It's no excuse. I should've been more careful."

"Well, that can be true. But I should've cut you some slack." The pilot answered. "Just be a little more careful next time and I won't hold a grudge. Okay?"

"...Okay." the boy sighed, shaking the pilot's hand, smiling again.

I turned to Sora, who was near me, and murmured:

"That wasn't pretty..."

"Yeah... At least things are okay, now." He replied.

"Yeah... How are you doing, Kairi?" I asked the girl, who stood near the boy, practically hiding behind his back. "Are you scared?"

"A little bit..." she admitted. "There's too many Heartless about."

"Don't worry. We won't let anything bad happen to you." I said, while smiling.

"Thanks, Adrian." She replied and giggled.

What? I can be a nice guy from time to time...

Well, anyway, after this little discussion, we barged into the castle and headed for the upper level, where, supposedly, the keyhole awaited us. We fought many adversaries on our way up, but I guess that telling you about every battle we waged would prove to be a little monotonous. Oh, but don't worry! I wouldn't even dream of keeping the most entertaining clash of them all from you...

_(Change of scene)_

"At last..." Sora muttered as we crossed the threshold that led to the room we had been looking for. "Even though all of us were together this time, this was no piece of cake."

"That's where you and Wilheim fought Ansem." Donald added, pointing at a stance which was on an upper level.

"Yeah... How long has it been since then?"

"Gwarsh... I don't know for sure." Goofy replied. "It's hard to keep track of time in space and all."

"You could not be more right, Goofy." Morrigan interjected. "To be honest, I actually don't know how long it has been since we first began our quest."

"To me, it's been like years..." Akane murmured.

"I don't know if it's been years, but we've been at this for a good six months, at the least." Ranma guessed.

Wow. Had these guys really been battling against the Heartless for such a long time? It was hard to believe... I bet they were really looking forward to put an end to this thing once and for all. I know that this may sound a little strange coming from a being who is just a little over two-hundred years old, but I am most certain that even a week of relentless battling can be somewhat taxing... Not for me, though. And that's because I'm a Ventrue and we love to fight: not because I'm Adrian.

As we approached the place where Sora and Wilheim had made their stand against Ansem, I started to think about the latter one... I had first heard about him from some vampires at a business meeting. I know what you're thinking: 'What the hell was Adrian doing in a business meeting?' Well, I was keeping a friend of mine company – I don't know much about administration or economy and frankly, I don't care much about it. In fact, that isn't very Ventrue-like, but I don't mind.

Okay, enough of that. The thing is, one of the vampires said that there were important news about the vampire community: he said that there was a young man who had finally survived Magnus's grasp and his memories were the missing proof we needed to confirm the bastard's acts. You see, I don't know if anyone has told you this before, but Magnus was a miserable cretin who wanted to build an army of his own vampires to take over all of us. However, none of his underlings proved to be "worthy" enough, so he ended up killing them all. Wilheim had been the only one who had survived, yet in turn, he had lost Siegfried... Well, now he was alive and Wilheim wasn't.

I had been sort of curious about meeting him. I have two good friends who met him once – William and Urlien – during the archery contest that took place in the forest of Feanorth. They said he was a nice person, yet his eyes were always sad, even though his face would sometimes tell otherwise. Be that as it may, I had been really curious about meeting the vampire who had defeated Magnus by escaping him. I saw him only once and never did like him much. That was even before he turned into the son of a bitch all of us vampires hated. To live had been Wilheim's greatest achievement. Too bad he was gone.

And as we went up the stairs and strode about the battlefield in silence, a feeling of melancholy fell over the group. Everyone remained quiet and Ukyo's face turned very sad. Even Renamark seemed to moan softly as she held it by her side.

"It is all quiet..." Link murmured, breaking the silence and sadness. "Alarmingly quiet. Are there any Heartless about, Sephiroth?"

"I know I can smell some..." he answered. "There's a whole army of them coming after us. And it's dangerously big, I might add... And there's a single presence through there." He added, pointing at a dark gateway.

"That's where the keyhole is." Sora said. "I should just lock it up so we can get out of here."

"It's not right here." Sephiroth said. "It's farther inside... Or so it seems. It appears the single presence I spoke about is guarding it."

"A single presence..." Ken muttered. "That can only mean trouble. How tough is it?"

"It's very powerful." The Heartless radar, as Felicia would say, replied. "Its power is not as frightening as the Phantom's, but the Heartless is really strong."

"So he's through that portal, huh?" Sora said, approaching the dark gate. "Well, I suppose we should go in..."

"How far away from us are the other Heartless, Sephiroth?" asked Aeris.

"That's the problem." He replied in a low voice, grasping the hilt of his sword, his face alarmed. "They're already here."

As he finished saying these words, from every corner of the room, every wall, every inch of the floor, the shadows grew solid and begun to approach us. We all got close to each other and put ourselves on guard. The whole room was swallowed by the black army. As Sephiroth had said, the Heartless were perilously numerous. As I saw all of them, I realized that perhaps I could have been wrong: Adrian by himself against all these Heartless would've been defeated...

"What now? Any bright ideas, anybody?" asked a desperate Yuffie.

"There's way too many of them!" added Ariel.

"And it looks to me that their numbers keep growing..." Shiryu murmured. "They won't stop coming after us until we've sealed that keyhole."

"Let's get in, then!" Sora pressed.

"They will follow and we'll have even more enemies to battle." Hyoga argued.

"...You go, Sora." Leon suggested. "Go with Donald and Goofy and someone else. Only a few of you should go: the rest of us will stay here and take on the Heartless."

"Are you crazy? You're not going to last five minutes against all of them!" Sora replied.

"Then I suggest you hurry up."

"Damn it!" Ranma exclaimed, approaching Sora, without taking his eyes off the Heartless about us. "I'll go, too!"

"Then I'm with you!" Akane said.

"I'm in as well." Yuffie muttered.

"I want to join you too." Merryck said. "It's time I made myself useful."

"Only one more of us should go." Demean said aloud as the Heartless closed in on us. "Care to do the honors, Adrian?"

"Can't be any worse than this." I replied, joining the rest of my companions as they walked towards the dark gate. "Are you sure you'll be all right by yourselves?"

"No." Leon answered. "But if you hurry up, we might be able to see each other again..."

"I knew we should've locked more keyholes!" Cid yelled as a Heartless charged at him and he impaled him with his spear.

"But we didn't." I said to Sora and the others. "There's no way to weasel our way out of this, now."

"Right!" Sora agreed. He turned to Kairi, who was hiding behind Cloud, Octavius, and Ukyo, and said: "I'll be back, Kairi! I promise!"

"Please, hurry, Sora!" she cried.

"We'll look after her!" Cloud exclaimed. "Go now!"

And so we made our way into the dark ream behind the obscure gate.

We entered a stance which is the strangest one I have ever been in. There were no walls, there was no ceiling... It was hard for me to believe that we were standing, because there appeared to be no floor, either. We were surrounded by an incredibly bizarre, multicolored fog. It's hard to describe... I felt that if I stretched my hand I would be able to touch it, but at the same time, it seemed to be as far away as the horizon.

"Wow..." I muttered. "I suppose now I know what getting high feels like."

"We have to find that keyhole straight away!" Sora exclaimed. "The others are depending on us to do this quickly!"

"What about the presence Sephiroth talked about?" Ranma asked. "Don't you think we should be dealing with that first?"

"If we seal the keyhole, the presence will go, Ranma." Akane intervened.

"I think Ranma's right..." said Yuffie in a low voice, pointing forward. "I don't think he's going to allow us to take our time to find the keyhole..."

We all turned to where she pointed and discerned a huge shadow in the strange fog. It grew bigger and bigger which each step it gave and every time it did so, the ground trembled... We stood still and alert, waiting for it to show up. Yuffie was right: we were going to have to fight our way out of this.

The beast finally left the fog that covered its body. It was an enormous creature with a body similar to that of a giant bull. Its mouth was very strange... It didn't seem to have any teeth, but it looked sharp as a sword. Its legs were very big: they looked like the trunks of gigantic trees. The skin of the monster was mostly purple and his eyes were yellow, like all of the Heartless. On his chest, I could see the mark of the enemy – the Heartless' emblem. Finally, there was a huge horn that looked like it could tear apart just about anything on top of his big, bulky head. This behemoth wasn't precisely a pretty sight...

"That beast is enormous!" Merryck whispered in a nervous voice. "But I reckon we have no more choice than to defeat it! What should we do?"

"I don't know about you, guys, but I'm following the wise man's philosophy: shoot first, ask questions later!" Yuffie exclaimed, tossing a speedy shuriken at the behemoth's legs. Her projectile bounced off the demon's skin as if it had hit a metallic wall.

"That didn't do much good..." Donald quacked.

"Well, look on the bright side." I said as the monster leaned its head down and started to kick the ground repeatedly. No doubt it was about to charge at us. "You pissed it off."

"Where's the bright side on that!" Ranma wailed, desperate.

"Jump..." Akane muttered in a low voice as the behemoth started to run at us, baying like mad. "JUMP!"

With a yell, we all followed her kind suggestion and dodged the monster's charge. All of them leapt aside, while I jumped as high as I could, over the Heartless' body. I spun in midair, my scythe's blade aiming at the behemoth's head. Thank God the thing was curved: otherwise my sickle would've broken like a toy and I would've ended up like a fool! I swear I actually saw sparks as my scythe slid on the beast's skin...

As I fell on the ground and regrouped with the rest of my friends, the behemoth turned around and stared at us menacingly.

"Did you hurt him?" asked Goofy.

"...Look on the bright side." I said, and they groaned in disappointment. "At least my sickle is sharper now."

"It has to have a weak point." Sora said. "They all have a weak point."

"I suppose... the only problem is finding it." Ranma muttered.

"It's going to charge again!" Akane exclaimed as the Heartless began to bang the ground once more.

"Let's try attacking him as he comes!" Donald suggested.

"Good idea." Yuffie said. "Try various places: that way, we may find its weak point sooner."

"And don't forget about using magic." Merryck reminded. "That's what killed the Phantom."

"Right." Sora said. The Heartless then charged at us with fury. We remained still, waiting for the right moment to jump aside. Our grip on our weapons grew as the monster got closer and closer. "Ready...? NOW!"

We all leapt far away from the behemoth while attacking him as best we could: Yuffie threw a shuriken at the demon's mouth, but it had the same effect as before; Akane kicked him on one of his shoulders as she retreated, yet that didn't even tickle the thing; Ranma threw an energy blast at its chest, Goofy tossed his shield at its abdomen, Donald cast a blizzard spell on his eye, and I attacked him with a fireball aimed at its back... none of that worked at all.

Merryck's legs this time didn't prove to be as powerful as to get out of the beast's way. The demon attempted to use its horn on the little hobbit to impale him. Nevertheless, the little fellow was much more agile than it seemed: he used what little strength left was on his legs to jump onto the behemoth's head and grabbed the horn firmly as the Heartless tried to shake him off. Merryck cried while the demon moved his head from one side to another, desperately trying to send him flying far away.

"Merryck!" Sora cried. "Get out of there!"

The hobbit could barely grasp the immense horn of the behemoth. Knowing that he was going to fall either way, he took out his sword and stroked the horn as hard as he could. At least, he guessed, he could take out his main weapon. I thought the blade was going to break: if his skin was hard as metal, it was only logical to guess that his horn would be as tough as a diamond. Yet logic didn't play a part on that encounter...

As he hit the horn, the behemoth roared and shook his head even more furiously. Unable to hold on, Merryck was sent flying through the air. By the look of things, he was about to get the blow of his life.

"I've got him!" Ranma announced, stepping back, both of his arms stretched, ready to catch the hobbit. With a loud yell, Merryck fell on him and both of them hit the ground.

"Are you all right Merryck?" asked Akane, concerned.

"A little shaken, not to mention terribly scared..." the hobbit replied. "Other than that, I am fine..."

Then, something caught my attention. As I turned to see the monster, I noticed that it had lowered his head and it was clumsily rubbing its horn with its giant paws, whimpering in pain. Unbelievable as it was, Merryck had just discovered our adversary's weak point.

"It's hurting!" Yuffie whispered. "That's it! We've got to strike his horn!"

"I would've never thought that would be his weak point." I said. "Good job, Merryck."

"Well, I suppose dumb luck does help every once in a while." The hobbit said.

"All right, time to teach this tub of lard a lesson!" cried Ranma, gathering energy and releasing it in a powerful energy blast which hit the damaged horn of the behemoth. The Heartless bayed in anger and shook his head furiously as it turned to us and decided to leave the rubbing for later. Again, he charged at us at full speed, and again, we dodged him by leaping aside. Only Donald, Goofy, Sora, Yuffie, and I were able to throw some sort of projectile or to cast a spell to hurt the behemoth. Ranma merely concentrated in getting Akane out of the Heartless' path while she helped Merryck do the same thing.

"Hooray! We're winning!" Goofy cried triumphantly as we all regrouped.

"Yeah, but we're really pissing it off that way." I said. "That can't be good."

"According to you, it was a good thing." Ranma grumbled.

"Since when have you taken me seriously?"

"What's it doing, now?" Donald quacked as the beast lowered its head yet didn't charge at us. Its horn then began to shine with a dark light. The air about us turned cold and the ground shook.

"See how it can't be good?" I said.

"Stop joking!" Ranma cried angrily.

"It's gathering energy..." Yuffie muttered. "And I don't think we'll like it when it releases it."

"We should attack now, then!" Akane suggested.

But before we could move, the Heartless roared and lifted its head high, shooting the gathered, dark energy into the air. As we looked up, we saw, in horror, how hundreds of obscure meteors of said energy started to fall onto the ground. And of course, several of them were heading our way... I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Adrian is always living on the edge. And the worst part is that if someone else is with him, he doesn't have much fun, either. I'm like a bad luck magnet.

"Oh, crap!" Sora cried.

"Donald, why don't you scatter those things with your magic?" Goofy shouted, raising his shield above his head.

"I'll try!" the duck answered. "Take that!" and so he conjured a spell of winds which engulfed each and every one of us and protected us from the dark comets. The winds were so fierce that they became an impenetrable shield that not even the Heartless' attack was able to pierce. When the meteor shower came to an end, we didn't even have a single scratch on our bodies. But – yes, there is always a 'but' – Donald was exhausted. The incantation had consumed all of his energy, no doubt. He sat on the ground, gasping for air as the enraged Heartless charged at us again.

"Donald – get up!" Sora exclaimed, grabbing him as firmly as he could and jumping away from the beast. We all leapt after him, readying our weapons in order to help him to fend off the behemoth, even though it seemed it couldn't be stopped. Right at that moment, Goofy put himself in front of us and held his shield firmly as he lunged himself at the Heartless, hitting his horn with surprising strength. The demon stopped on its tracks, wailing in pain as Goofy flew through the air, letting a loud yell as he fell which, under different circumstances, would've made me laugh my head off... Oh, why should I lie? I did let escape a chuckle or two. Thank God no one heard me.

"Goofy!" they all cried and we all quickly ran to him. "Are you okay?" asked Akane.

"Gwarsh..." he muttered. "I think I'm all right..."

"Goofy, how many fingers am I holding up?" asked Sora, showing him his hand: three was the answer.

"Um... five?"

"He's all right." I quickly said. "I would've been worried if he would've said seven."

"Adrian, be sober for a moment!" Akane pleaded, exasperated. "Do you really think Goofy is all right?"

"Not exactly, but we don't really have time to do him a medical test, do we?" I answered, seeing how the behemoth was staring at us in anger and was starting to ready another deadly attack.

His horn began to glow again, this time with a blue tone. Lightning began to strike it with fury and it roared angrily. We all remained still, our heads going from the behemoth to the mist about us. Sora and I quickly helped Goofy to his feet; he shook his head and seemed ready to give battle once more...

The behemoth then let out a terrifying howl and lightning stroke about him. One of them was specifically heading our way: I quickly leapt aside and pushed my friends as far away as I could with an energy blast in the form of wind. We barely got away from that.

"Dear God!" exclaimed Merryck as he fell to the ground. "That nearly killed us!"

"That's it!" Ranma cried, angrily. "I'm sick of this Heartless! It's time to teach it who's boss!"

"...Yes!" the hobbit hastily agreed, his face changing from a frightened expression to a determined one. "We have to defeat it now! Our friends are in danger!"

"Shoot! I forgot about them!" I muttered. I had been so busy concentrating on this fight that I hadn't thought about the rest of the guys... "Okay... no more jokes. This time, it's serious, pal!" I shouted at the monster, pointing my scythe at it.

Summoning my dark powers, I cried in rage as my obscure wings emerged from my back and I began to fly about the battlefield. Rapidly and furiously, I swooped at the monster and slashed at its horn. The beast thrashed and howled in pain with every blow. My friends soon started to attack it with full force as well. Yet the best would not yield. The more the hit it, the angrier it got, and the more powerful it turned. Soon, it started to throw dark balls of energy at us directly from its horn – and he was deadly accurate. More than once the exhausted Donald had to cure my companions from the grave injuries they suffered by being hit by one of those things. Even I got to taste a piece of them once or twice. Thankfully, the duck didn't need to heal me... But thirst was beginning to strike and my healing powers faded. The sorcerer also grew pretty weak and his healing incantations no longer had the same effect... We had to take down that behemoth fast.

I charged at the demon and tried to cut down his horn again. The Heartless, however, seemed to be expecting me and quickly turned its head to me and knocked me away with its colossal weight. I wasn't fast enough to turn into mist and fell on the ground hard. Growling, I stood up and spat some blood.

"You're not going to get away with that, Heartless." I grumbled.

But before I could think of any sort of plan, Merryck got ahead of all of us. He ran at the Heartless as fast as he could and rolled under its belly. The behemoth, knowing that the hobbit was underneath it, started to prance about the battlefield like mad, trying to squash him with its heavy legs. Merryck yelled in horror as he rolled from one side to another, avoiding the monster's feet, yet the brave hobbit would not run away, for his strategy was working: the behemoth had forgotten about the rest of us.

"We have to hurry!" cried Akane. "Now is our chance!"

We all charged at the beast and managed to score a few hits. Unfortunately, this made the demon wary of our presence again, and started to focus energy onto his horn. There was no time for us to get away: we had to kill it at that very moment before it unleashed its power.

The behemoth lowered his head and growled as he was about to release his energy. Akane leapt high and landed right on the monster's neck. She focused all of her strength in her hands and with a mighty yell, drove her fingers through the Heartless' horn. The beast howled in agonizing pain as it thrashed desperately, Akane's hands stuck in his horn. Naturally, this caused the monster to stop gathering energy; but our friend wailed in fear as she was unable to jump away from the furious monster.

"Akane!" cried Ranma in despair.

I took a deep breath and quickly took to the air. The behemoth was shaking his head so fiercely and so rapidly that it was hard for me to see an opening. But there was no time to lose: as soon as I saw a glimpse of Akane's hands delved inside the beast's horn, I flew at her as fast as my wings could carry me. I unsheathed my scythe and got ready to unleash the final strike. As she saw me, the girl called my name. I went to her and, after nearly getting hit by the behemoth's giant head, put my arms around her waist and pulled hard. She grunted as I finally freed her from the hard horn that imprisoned her hands. Looking at the beast's horn, I realized that it was already about to fall off. It was time to deliver the last blow. With a swift movement, I swung my scythe at it and at long last cut it off. The Heartless emitted yet another howl, but this one had no fury in it: only excruciating pain.

We all got away from the beast and I let Akane on the ground, next to Ranma, who was seemingly worried about her. The Heartless finally collapsed, his body slowly turning transparent as a strange light engulfed him. A moment passed, and then he was gone.

"At last, damn it!" I muttered. Honestly, that thing had really begun to get on my nerves.

"Don't ever do that again, Akane!" Ranma said. "You had me worried back there!"

"I'm sorry... But at least we got him." The girl answered cheerfully.

"Yeah, but you nearly gave me a heart attack..." Ranma murmured, embracing her tenderly.

Before either of us could say another word, something deep in the mist started to shine. We all turned to it and noticed joyfully that it was the keyhole we had been looking for.

"All right, Sora!" I said. "Come on, do your thing!"

With a nod, the boy spun his weapon and pointed its tip at the keyhole. From it, came the very same ray of light that had locked the keyhole in the jungle before. It shone as the beam hit it and then vanished, with the sound a door makes when it closes.

"Yeah! We did it!" exclaimed Yuffie. "It was about time this came to an end! Now the Heartless are really going to be in trouble!"

"That was quite a fight." Merryck said. "For a moment there, I didn't think we were going to make it."

"Ah, you worry too much, little hobbit!" I said, becoming my usual self again. "Never fear! Adrian is here!"

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't have gotten out of there alive if it wouldn't have been for you, Adrian." Akane muttered. "Thank you very much."

"No problem. Anytime."

"Well, now that that's done, I suppose we should go and check on our friends." Goofy suggested.

"Yeah, let's go. This place is making me dizzy." Donald protested.

"There's the way out." Sora said, pointing at a strange opening in the midst of the fog. We all quickly went through it and exited the bizarre room.

We couldn't help but to let out a gasp of sudden fright as we saw our friends. Thankfully, none of them had died during the fight... but some of them seemed on the verge of doing so. The ones in worst shape were Shun, who had a nasty cut across his abdomen; Tifa, whose left arm hung almost lifelessly at her side; Octavius, whose body had cuts and bruises all over (strangely enough, I noticed there wasn't a single scratch on Felicia); Ryoga, whose right foot was twisted in a way in which you would only see on the Internet (with any luck – let's hope it doesn't happen to either of us), and Sephiroth, who didn't seem to have any bruises on him, yet he lay on the ground, holding his chest with wild pain on his eyes.

Donald quickly cast a most powerful healing spell and managed to cure each and every last one of our friends; Tish, Aeris, and Dante had run out of stamina already and were unable to help him. The only one who didn't quite recover was our Heartless companion, who was beginning to even have trouble breathing.

"Are you all alright?" Sora asked with a worried voice, as he went to Kairi's side and held her. The girl, relieved to see we were alive and well, embraced him too. There wasn't a single scratch on her. Our friends had really done a good job protecting her.

"Yeah, we're fine..." she answered. "But for a moment there, I didn't think we were going to make it."

"You sealed that keyhole not a moment too soon." Link added. "What delayed you?"

"A mammoth of a Heartless." I answered. "We almost became that beast's lunch ourselves."

"Well, at least it is over now." Demean sighed.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Cid, with a somewhat dry voice, as he looked at Sephiroth, who still lay on the ground, twisted by pain.

"I think I know what it is..." Aeris murmured, walking to him and kneeling by his side. She put her hands on his shoulders and rubbed them gently. Amazing... to think that he had once taken her life and that she was now trying to help him out of that agonizing pain. I'm a really good guy, but I doubt I'll ever reach that degree of kindness. "It's because of the keyhole. Remember? Every time Sora locks a keyhole, he says it hurts. And since this was the darkest of them, the pain must be unbearable."

Link walked to her side and put his hand on her shoulder, his eyes carefully resting on Sephiroth's every move. I take it he still didn't fully trust him... But at that moment, the man wasn't thinking about killing anyone: he was just trying to keep himself alive. We all looked at him in silence and waited for the tense moment to come to an end.

At last, bathed in cold sweat, Sephiroth started to breathe normally. He stopped trashing and his hands relaxed. He lay still and quiet for quite some time before finally saying in a weak voice:

"I'm all right."

"Are you sure?" Ukyo asked.

"The pain has gone." He replied. "But... I have never felt anything like that before..." Aeris stood up as Link offered Sephiroth a helping hand. After a moment of staring at it in hesitation, he took it and got up. "I never thought I would endure such pain."

"Well, at least you're fine now." Sora said. "And we have now locked the final keyhole, I think. That must mean we should be able to get to the place where Ansem is... which is where you come in."

"...I suppose." Sephiroth answered. "Well... if there is nothing else to it, I guess we should get back to the ships. It's time I showed you the way."

"I take it you still remember it." Cloud said.

"Oh, believe me... I do."

_(Change of scene)_

We all exited the dark castle in the blink of an eye. Naturally, no Heartless slowed our step. We got inside our ships and took off to space. Sephiroth's voice constantly echoed on our radios as he guided us to the place where we would wage our final battle. That got me thinking... if the Heartless in Hollow Bastion had been so terrible, what could we expect from the ones lurking about Ansem's lair?

I guess everyone inside the ship I am thinks the very same thing. All I can see are gloomy faces and not one of us can say a word. It was as if we are flying to our doom. At this moment, even I can't think about a single joke. Which is a shame, really: not even the great Adrian can say something funny.

As I sit here, by the Gummi ship's cockpit, I realize this might be the last time I speak to you. So... I suppose I could tell you how I really got my scar. Pay attention... 'cause I'm only going to say it once.

The thing is I've always been immortal. Even before I was turned into a vampire I was immortal. I'm very old. I'm even older than Octavius, you know. I've been friend to many a famous and legendary characters. And it was one of said characters who gave me this scar...

About the time I was in Greece, I met this very strong man. Muscular body, tall as a giant, arms tough as steel, very bad temper. I was walking by and kicked a rock just for the heck of it. Unluckily, said man was strolling by and the little pebble hit him on the head. I tried to apologize, but this guy was stubborn as a mule. He challenged me to a duel and I accepted.

We struggled for hours. Actually, he was giving me the beating of a lifetime. It was really hard for me to even stand up after a while. The thing is, the man was really, really angry at me and unsheathed a sword. I mean, because of a pebble! How sadistic can you be? He swung it at my face and presto. That's how I got the scar. Either way, I got really mad and threw myself at his feet. None of my attacks had seemed to damage him so far... I had no choice but to try something desperate. I managed to take a hold of one of his feet and bit his heel as hard as I could. Surprisingly, he started to cry like a little girl and fell to the ground, begging for mercy. I got up and helped him to his feet. Amazed by my strength, he asked me to become his master, and so I agreed.

He would've gotten far, but that stupid heel of his got him killed.

"Achilles..." I said to him. "If you're going to go to Troy, protect that heel of yours. You'll be sorry if you leave it like that."

"Don't worry about that, master, I'll be all right. Trust me: you worry too much." He replied. Stubborn as a mule.

So that's how it happened. What? You don't believe me? Oh, well. I suppose you can't convince everyone. Well... I'll see you all later.


	40. Chapter 39: The Road to Kingdom Hearts

Author's note time again. :)

Hi, guys. Sorry I've taken such a sweet time to upload this chapter... but... well, you know. Besides that, I have to blame the massive online videogame Space Cowboy, which has consumed much of my free time. :)

Oh, well. I don't think I'll be able to post the final chapter before next year. I'm terribly sorry I broke my promise (again) and I'll just have to wish you all a happy new year. I hope you had a Merry Christmas, by the way. :)

Take care, guys. Hopefully this'll be ready soon. The next chapter is the LAST ONE!

See you! Enjoy!

_Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Road to Kingdom Hearts_

_Narrator: Gabrielle_

Over seas of countless enemies they have traversed. They have endured much suffering and toil. Friendship, love, fright, hatred, infinite sadness... Much has befallen them. And now they fly swiftly, guided by the Heartless' instructions to the place where the worlds end, to the place where their greatest enemies await. Fear and doubt torments their hearts; yet their resolve is unwavering and on they go.

They fly steadily through asteroid fields and shoot down the enemy ships as they attack them. Their numbers are great, but their skill overcomes them. As they draw nearer and nearer to their final goal, they feel both terrible fright and pleasant relief: should they fail, death will fall upon them... yet should they win this most terrible battle, the worlds shall be healed. Nevertheless, in their minds lingers the unavoidable question. Will they ever meet each other should their quest end in success? A part of them wants all of this to come to an end, but the desire to remain by their friends' side is strong. Still, they go on, their ships' speed steady and the Heartless' vessels crumbling under their shots. At last, they see a strange planet which appears to be shattered: only the shimmering stardust about it reveals its resting place in the deep blackness of space. They approach it cautiously.

They have arrived.

As they exit the ships, they gawk in incredulous horror at the unwelcoming scenery before them. They seem to be floating in midair; dozens of rocky fragments lay motionlessly around them. They see a strange vortex far away and they feel evil about. This unsettling sight reminds them of the destiny the worlds may experience should they fail. They speak amongst each other for a few seconds, feeding their valor with friendly words. At last, they march to the vortex, resolve in their eyes. Two members, however, stay behind: a loyal dog and a young red-haired girl with blue eyes. She waves the carrier of the Keyblade off with tears in her eyes, frightened by the thought that she may never see him again. But he wants her to be safe and begs her to remain behind.

Many enemies attack them. Yet their skill is unmatched for them: they slaughter them easily. Soon, they reach the vortex and are confronted by a behemoth: the very same kind of monster that attacked them at Hollow Bastion. But now they are all together and the demon quickly falls to their merciless attacks. They then begin to fall.

A strange cave, adorned with hundreds of sharp, shimmering rocks beckons them to go forth. The cavern's road leads down to another vortex where a greater evil lurks. They look at each other and with a nod, they courageously begin their descent. No enemies are about. Yet this does not comfort them. For they feel the powerful presence of a mighty foe within the vortex they no doubt must enter. Gripping their weapons firmly, they dive into the heart of the cavern...

A gigantic monster stands before them. What was once a rocky, lifeless mountain has become a fearsome demon with dark wings... The ground appears to be miles away. But they fear not to fall, for they fly about the battlefield as if they had always possessed wings. The enemy unleashes his wrath against the group and wounds some of them severely. Nevertheless, the sorcerers are ready to conjure their healing spells and soon, all pain fades. The monster presses on the attack. The wizards now counter the demon's attacks with a magical shield that protects their companions from all harm. The enemy soon tires and the group launches a vicious counteroffensive. Rains of punches, kicks, energy waves, and sword slashes fall upon the foe and weaken him greatly. Their opponent, mad with rage, attempts to destroy them with his powerful arms, yet the heroes are quick and evade the demon's attacks. The boy with the Keyblade strikes, his powerful weapon wounding the monster deeply. His companions press on the attack and soon, the demon is no more. His body crumbles as if it were made out of soft pebbles, and a new passageway is revealed.

In they go.

As they walk about many tunnels, they are oblivious of the enemy's plan. He smells their hearts' greatest fears and soon machinates a foul trap. They exit through the final tunnel, after battling countless enemies, and all turns black as their bodies are carried to many different places. The group is broken, but they refuse to lose hope.

It has begun.

_(Thailand Mountains: Akane)_

We had all seen a dark tunnel and had decided to go through it. Our guess was that it would lead us straight to Ansem. But when the light shone upon the place we now stood, which turned out to be the heights of an unknown mountain with a cold wind blowing upward and most of our friends missing, I began to get really scared.

It first occurred to me that they hadn't seen which way they had been walking and that they had fallen off the rocky cliffs which were all around us. But I then realized that my friends aren't so clumsy. Then I thought that perhaps flying enemies had captured them and had taken them to some place which we couldn't reach. Yet I knew my friends wouldn't have gone down so easily. No, there was something else at work. Either way, I became really worried about all of them.

Ranma, thankfully, was still by my side, and seemed just as shocked as I was. Next to him were Sakura and Ryoga, followed closely by Leon, who gripped his sword tightly. Ryu and Ken were leading the way and in front of them there were only rocks and chasms. There was nobody else with us.

"...Ranma?" I muttered, frightened by our sudden solitude. "Where is everybody else?"

"How should I know...?" he whispered back. "Sora!" he then yelled, cupping his hands about his mouth. His yell echoed many times about the rocks, but no answer came back.

"Aeris! Cid! Where are you guys??" I then exclaimed as well.

"Donald! Goofy! Felicia!" called Ryoga.

"Siegfried! Ukyo!" Leon added.

We began to call each of our friends' names as loud as we could, yet none of them replied. And after a few moments of useless shouting, I noticed that Ryu, Ken, and Sakura hadn't made a sound. They looked at the place carefully and quietly. They were alert, no doubt – we all were – but I didn't think that at that time they were worried about getting attacked by Heartless. It was then that something became clear to me: they knew this place.

"Guys?" I murmured, giving up hope on finding the rest of our friends for the moment, and approached them. "Do you guys know where we are?"

"I suppose you could say that." Ken answered in a low voice. "I guess... this is the place. Right, Ryu?"

"Of course it is." The other fighter replied. "There's no way I would forget what this place looks like."

"What's going on?" asked Leon as he walked to us. He and the others had clearly realized that no matter how many times we called their names, the rest of our companions wouldn't show up. "It seems to me that you know this place... what's the story?"

"It all happened less than a year ago." Sakura answered. "It was... well, some things happened with Ryu and Ken... I still don't know the full story. Besides, now isn't the time for that. Bottom of the line is that, some time ago, along with some other fighters, we battled some very strong people."

"That wasn't the worst part." Ken added. "At that time, I still don't understand how... but Ryu got brainwashed."

"Brainwashed?" Ranma asked.

"I was ordered to attack them." Ryu confessed. "I tried to stop myself. Yet my body wouldn't obey me. Luckily, there was a moment in which I came to."

"That's when we beat the bad guys." Sakura said. "But why is it here? Why are we all here?"

"I wouldn't know." Leon said. "But now that you mention this, I'm not precisely worried about getting attacked by Heartless."

A sudden, dark laugh made us all turn about in alarm. The cackle seemed to have come from everywhere. We weren't alone. I raised my fists and looked around carefully, beginning to grow very nervous, because there was simply no sight of the enemy.

"Stay near me, Akane." Ranma said. "Don't try to do anything stupid."

"What do you mean stupid?" I retorted, trying to get angry at him, but failing to do so.

"I don't want you to get into trouble." He answered.

"I should've known..." Ryu murmured. I turned to see him and, surprisingly, saw him really angry for the first time. I've seen him upset during our fights... but this time, he was genuinely mad. "I know that laugh..."

The sky above us turned black as lightning struck near us and a figure slowly appeared. It was the shape of a tall, amazingly strong man. He was wearing a black uniform and boasted a long, dark cape that danced with the strong wind. He had his muscular arms crossed over his huge chest, where the emblem of the Heartless was carved; he had an incredibly tough jaw and a sadistic smile was formed upon his lips. His eyes were yellow and full of evil. I gulped at the mere sight of them: that man gave me the chills.

"I didn't expect we'd be seeing you again!" Ken cried, with rage. Looking at him, I realized he was also furious – almost as much as he had been when Ganondorf had crushed poor Ukyo's wrist. "Somehow, though, I'm not surprised. So now you've become a stupid Heartless, haven't you, Bison?"

"Well, well, aren't we moody, mister Masters?" answered the evil man with a malevolent voice. "Well, I do suppose an occasion of the sort is quite strange."

"Who is this clown?" asked Ranma.

"Ah, and I see you brought company along!" the man said aloud, before either of our friends could answer. "Don't you think it's a bit unfair? To attack a single man?"

"I don't know who the hell you are, but I'm beginning to grow tired of you." Leon said, angrily. "I'd tell you to move out of the way if that would save your life. But since you're a Heartless, I'm going to kill you either way. Get ready."

"There seems to be plenty of fight in all of you." Bison said, his devilish smile growing bigger. "Perhaps I won't be able to satisfy your desire for battle all by myself... maybe I could use a bit of help." He then eyed Ryu and his yellow eyes shone frighteningly and our friend let out an unexpected pain-filled yell as he grabbed his head with both hands and fell on his knees.

"Ryu!" cried Ken, kneeling by his side and holding him as his shouts became louder.

"What are you doing to him?!" Ryoga cried, enraged. "Leave him alone, damn you!" and before the man could answer, he hastily summoned a beam of energy and fired it at him. The man quickly vanished into thin air; only his evil laughter remained.

"It is too late." He laughed, seconds later, as he reappeared a few steps away from us. We all turned to him, raising our fists. "It's amazing how easily one can trigger Ryu's dark powers with the proper leverage, don't you agree?"

"What??" Sakura exclaimed. "You bastard! I won't let you do that again!"

"Foolish girl." Bison replied. "Do you really think you can defeat me?"

"Ryu! Snap out of it!" Ken yelled, yet Ryu kept on groaning in pain, his hands firmly grasping his head. But all of a sudden, he stopped moaning and we all turned to him. Our anger changed to fear as we saw that, as he raised his head, his eyes had changed. They had become evil and red, like the ones of a sleeping demon that has just been waken. His teeth had all turned into sharp fangs and a devilish smile spread through his new, horrible face. On his back, an ideogram appeared. I took a few steps back, dread invading me, as I read it. 'Metsu' – the kanji of destruction. "Ryu... no..."

"...Kill..." he murmured in a voice that wasn't his own.

"Ryu! What's wrong with you??" Ranma wailed, walking to him.

"Ranma, stop!" cried Sakura in alarm. Ranma stopped in his tracks and barely found time to block the immensely powerful punch Ryu threw at him. He jumped back, rubbing his arms, shock in his face.

"Ranma!" I cried, running to his side. "Are you okay?"

"...No..." he whispered. I knew that the sudden attack wasn't that which was bothering him. I'm sure you all know what made us so very anxious at that moment...

Ryu got up and raised his fists, eager to battle and destroy all of us. Ken shook his head. I saw desperation had filled his eyes. Nevertheless, he wasn't willing to give up on his friend. Taking a deep breath, he put himself on guard.

"Don't worry, man. You'll be yourself again in no time." He assured.

"How hilarious!" Bison cackled, floating near us. "You actually believe him you can free him from my Psycho power! That's truly laughable!"

"We already did that once, stinking bastard." Sakura growled, as a most intense hatred filled her face. "Damn you, Bison. I'm going to kill you for hurting him!"

"You're going to pay for this..." I said, also terribly angry, yet extremely worried. Bison seemed to be a terrible enemy by himself... What chance did we have against him and Ryu?

"Heh. All I hear is talk and no action." He challenged. "Let us see what you are truly capable of, shall we?"

"You're so dead, you son of a bitch!" cried Ranma and threw himself with anger at Bison. The latter didn't move at all... because before Ranma could reach him, Ryu appeared out of nowhere and punched him again. Thankfully, Ranma was once again quick enough to stop the attack with his arms. He landed near me and looked at Ryu with disbelief.

Bison laughed loudly as his new puppet protected him from harm... Yet he didn't notice Leon, who was standing at his left. With incredible speed, our swordsman summoned a devastating fiery projectile and hit Bison on the side with it. The evil man stumbled and his wicked smile changed to a pain-filled expression. He turned to Leon and his eyes shone with rage.

"Miserable maggot!" he cried. "You'll pay for that dirty move!"

"Don't talk to me about dirty moves, jackass." Leon growled. "Get ready to die!"

"HYAHH!!" Ken roared as he leapt at Bison and kicked him on the face. The evil man fell on his back and then looked at the warrior with even more fury. As he got up, Ryu attacked his best friend with brutal strength. Ken fended off his buddy's attacks quite well as Leon charged at Bison. The evil man, now aware of our friend's attack, vanished in the blink of an eye. He reappeared behind Leon and tried to kick him on the side of his stomach, yet the swordsman skillfully parried Bison's leg with his sword.

"We've remained as spectators long enough." Ranma said aloud. "Let's give them a hand!"

"Come on!" Sakura said, as she and Ryoga threw themselves at Bison.

Ranma and I were about to do the same thing when Ken stopped us by saying: "Ranma, you wouldn't mind lending me a hand here, would you?"

"I thought you could beat Ryu by yourself!" Ranma replied.

"Our strength is equal, but right now Ryu wants to kill me, in case you haven't noticed!" Ken replied, all while evading his possessed companion's vicious punches and kicks.

Ranma and I remained close to each other and still for a few moments. We glanced at our friends battling Bison and then looked at Ken fighting desperately against Ryu. We then gazed at each other. I can't lie to you... I was really worried about him. I didn't want him to fight Ryu – his powers were too great, and I didn't know if Ranma would be able to withstand them. I was so scared I would lose him... But as I looked into his eyes, I noticed he was frightened too. Tears were about to roll down my eyes, but I struggled to keep them to myself.

"...I don't want you to die, Ranma." I said.

"I don't care about my life, Akane." He replied. "I want you to fight as fiercely as you can – you have to live, Akane. Nothing else matters..."

"Ranma!"

"Akane!"

Our friends' cries meant they needed our help. But there was something I had to say to him before I went to help Leon, Ryoga, and Sakura... I had kissed him before and fooled around with him for a while... yet I had never said the words I was about to say. However, seeing that this might be our final moment together, I decided he ought to know.

"I love you, Ranma." I confessed.

He nodded and kissed my hands.

"I love you too, Akane." He answered, making me, for that very small instant, the happiest woman alive. "Now go... and stay alive, girl."

"You too..."

He released me and turned to Ken. Taking a deep breath, he ran at Ryu at full speed and attacked him with a flurry of punches and kicks. The possessed fighter blocked all of them, yet didn't have a chance to counterattack. Either way, it was time for me to stop paying attention to their fight: I had my own battle to wage. Tightening my fists, I leapt at Bison, who had been cowardly teleporting away from all of my friends' attacks, and tried to roundhouse his jaw. Yet the evil man noticed me just in time and vanished.

"Damn you, Bison!" cried Sakura. "Is that all you can do?? Just run away from us?!"

"Are you afraid to fight us, you coward??" Ryoga taunted.

"Oh, by all means! Of course I am not!" Bison laughed. "Yet I am curious... I actually want to see how powerful Ryu is. I want to know if he's actually capable of destroying all of his friends!"

"I'll get you!" I roared and leapt at him again, and again, he teleported away from me as I unleashed my attack. Not even Leon's fireballs were quick enough to catch the cursed man.

Bison started to teleport real quickly around us. He was so fast that it appeared that there were many evil men surrounding us. We got close to each other, backs to one another, and did our best to focus our eyes on him, but it was nearly an impossible task. And while this happened, Ranma desperately helped Ken to defeat Ryu, whose speed and power were fiercer than ever. And to make matters worse, I saw how, as Ranma dashed to him and tried to trip him with a low kick, Ryu's body slightly levitated above the ground and he got away from my warrior at an amazing speed... Ryu was teleporting as well.

"Everyone, attack on the count of three..." Leon suddenly whispered to us all. "One... two... THREE!!"

We instantly lunged forth, swinging our fists and legs in all directions as hardly as we could in hopes of scoring at least one hit, yet we touched nothing but air.

Finally, Ryoga thought of a better strategy. As he saw the silhouette of Bison pass by him, he instantly drove his finger into the ground and made it burst into pieces. Although this did not hurt our enemy, Ryoga's attack distracted him long enough for the rest of us to go after him. Leon shot a quick fireball at Bison's feet: like Ryoga's attack, his projectile wasn't meant to hurt him badly, but to keep him from moving. This provided Sakura and I enough time to leap at him and unlike our companions, we didn't hold our strength back.

Sakura let loose a flurry of punches at Bison's face and culminated her attack with a rising uppercut, similar to Ryu's and Ken's.

"SHOUKEN!" she cried.

As Bison began to fall down, I positioned myself below him, and before he could hit the ground, I delivered a powerful roundhouse kick at his back. The fiend fell far from us. We regrouped and ran at him as quickly as we could. Nevertheless, our feet didn't carry us to him fast enough and he teleported away from us. We turned back and saw he was standing behind us, staring at us with fury.

"You're much better than I thought." He growled. "Very well, then... If you are so bound and determined to meet destruction at my hands, so be it! Come on!"

"Take this, bastard! SHISHI-HOUKODAN!!" yelled Ryoga and unleashed a powerful projectile at Bison. This time, instead of teleporting away from it, our foe simply pushed it aside with his hands. This wasn't encouraging at all... Ryoga was really mad and his energy blast had been one of the strongest I've ever seen come from him.

"About time you stopped running!" Leon cried. "It's time to teach you a lesson!" he ran at him and swung his sword at his head. Bison ducked underneath the blow and punched Leon on his stomach, driving him right back to us.

As we got ready to attack again, Bison slid on the ground with the speed of a thunderbolt and practically went through all of us, kicking our legs as he went. We fell to the ground but quickly got up only to find him standing right in front of us. He punched Ryoga on the face and our friend fell flat on his back, stars circling his head. Sakura counterattacked, yet Bison caught her fist with his hand and began to squeeze. Before he could break his hand, I leapt high into the air and delivered a powerful kick on his face. He let go of Sakura and took a few steps back. Then, he aimed the palm of his hand at me and let loose a devastating projectile of dark energy. I covered my face and braced myself for the painful impact. Leon, however, had other plans. He got in front of me and blocked the blast with his sword. The impact sent him flying into me and we both fell to the ground. At least he saved me from the deadly projectile.

"Come on, Akane... get up!" he pressed, helping me to my feet.

"He's so powerful..." I muttered.

"We're not giving up!" he grumbled. He was really angry. "I'm not letting anyone take my friends away from me!"

"Leon..." I was surprised. It wasn't like him to talk like that...

"Let's get him!"

As he shouted this, Ryoga and Sakura were trying hard not to get killed by the monster's potent attacks. Even though they managed to defend themselves from his fists, I could see pain flowing through their faces every time his hands touched their arms. Bison's fists were terrible and glowed with an eerie energy.

Meanwhile, Ranma and Ken still fought Ryu. He was putting up quite a tremendous fight... I'm sure that one of them alone would've quickly succumbed to his fierce attacks. As Ranma dashed to him to trip him with a low kick, Ryu leapt into the air and escaped from him and Ken by executing his Tatsumakisenpuu-Kiaku, knocking both of them down with a single, powerful kick. They quickly got up and Ranma leapt high into the air while Ken ran at Ryu head on. Both of them attacked different parts of his body and managed to score a few attacks, yet Ryu seemed untamable. Whenever things seemed too tough for him, he would teleport away from them and start his attack all over again. Every time he leapt into the air, he would unleash a rain of fireballs upon our friends. At those moments, it was impossible to attack him. All that Ranma and Ken could do was to nullify and evade whatever blast they could. Even one of those thing seemed as if could take down an entire army... Their battle raged on, Ryu's eyes still red with hate, fangs itching to delve themselves into their flesh, it appeared...

"Akane!!" cried Sakura, putting my feet back on earth. Ranma and Ken fought valiantly against Ryu, but I had my own battle to wage alongside the rest of my friends.

For the moment, our best strategy against Bison was not to let him breathe. We surrounded him and let our attacks pour relentlessly on his body. We managed to hurt him a bit, but after scoring one, perhaps two attacks, he would turn to us and counter with a flurry of devastating, practically unavoidable attacks. We would fall down on our backs and lie down for a few moments before getting up and leap back into the offensive again.

As Leon hit him a couple of times with the hilt of his blade, Bison threw a kick at his stomach in hopes of driving him away. Amazingly, Leon stopped his powerful leg and swung his sword across our enemy's chest. Bison wailed in pain as our friend cut him. Next, Ryoga unsheathed his steel umbrella and drove it as hard as he could into Bison's back. Twisted by pain, the foe stood at our mercy. Sakura jumped at him and kicked him on the face several times with an attack which, again, looked a lot like Ryu's and Ken's. For my part, I got a hold of one of his arms and threw him over my shoulder and onto the ground as hard as I could. The rocks under my feet shook as his heavy body crashed against them. Leon then pointed his sword at the enemy's chest and charged. However, Bison escaped once again by teleporting away from us, and so Leon delved his blade onto the ground instead of Bison's flesh. We turned to face him as he summoned a great deal of dark energy...

"I'll kill you!" he roared in anger. "PSYCHO CRUSHER!!"

He then turned into a flaming torpedo that tore the rocks beneath him apart. Knowing that there was no way to stop him, we leapt aside as fast as we could. He didn't make contact with us per se: all that hit us was the boiling wind he emitted as he passed by... yet that was more than enough to wound us severely. I flew inches above the ground at great speed far away from them. I bounced once, twice, three times against the rocks before coming to a screeching halt. I got up feeling rather dizzy. I stumbled and fell to my knees and remained still for a few moments before looking up. We had been shot in all directions; not one of us lay close to each other, and every one of us was in the same, deplorable state I found myself in... And what was worse, Bison was nowhere to be seen.

The battle between Ryu, Ranma, and Ken raged on. My fiancée and our red tiger had tired expressions upon their faces, but Ryu's possessed rage wouldn't let him even expel a breath of weariness. Ranma and Ken got close to each other and, while breathing hard, became still and alert, waiting for Ryu to make his move. And then, something happened... Ryu's eyes changed. For a split of second, I saw them change. That hatred-filled stare changed into a puzzled look right before changing back to that evil glance. Ranma and Ken noticed this.

"Ryu, it's us!" Ken quickly exclaimed. "Come on, Ryu! Snap out of it!"

"We're your buddies, Ryu!" Ranma added. "Wake up!"

But instead of crossing words with them, Ryu rushed at them and knocked them down with his speedy, furious attacks... Yet his eyes had changed. Bison's power upon him was waning.

At that moment, I became confused and couldn't guess which our best choice was... We could either try to press on the attack against Bison or we could try to help Ranma and Ken to make Ryu come back to his senses...

The obvious choice became clear to me an instant later. Bison teleported right in front of me and startled me. I tried to attack him, but I was too slow. Right as I pulled my arm back to unleash a punch onto his face, he struck my stomach with his flaming hand and made me fly across the battle field. I yelped in pain as my body rolled over the ground.

Suddenly, I noticed my legs weren't touching the rocks anymore. I let out a surprised yell and instantly grabbed the ledge of the mountain. I was hanging right above my death... I looked down and only saw a black abyss. With a frightened yelp, I turned back only to see Bison standing a few inches away from my hands. With an evil grin, he raised his leg... I held on as firmly as I could and hoped my arms would be able to withstand the stomp.

At that moment, my friends came to my rescue. Leon grabbed Bison's waist and dragged him away from me while Ryoga dove onto the ground and grabbed my arms.

"I've got you, Akane!" he exclaimed. "Come on, climb up!"

I nodded and did as he told me to. As I stepped on solid ground I saw that Bison had Leon in a headlock and was punching his face with fury...

"Let go of him!" cried Sakura as he lunged at our foe with a flying kick.

Our enemy hastily turned to her and grabbed her leg. With a mighty swing, he threw her into the abyss.

"SAKURA!!" Ryoga and I yelled. I quickly leapt after her and managed to grab her hands... the only problem was that now I was falling as well. But before we disappeared into the black mist below us, I felt Ryoga's hands on my feet and we came to a sudden stop. I turned up and saw our friend hung by the edge of the cliff too, his feet stuck tightly into a small hole on the mountain side.

"Come on!" he cried.

With a nod, I swung Sakura onto the rocky wall. She managed to get a hold of it and began to climb up. She then held me and helped me get a hold of the mountain side as well. We quickly returned to the top and pulled Ryoga along with us. As we turned to Bison and Leon, we saw our friend had managed to escape Bison's headlock and had inflicted heavy wounds upon our foe... but he himself was moments away from fainting...

Ranma and Ken weren't doing so well against Ryu, either. Both of them seemed utterly exhausted, while our possessed companion hadn't even broke a sweat...

I forced myself to look at Bison and, along with Ryoga and Sakura, threw myself against him once more. Our attacks were quick and annoying: we successfully managed to drive Bison and ourselves away from the edge of the mountain. Again, we surrounded him and started to attack him in just as we had been doing moments ago. We were weakening him, but we were losing the battle either way...

Right then, I heard a loud shout followed by a cry of pain. I turned in alarm and saw how Ryu had delivered a powerful uppercut into Ranma's stomach. My fiancée fell flat on his back and didn't get up. Ken was far away from him, on his knees, trying to recover his lost breath. Ryu closed in for the kill... He was going to murderer Ranma.

"Ryu! NO!!" I cried and quickly ran to him, not minding the shouts of my desperate friends. I got to him in a matter of seconds and leapt at him with a kick. But Ryu turned to me with that frightening, evil glance and stepped aside, dodging my attack. With amazing speed and strength, he raised his leg high and brought it down upon my body, pinning me on the ground. The blow had been tremendous. He had knocked my breath away...

He lowered his body and grabbed my by my clothes. He held me up like a rag doll and kept me still. At the moment, I had my eyes shut tightly because of the horrendous pain...

"Let... let her go!" Ranma demanded, but I noticed that he still couldn't even get up.

I managed to open my eyes at last and looked at Ryu... His face twitched. As if memories wanted to come back to him... The evil in his eyes waned.

"Ryu..." I said in a low voice. "It's me... Akane... Please, remember..."

He kept still for a few moments, staring hard at me. Then, the fury in his eyes returned and he pulled back his arm, ready to crush my head with his fist. But right as he was about to hit me, Ranma got between us and managed to stop his punch... Ranma was too weak to properly stop a fully-powered attack coming from Ryu. That could only mean one thing...

"Don't do it, Ryu..." he muttered, his hands trembling under the might of his arm.

"Ryu, please!" I cried as he still held me above the ground. "You're not like this... You're our friend..."

At that moment, Ken got to us and grabbed Ryu's other arm. Our possessed friend turned to him in surprise. Ken stared at him with a serious, yet peaceful expression on his face.

"Come on, Ryu." He said. "I know you remember us... Take a good, long look at us, man..."

"We're your friends, Ryu!" Ranma added.

"We're not letting you go..." I said.

"Don't let yourself be consumed by Bison's power... We all know you're much stronger than that..." Ken said. "Come on, buddy! Make yourself remember!"

"Ryu, please!" I begged.

His eyes twitched as he grumbled in pain. Then, he let go off me and Ranma caught me before I fell to the ground. Ryu took a few steps back and lowered his head, grabbing it with both hands. He trembled and growled for a few moments... and then he became still. He raised his head again and looked at us with that good-natured, kind glance that was only his.

"...Akane...?" he muttered.

"...You're back..." I said with a low giggle. And just to make sure he wouldn't fall prey to Bison's powers again, I quickly hugged him. "I'm so glad you're all right!"

"I... I'm so sorry..." he muttered, embracing me as well. "I... I..."

"It's not your fault, Ryu." Ken intervened. "But there'll be time for that later. Right now, we've got something more important to do."

I took a few steps back and Ranma held me again. We all turned to the rest of our friends, who were practically struggling to keep themselves breathing against Bison's onslaught. Ryu's face was filled by anger again, but this time, his hatred wasn't directed towards us.

"We've got to take out the trash." He said, firmly.

"Now you're talking, buddy!" Ken said with a confident smile.

Seeing Ryu back on our side made my strength come back for a moment, and as I felt Ranma's hands on my shoulders, I knew he was as strong as ever too. There was not a moment to lose. With a loud yell, Ryu leapt into the air and threw a mighty punch at Bison. The fiend turned to him in surprise and leapt back just in time to avoid Ryu's furious attack which even shattered the rocky ground beneath us. Ken, Ranma, and I ran to the rest of our friends' side and put ourselves on guard.

"Ryu... you're all right!" Sakura muttered weakly. Seeing him back to his old self again gave her new energy... Soon, all of them were ready to battle once more with all their might... Hope can indeed do miracles.

"I won't forgive you for what you did to me, Bison..." Ryu grumbled. "This time, I'm getting rid of you for good!"

"I don't understand..." Bison muttered to himself. "How could you free yourself from my Psycho power? That's impossible! It was much stronger this time!"

"While that may be true..." Ryu growled. "I have more friends this time. Their strength adds to my own... And I'm going to let it all loose against you, for making me hurt them!" and with that said, he hastily gathered the energy about him and turned it into a deadly fireball. "SHAKUNETSU HADOUKEN!!"

Bison quickly teleported away from us as Ryu's projectile hit the ground. A pillar of flames rose from it and tore the rocks apart. An instant later, Bison reappeared behind us, but Ken was quick enough to realize this and threw himself against the foe.

He then let loose a flurry of kicks which Bison was unable to stop. Seeing as how Ken was pummeling him, the rest of us charged against him and each managed to land a blow. Leon slightly buried his sword on the side of his stomach; Ryoga hit his knee with his steel umbrella, practically bending his leg backwards; Ranma landed a fierce blow on his chest, and Sakura kicked him with great strength right below his armpit. For my part, I hit him three times: I first jumped at him and delivered a fierce punch at his face. Once I was on the ground, I performed an uppercut, striking his jaw. Finally, I kicked his face as hard as I could and made him stumble and fall on the ground.

Bison hastily got up and, with wild fury in his eyes, launched himself at us with his flaming attack.

"PSYCHO CRUSHER!!" he roared.

Once again, we all managed to evade the attack, but still got hurt in someway. Ryu, however, immediately began to focus energy into the palms of his hands and then fired it against Bison.

"SHINKUU-HADOUKEN!!" he cried.

The energy wave hit Bison head on, stopping him in his tracks. With a yell of pain, the enemy flew back and crashed against the ground. He rose to his feet again, yet we could all see his strength was failing him. We decided that this opponent was too dangerous to be given even the slightest chance and so we all charged at him.

Ryu and Ken started to attack him with combinations of punches and kicks; their feet and their fists were swift and furious and Bison was unable to block their attacks. Leon swung his sword restlessly and inflicted heavy cuts upon our foe. Ryoga, Sakura, Ranma, and I also attacked with a series of punches and kicks and while they weren't as brutal as Ryu's or Ken's, we successfully damaged Bison.

It wasn't long before Ryu and Ken put a definite end to it. They signaled us to move away as they surrounded Bison and gathered all of their strength on their fists. Just as soon as we reached a safe distance and Bison got ready to counterattack, they both unleashed their most potent techniques.

"SHINRYUKEN!!" roared Ken.

"SHIN-SHORYUKEN!!" yelled Ryu.

Flames engulfed Ken's fist as the earth shook when Ryu's arm moved towards Bison's stomach. The foe's eyes were filled by pain as both his opponents hit him, yet no sound came from his opened mouth. They all flew high into the air, a desperate cry of pain finally escaping Bison's lips. A few moments of uncertainty passed and then our friends landed on the ground. Of our enemy, however, there was no sight.

"...Yeah!!" cried Ranma. "We did it!"

"Yeah, at last..." Ken muttered, breathlessly. "That was a hell of a fight, Ryu."

"I'm really sorry." He promptly said. "I shouldn't have let this happened..."

"Relax, it isn't your fault." Leon said. "At least it's over now, and we're all alright."

"Yeah... I didn't think Bison would become a Heartless..." Sakura said.

"Something tells me he didn't." Ryu guessed. "I think that somehow, Ansem created all of this... and he's using our greatest enemies against us."

"Do you really believe that?" Ryoga asked.

"As Adrian would say, it doesn't sound so preposterous..." Ken mused.

But before we could discuss this further, a sudden ray of light appeared before us. As we looked into it, we noticed images of another place. We knew that there was no time to make guesses or to have doubts. With a nod, I grabbed Ranma's hand and whispered: "Let's go find our friends." To which he smiled gently and kissed me on my brow.

And with a deep breath, we all stepped forth into the light, oblivious of where it would take us.

_(Castle in Romania: Camille)_

When light fell upon the world again and let us see what stood in front of us, we remained quiet and still for the longest of times and even forgot about the rest of our friends, who were nowhere in sight at the moment...

A red, full moon shone proudly in the black sky just behind a huge castle. Light poured from its windows, the smell of many evil creatures was in the air. I took a step forth and tried to guess what was waiting for us inside those walls. There were, of course, plenty of Heartless... but there was a scent... a strange presence among them. I did not know at first if it was another Heartless. Yet, of one thing, I was definitively certain: this being was not human.

"This castle..." Morrigan muttered. "How... how did we get here?"

"...Better question: where are the others?" Seiya quickly asked, snapping out of the trance the edification had cast upon us and getting rather edgy. "Shiryu!! Hyoga!!" he called.

"Brother! Where are you??" exclaimed Shun in a worried voice. Merryck and Ariel remained by their side, still too stunned to even take a look about.

"I cannot sense any of their presences." I said, beginning to grow anxious by their loud yells. "Keep your voices down, saints."

"But where are we?" asked Ariel, only that she did so in a whisper. "This place just doesn't fit in... How in the world did we get here? And where did everybody else go?"

"This does not bode well..." muttered Merryck as he walked toward me. "Camille... do you know where we are?"

"I have not the least idea, my dear hobbit." I replied softly, turning to him. "However, I have the feeling that at least one of us has seen this place before." And then, I looked at Morrigan and asked: "Have you been here before, my fellow succubus?"

"Oh, yes..." she answered. "Indeed, I have." She walked forth and took a deep breath and then remained still once more. The saints stopped their frantic yelling and stood behind her silently. "Yes, I have been here before. Yet, I wonder, how did we end up here? It's not possible... Is it some sort of illusion? Or is this just a broken fragment of Earth and we just happened to stumble upon it?"

"You do know this, then..." Merryck mumbled. "Wait a moment... does that mean we're on Earth?"

"I wouldn't know..." Morrigan answered. "We're in Romania. And this castle belongs to an old enemy of mine."

"If he's here, then that must mean he's with the Heartless now." Seiya inquired.

"I seriously doubt that." my fellow succubus replied. "Demitri not only thirsts for blood, but also for power, and I do not think he would like the idea of sharing it with anybody."

"Thirst for blood?" asked Shun. "Is he a vampire or something?"

"Precisely."

"Oh, that's just great." Ariel muttered, fright in her voice. "We've seen what they're capable of... I still remember the day when Wilheim saved us from Ursula's clutches... If he's as powerful as he was at that moment..."

"We can all conquer him if we fight together." I interrupted. "Besides, Wilheim held Renamark at that time. I am sure that is where he got most of his monstrous strength. But let us not dawdle any longer. Even if this vampire is not allied to the Heartless, he is still our enemy. Something tells me we must confront him in order to move on."

"If that's how you feel, then let's go inside, already." Seiya said. "Come on!" he did not waste a moment longer and ran inside the castle, with Shun following him closely. Morrigan, Merryck, Ariel, and I went behind them, running a bit more slowly, our eyes carefully scavenging our surroundings. The last thing we needed was to get ambushed by the Heartless or by any other foe.

The castle was immense. As soon as we got inside, Seiya and Shun stopped in their tracks and put themselves on guard. Morrigan walked past them and turned to us.

"Follow me." She said. "I believe I know where Demitri is."

"I don't like this place at all..." Merryck mumbled. "But then again, I didn't like the chaotic world we arrived to begin with."

"Less talking and more attention, dear." I whispered softly and gave him a gentle nudge so that he would go forth.

Morrigan took us through a corridor which had a crimson red carpet and many beautiful paintings. A door stood in front of us, and behind it, we heard music playing. There was an orchestra on the other side and they were playing Mozart's "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" – "A Little Night Music". I heard many footsteps... the beings behind the door were dancing to the melody's beat. It was truly unbelievable...

"I never thought Mozart's music would give me the chills..." the hobbit said.

"It looks to me that we're going to have to crash the party." Seyia announced. He walked to the door and brought it down with a mighty kick.

We entered a large hall adorned with magnificent windows, a majestic chandelier, and much more. The architecture of the place was simply exquisite. There was a large set of stairs in front of us that lead to a throne where a powerful vampire sat. The beings around us kept on dancing as if we were not there: the music did not stop. And as we made our way inside the great hall, the evil vampire smiled and rose from his seat.

The being was as tall as Siegfried and had a stronger build. He had short, brown hair and a malevolent, white gaze. His eyes possessed no pupils or irises whatsoever. His hands and legs were strong and big. He wore an elegant black suit and a grandiose black cape. On his shirt, right on his chest, the emblem of the Heartless was carved... For a moment, it appeared Morrigan had been wrong about her immortal adversary.

"My dear Morrigan Aensland!" he called in a grave, evil voice. "It has been ages since I last saw you! I am honored to have you here! Welcome, welcome!"

"What are you doing here, foul creature?" she asked in a challenging voice.

"Where are our friends, damn you?!" cried Seiya with rage, taking a step forth. Morrigan raised a hand to silence him, yet he was determined to start fighting right away. I put my hand on his shoulder and firmly stared at him. He took a deep breath and then remained quiet, rage still festering in his eyes.

"Are you really so surprised to find me here, my dear?" asked Demitri, not minding the Pegasus's saint's rampage.

"I must admit I am... but mostly, I'm shocked to see you've become a pawn of the Heartless. I thought better of you, Demitri." She answered. And as they kept on speaking, the people about us kept on dancing as if we were not there.

"But my dear! You don't seem to understand at all." He laughed evilly. "You, of course, understand my thirst for power. That is why I have become an ally to the Heartless: in them lies true power. You of all creatures should understand my intentions better than any other."

"Power..." Morrigan scoffed. "What power can you possible aspire to when you are nothing more than a marionette?"

"You still miss the point, dear. I am an ally to the Heartless, not a puppet. We will conquer all, my naïve succubus, make no mistake about it."

There was silence between them for a few moments. Morrigan lowered her head and let out a low sigh. The rest of us stayed on our guards, our eyes focused on Demitri and the people about. Yet after a few moments, our friend pointed at Demitri and cried in a loud voice:

"Impostor! You cannot be the Demitri Maximoff I know! He's cruel and pitiless, but he is a proud warrior! He may be heartless, but he would never turn into the servant I see before me! Come and face me with your army, you false prince of darkness! We will crush you here and now!"

Demitri's expression turned from a calm, mocking one into an enraged, hatred-filled face. His eyes shone with a bright yellow color and he bared his fangs as if he were a hungry wolf.

"Then have at you, queen of the night. Tonight you will breathe your last!"

And as he yelled these furious words, the people about us stopped dancing; the music came to a halt. They all faced us and revealed their sharp fangs with loud, menacing hisses. The emblem of the Heartless became visible on their chest.

"They are all vampires?!" Shun exclaimed.

"Look!" Ariel cried, pointing at the ceiling.

As we gazed upwards, we saw a very large group of spider heartless running towards the walls and climbing them down. Some others simply jumped to the ground and some used their spider webs to gently lower themselves right next to us. We remained together, backs to one another. Soon, the vampires and the spiders had surrounded us and had separated us from Morrigan, who clearly had no choice but to fight the great vampire by herself.

"We have to hurry and destroy them all so we can help her!" Seiya cried.

"I hope we can succeed in this..." Merryck gulped. He then let out a low sigh and then unsheathed his sword, fear gone from his eyes, replaced by determination and courage. The little hobbit was truly as brave as they come. Throughout our adventure, he had grown in strength an in cunningness. I was no longer concerned for him when he fought: I was glad to have him by my side.

"If there's nothing more to do about it, then have this!" Shun cried and shook his chains. The magical entities grew to a hundred times their size and formed a magical spiral about us, the essence of the stars filling them. The foes took a few steps back and looked at him confused.

While this happened, the battle between Morrigan and Demitri had already begun. The vampire had vanished and had reappeared a few meters above Morrigan. He wrapped his cape about his legs and turned it as solid as stone and then dived against my succubus fellow like a wicked spear. Morrigan fended off the attack with her wings and countered with a projectile made of dark energy. Demitri floated to her and Morrigan's fireball went through his body, without even harming him. The fiend managed to get a hold of her and suck a bit of her blood. Pain filled Morrigan's face, but only for an instant, for then her wings turned into spikes that attacked her enemy and wounded him, forcing him to get away from her. She cleaned the blood that still stained her neck with her hand and threw it at the ground, while Demitri slowly recovered from his injuries...

"Get out of the way!" Shun ordered our foes. "Or I'll unleash my chains! Don't force me to do that!"

"They're... they're not coming..." Ariel muttered with a frightened breath, even though she was well on her guard and had readied a fiery potion.

"Shun, Morrigan needs our aid against this enemy." I said. "Mercy is a luxury we cannot afford for the moment."

"...You're right." He sighed.

"Tear them apart with your chains, Shun." Seyia said. "You use your needle-like wings, Camille."

"Yes... let us do that... NOW!!" I roared and unleashed a rain of dark needles upon the spiders and vampires. The Andromeda's saint swung his mythical chains and these, like a hungry pack of wolves, flew at their victims and went through their bodies.

Yet our opponents were much quicker and agile than the ones we had faced thus far. The vampires seemed to be unable to turn into mist like Wilheim or Adrian, but their bodies were nimble enough to bend in inhuman ways and evade my needles and his chains with frightening ease.

"Let's see you dodge this!" Seiya exclaimed. "PEGASUS METEOR PUNCH!!" he then executed his powerful technique: hundreds of blows of energy flew at the Heartless. Nevertheless, even when Shun and I were attacking the foes as well, the Pegasus's saint barely managed to destroy any of them. They got to us and started their furious attack.

Shun's chains came back to him and my needles turned back into wings again. Merryck ran to Ariel's side and began to battle while remaining close to her, while Seiya stopped his attack in order to defend himself from the onslaught of opponents that had charged at us.

Ariel quickly threw the potion she had held so tightly against the enemies that rushed at her. A pillar of flames rose from the ground and scorched a couple of vampires and some spiders. Even so, the enemies were too many and it seemed to me that she would not have the time to take out another potion. A hungry vampire threw himself at her, his fangs bared, aiming for the girl's throat. But before he could get to her, Merryck leapt high into the air and slashed his sword across his face, cutting him across his mouth. The vampire howled in pain for a moment and then became still and silent as Merryck leapt to him once again and delved his blade into his chest. A spider then attacked him in hopes that it would be able to deliver a deadly bite while the hobbit still struggled to pull his sword out of his dead foe's chest. But the vampires were Heartless, and as such, vanished as soon as the life left their bodies. Merryck rolled sideways, avoiding the spider's fangs, and then slashed the monster's legs. The demon screeched in agony and was immediately deafened by Ariel, who stabbed its head with her short blade. The two of them remained side by side, fighting the enemies one by one.

This was all possible, I deem, because Seiya, Shun, and I were doing our best to keep the rest of the monsters' attention on us. No matter how many vampires or spiders I had to fight for myself, I would always do my best to harass one of them which had the intention of going after the girl and the hobbit. My wings were hard and able to fend off the strongest attacks. Many vampires fell to me and I destroyed several spiders as well. A few of them managed to delve their fangs into my skin and taste a bit of my blood, but I would seize this moment to grasp their heads and twist them so hard that their necks would break like icicles do when the spring sun rises. There were a few moments in which I felt overwhelmed and had to take to the heights to fight my foes from there. These vampires were much more inferior (thankfully) than Wilheim or Adrian and thus, they could not summon dark wings to help them fly. Rather than that, they would crawl up the walls and the pillars about and they would then throw themselves at me. I grabbed many of them before they could do me harm and threw them at the ground with great force, their skulls breaking into pieces as they hit the floor. As much as I would have liked to remain there and keep on attacking, the vampires would soon stop seeking me and would run after the rest of my friends. When this moment came, I would go back to the ground and continue the battle there.

Seiya and Shun attacked several foes at once. Few vampires confronted them; it was the spiders those which gave them most trouble. The ghastly arachnids tried to immobilize them with their sharp fangs and their sticky spider webs without rest. Some of them approached the two saints enough to harass them by rubbing their backs with their rear legs in order to let fly a mist of hairs which were more like minuscule needles. The knights covered their eyes from the harmful mist and groaned in pain and anger as the spiders relentlessly attacked them. But then, Shun's chains would react and would fly at the spiders' legs, tearing them off their bodies with a single thrust. Then, when they were on the ground, unable to move with the freedom they once possessed, hissing in agony, Seiya would unleash his powerful attack and would destroy them in the blink of an eye. But though we all fought bravely and skillfully, the enemies were far too many. And Morrigan still battled against Demitri...

For a brief instant, the cunning vampire turned into a horrid gargoyle and let out a frightening roar. From his body, he let out hundreds of fiery bats which flew at an incredible speed at Morrigan. She jumped out of their way just in time: the fiery bats of energy crashed against the ground and destroyed a great part of it. The castle shook under the mighty blow. While she was still on the air, Morrigan fired a wave of energy at the vampire. He simply pushed it apart with his hand. Then, he flew after Morrigan, his fangs bared, eager to taste more of her blood. She tried to keep him away with her sharp wings, but Demitri flew past her using his dark powers and caught her from behind. Again, he managed to sink his fangs into her neck yet again Morrigan repelled him with her wings before he could do any serious harm. As they fought on, I could see that Demitri was slightly stronger than Morrigan, yet she stood her ground quite well. We had to get rid of the rest of the enemies to aid her as quickly as possible.

"Camille! You must go to Morrigan and aid her!" Merryck shouted.

"How can you expect me to do that when you two are completely surrounded by blood-thirsty vampires?!" I answered, driving my sharp wings through a spider's body.

"I still have plenty of potions!" Ariel added. "Help her!"

I decided to argue no longer and did as they told me. First, I had to get rid of the enemies that ceaselessly attacked me. I flew as high as I could and once I was both of the vampire's and the spider's reach, I unleashed a rain of fiery projectiles upon them. Those who came after me perished quickly, while those who retreated either suffered mild injuries from my blasts or completely escaped my rage. Either way, I was free to aid my friend. Furiously, I flew at Demitri and attempted to kick his head as fiercely as I could. However, the foe sensed me and hastily flew through me, his body momentarily turned to mist. Once he faced both of us, he smiled and said mockingly:

"My, my, dear Morrigan! I have seen that trick of yours before, but never so exquisitely executed! I must congratulate you. Yet your Astral Vision is useless against me!"

"What does he speak about?" I asked.

"Never mind." She replied. "Either way, this fight is mine. Go help the others."

"Dear Morrigan, that I cannot do. You might think that this fight is yours, but I have seen the battle from afar and if you continue battling like this, you will surely fall." I answered. "You have no choice but to let me interfere, at least this one time."

It was not long before she gave me an answer. And so with a defeated sigh, she nodded her head.

"All right. Just this once." She said.

"Well, what are you two waiting for? Attack me if you dare, women!" Demitri challenged.

"Let us do this!" I cried and flew as quickly as I could behind our opponent, while Morrigan shot a wave of energy at him. Demitri dodged it gracefully, yet was unable to keep me from positioning myself behind him. Once there, I let a rain of needles fall upon him. He evaded most of them but did get hurt by one or two. He turned to me in anger and flew at me at an amazing speed, his fangs shining and bared. I knew that his intention was to bite me: as he closed in on me, I used my wings to spread his arms apart and then pushed him back with my legs. Losing his balance, Demitri let his guard down for a moment. This instant was enough for me and Morrigan to let a flurry of punches and kicks rain upon him. She concluded her attack with a kick to Demitri's body while I smashed his head with both my fists. The enemy flew down and crashed against the ground. In a matter of seconds, he was back on his feet, angrier than ever. His wounds however, had not fully healed this time...

Our other friends were not doing too well. Merryck and Ariel were fighting as hard as they could, yet many vampires had already managed to delve their fangs into their necks and some spiders had succeeded in burying their sharp hairs into their skin. Seiya and Shun's situation had not improved either; the many enemies that attacked them still kept them busy and were not letting them rush to Merryck and Ariel's defence: the brave hobbit and the daring girl were about to fall.

Naturally, I simply could not just turn my back against Demitri. The look in his eyes told me that he was not going to forget about me even if I decided to abandon our fight. The same was true for Morrigan... Yet I could not just remain there and see my two dear friends get crushed under the mighty onslaught of the Heartless.

As I looked at the place where they fought, my eyes went to the pillars that stood about them. There was one that could prove me useful... I would only have to get my eyes of Demitri for a few seconds. Gathering all of my energy, I let out a battle cry and promptly shot a fiery ball at the base of the pillar.

"Merryck, Ariel! Step back!!" I ordered with a loud voice.

The hobbit and the girl looked up and with a gasp quickly obeyed. The pillar came crashing down and crushed many of the enemies that came after them. I smiled to myself, knowing that things would be much easier for them from now on. However, my smile faded as soon as I felt Demitri's fangs go through my skin and my blood flow to his throat, a horrible pain throbbing through my body. I tried to take him off me, yet he had my wings pinned against my back, and so I was unable to strike him with them. Morrigan quickly came to my aid, a fiery projectile of hers crashing against the vampire's back. Demitri grunted and flew away from us. Thankfully, he was unable to drink much from me, and had barely weakened me. Unfortunately, he had drunk enough to recover his previous wounds. The battle was seemingly far from over.

"Stay with me, Camille." Morrigan muttered as she flew beside me.

"I will do that, yet our friends' lives must be looked after, as well." I replied.

"Delicious..." Demitri mused. "I believe I would like some more of that blood... Lots more."

"If you want it so badly, horrid creature, then come and get it!" I challenged.

"Gladly..."

The vampire rushed at us again, turning impervious to energy attacks. Morrigan and I knew this and did not bother in using our fiery balls. Instead, we waited for him to get to us, our wings ready to block any attack the fiend might attempt. Demitri turned solid again and flew at me, his mouth wide opened. I knew that he was expecting me to use my wings to try to stop him, so instead of throwing them against him, I swung my brow against him. His head snapped back, blood coming out of his mouth. As he reeled back from my attack, Morrigan wrapped her wing around her arm and turned it into a sharp drill which punctured Demitri's shoulder. The Heartless reeled back in pain and threw a fiery bat at us. The projectile was too quick and we were unable to dodge it. We flew back, but were able to stop just before we hit a wall. The attack had been fierce, but it had not been devastating.

"Wretched succubus!!" exclaimed Demitri in rage. "You will pay for that!"

As he finished saying these words, a group of vampires turned their heads to us and with a frightening howl, ran at us as fast as they could. They climbed up the walls and threw themselves at us. Evading them did not prove to be a problem, yet they distracted us long enough for Demitri to attack us a couple of times. His punches were brutal and nearly broke my bones.

"Camille!!" cried Seiya and Shun as they saw us getting beaten by the Heartless.

At that instant, Shun unleashed his Nebula Storm. He had been building his power from the moment the fight had started. With that single move, he managed to eradicate all of the Heartless that were attacking him and Seiya. And as he destroyed the last of the enemies that came after them, Merryck delved his sword into the body of the last spider that remained on the battlefield and Ariel used a potion to burn to a crisp the last vampire that showed its fangs. Our friends had gotten rid of all the enemies: the tide had turned dramatically.

Demitri was obviously unable to hide his anger and frustration. His face was twisted by rage and despair, his eyes shinning wickedly, his fangs cutting through his lips. Morrigan flew beside me and then she cried out:

"Give up, false lord of the night! Your battle here has ended! Face it, Heartless! You have been defeated!"

"No..." Demitri growled. "I will not give up so easily, wretched weaklings!"

He gathered an evil energy on the palms of his hands and then unleashed it at us in the form of a terribly powerful fireball. Morrigan and I barely evaded it as it crashed against a pillar behind us. The structure began to fell and as we looked down, we noticed that Demitri was trying to do the same thing I had done to the Heartless that had been attacking Merryck and Ariel. Our friends were going to be crushed.

"Look out!!" we both cried desperately.

Seiya and Shun quickly moved out of the pillar's way and the later one also used his chains to grasp Ariel and pull her aside. Yet he had not been quick enough to get to Merryck and the little hobbit gazed at the pillar with stupefaction as it came down, unable to move. I rushed to him as quickly as I could and embraced him, but the pillar was upon us. I hastily wrapped my wings around our bodies and forced them to become as hard as steel. And just as I did this, the structure fell on top of us, crashing against my dark shield.

Although we were not crushed by the pillar, the blow damaged me severely. I let out a pain-filled cry as my wings fell to the ground in an almost lifeless way. Merryck held me as I fell to my knees and supported my weight with his small, yet strong arms. But before he could get me somewhere safe, Demitri swooped down on us and grabbed me by the neck. Unable to hold on to me, Merryck screamed in horror as he saw Demitri lift me up as high as we could get. This time, I did not have the strength to fend the fiend off... I was completely at his mercy and Demitri did not intend to spare me any.

He smashed me against the ceiling, making me groan in pain. The vampire drew an evil smile upon his face, showing his horrendous fangs at me. His mouth was that of a demon with a thirst for souls.

"Time to die..." he cackled and then sunk his fangs into my neck. Whimpering in pain, I found not the strength to get him off me. Life escaped my body slowly but surely as the evil Heartless gulped down every last drop of my blood.

Suddenly, he stopped. He looked down and noticed Shun had managed to get a hold of one of his legs with his chains. The saint then pulled as hard as he could and successfully caused Demitri to lose his grip on me. I started to fall: I was unable to move my wings, for I felt the pillar had pulverized them. Yet before I reached the ground, Morrigan caught me in midair. She slowly lowered me to the ground and left me at Merryck's side.

"Make sure that beast does not come near her." She instructed.

"There's no need to tell me that, Morrigan." Merryck replied, firmly. "If he dares to approach her, I will cut him down: I swear."

I smiled as my brave defender dragged me to a corner and put his body in front of mine, unsheathed his sword and carefully watched the battle unfold.

Shun's strength was terrible. However, Demitri had more power than him and was able to lift him up the ground. Yet before he could swing him around and smash him against every standing pillar in the stance, Seiya leapt up to him and delivered a couple of powerful punches. The vampire was terribly quick, but Shun's chains kept him from moving as freely as he would have surely liked. In the end, the Pegasus's saint delivered quite a few attacks, making Demitri twist in pain and rage.

Weakened by Seiya's sudden attack, the vampire fell prey to Shun's arms as he finally managed to drag him to the ground, making him crash against it like a meteorite come from space. Before he could recover from the impact, Ariel threw all her remaining fire potions at him. Demitri turned into a live torched and howled in pain as the flames began to consume his flesh. At that very moment, Morrigan unleashed a powerful wave of energy that crashed against him and sent him flying near Merryck and I. The hobbit, unwilling to let any sort of danger befall on me, promptly rushed to the Heartless, his sword unsheathed and cunningly drove it into his back. After a quick twist, he retrieved it and walked back to my side.

All of them stood around Demitri, who now stood still and awaited death. Nevertheless, the vampire had one final trick up his sleeve.

"If I die..." he mumbled in an evil, agonizing voice. "You will meet the eternal darkness along with me! MEET YOUR DOOM!!" and so he unleashed the very same beams of powerful energy he had released earlier, only that they had not been directed to any of us...

All of the pillars were hit by Demitri's last attack and began to crumble. There was no structure left holding the ceiling and thus, this one started to shake in an alarming way. The ground quaked and the walls roared violently as Demitri fell on the ground and was completely consumed by the flames of Ariel's potions. The Heartless was at last no more. However, the same fate that had befallen him awaited us as well...

"God damn it!!" Seiya yelled. "We've got to get out of here right now!!"

As he cried this, I realized that I still lacked the strength to move. Demitri had drank too much of my blood. Now, not only was the agonizing pain running through my shattered wings keeping me immobile... There was simply no power left in my legs.

"Camille, get up!" Merryck pressed as he attempted to raise me to my feet. Yet despise his best efforts, I could not get up. "Camille, the castle will fall on top of us! We've got to move!"

"I cannot go..." I mumbled. "L-leave me... Save yourselves..."

"I'm not leaving you behind! Now shut up and pull yourself together!" the hobbit exclaimed. I did not expect him to say something like that...

"Merryck... Camille!! Look out!!" shouted Ariel, pointing at the ceiling, fear in her eyes.

The hobbit and I tilted our heads up and let out a terrified gasp as we noticed a gigantic piece of ceiling began to fall right on top of us. Instinctively, I wasted what little strength I had left by embracing Merryck and covering both of us with my broken wings. Naturally, that would not save either of us...

"Nebula Chain, go!!" cried Shun as he threw his chains upwards, making them go over a metal tube, turning it into a pulley. His chains grasped the giant rock and he pulled with all his strength.

The Andromeda's saint strength alone would not suffice. As he tried pulling on his chains with all of his strength, he gave out a startled cry as the rock pulled him on the other edge and practically made him leap. Seeing this, Seiya, Morrigan, and Ariel went to his aid and barely grasped his legs. Their faces were twisted by the effort they all made in order to save us. Slowly, they returned Shun to the ground and once he was there, they all got a hold of the Nebula Chains and pulled the piece of ceiling away from us.

"...Get out of there!!" cried Seiya, his voice hoarse and low.

"Come on, Camille..." muttered Merryck and, knowing that I had no strength to get up, grabbed me by my arms and dragged me away from danger.

"Give her to me." Morrigan said, taking a hold of me. "Shun, Seiya, you take Ariel and Merryck. There is no time to run... We will have to leap out of the window."

"Let's just hope the fall isn't so long..." Shun muttered as he let Ariel climb onto his back while Seiya quickly picked up the little hobbit. "Oh, damn!! Damn!!"

The castle could not withstand its own weight any longer. The pillars all crumbled into pieces and the whole ceiling began to come down. The glasses of the windows shattered and the decorative armors were crushed by falling stones. The fire of the candles spread over the carpets and the curtains and began to consume it all. There was not a second to lose.

There was a large hole in one of the walls. Moments ago, a window used to be there. Morrigan ran to it, her wings spread to the sides and hastily leapt out of it. The fall was very long: I was not concerned about myself or my fellow succubus, for I knew she could remain airborne, away from harm if the need arose, but the saints, the hobbit and the young girl... would they be able to withstand the terrible impact? Nevertheless and to my relief, I kept forgetting that the saints were amazingly resistant; they barely bent their legs as they touched the ground.

They carried us away from the castle as a cloud of smoke and dust arose from the fallen stones. We had barely escaped... but we had been victorious... For now, at least.

"That was so very close..." Morrigan said, falling on her knees, out of breath. "For a moment, I was not sure we would make it."

"Nor was I." I added. "That Demitri was truly a monstrous foe."

"Miss Camille..." said Merryck, approaching me, stumbling to the sides, seemingly weak. "Don't you dare ever ask something like that again, do you understand? How could you think that I would leave you behind?"

"Did you really ask for that?" Seiya asked. "That's insulting, you know..."

"I would not think you would have agreed either way, my friends." I said, with a weak giggle. "I thank you all for your kindness... Thank you for saving my life."

"Well, you did do the same for us, after all." Ariel said, with a smile. "There's no way we would leave you behind, Camille."

"We're friends, remember?" Shun added, smiling as well. But then, his face turned serious as he looked at Morrigan. "So you think that wasn't the real Demitri?"

Morrigan slowly shook her head.

"I... I suppose he wasn't." she replied. "But... I can't be certain."

"You did sound quite sure back there..."

"I know. And I was certain at that moment that the Heartless before me was an imitation of the vampire I know. Yet... now I simply do not know. Demitri is heartless, after all... But does that mean that he can become a Heartless?"

"Well... it did happen to Sephiroth, right?" Ariel said.

"But Sephiroth still has his own thoughts." Merryck intervened. "I don't know Demitri well enough to say such things, yet if you, Miss Morrigan, say that he would've never become a puppet, then I think I would rather believe that Ansem is machinating some foul spells here..."

"If all mean people would be Heartless, then Ganondorf would have turned into one as well, I think..." Shun muttered.

"That matters not, for the moment." I said. "Whatever that fiend was, he is dead. We should not think about him any longer. It is time to leave this place and look for our friends. They may be in greater danger."

"I agree with Camille." Seiya said. "Let's get out of here. There's a strange light over there that I hadn't seen before... Maybe that's the way out."

"I'll help you out, Miss Camille." Merryck said, taking a hold of me and helping me walk. "There you go. Don't worry. You'll be as strong as ever in no time."

"I cannot thank you enough, my brave Merryck Goldengrass." I said softly, with a smile.

And so we walked to the strange light Seiya had spoken about without uttering more words, ready to give battle once again if it came to it...

_(Midgar: Cloud)_

As we walked out of the shadows, a familiar scent invaded my nose. Tifa, Yuffie, Cid, and Vincent were beside me... but the rest of my friends weren't. Yet I was too startled to call out their names. I believe we all were. No one made a sound as the light fell on the structure that stood before us. And as we looked at the unwelcoming sky, which had the appearance of a red, turbulent ocean, with powerful, menacing lightning coming out of it, we somehow felt we had seen it before. There was no doubt. Somehow... we were home.

"How the heck did we get here??" Cid yelled.

"What's going on here?" muttered a frightened Yuffie.

"Cloud...?" Tifa muttered, gently grabbing my arm.

"What... what do you want me to say?" I stuttered. "I didn't create a portal to get us here! How the hell am I supposed to know what in the world is happening?"

"Midgar..." Vincent said darkly. "This is... the cannon... We're on the structure that leads to the cannon that shot down the Northern Crater barrier!"

"But that's impossible!" Cid exclaimed. "That thing was destroyed!"

"Maybe Shin-Ra rebuilt it while we were away?" Yuffie guessed.

"No way. Rufus is dead, remember? He was killed when the Weapon attacked... Or so that's what I heard."

"Maybe Ansem revived him and turned him into a Heartless..." Tifa said.

"Right now, it doesn't matter." Vincent intervened. "We have to get out of here and meet with the rest of our friends. I don't like the look of this at all."

"I agree with Vincent." I said. "Let's turn back and—What??"

Behind us, lay a solid wall of metal. The dark entrance from which we had come from was gone. As if it had never existed. We all looked for it desperately, but found nothing.

Midgar looked just as it did the night we had fought Hojo. We were standing on a high metal platform which allowed us to have a clean view of the entire city. Of the upper part of Midgar, at least. There were plenty of tall buildings about, their lights going on and off. Smoke poured out of the Mako Reactors placed carefully around the city. By the looks of it, they were still functioning. Even the ones we had blown up seemed to be in a perfect state. There seemed to be nothing wrong with the city. It looked just as it did when I got a glimpse of it years ago, when Zack had got shot... Except for that dreadful, red sky which seemed more and more menacing with each passing second.

"...Where do we go now?" asked Yuffie, her voice filled by dread.

They all turned to me and awaited an answer. And here I thought I was done with leadership. Sora, Demean, and some others had assumed the leader role of late... I had guessed I was already off the hook. But no.

"I... I..." I stuttered. What could I say? Everyone panic? No way. I had to make a choice right away. "...Let's go up. Let's go to the place where we fought Hojo. Maybe our friends will be there." This was, of course, the first thought that popped into my mind. It was simply stupid to think our friends could be way up there.

I suppose they thought so too. Yet they had asked for my advice and they all decided to follow it.

"Then let's stop wasting our time here." Vincent said. "Let's see if we can return to Sora and the others."

There were some stairs at our left. We took them without saying a word. We started to run up as quickly as we could as the sky roared and unleashed powerful lightning. Its red color was truly something to behold. It filled our hearts with fear. Nevertheless, we refused to give into it and tried our best not to pay attention to it. Up we went, not minding anything else but our surroundings. We were on our guards: we weren't going to let any enemies ambush us. Because, and I believe my friends all felt the same as well, I was certain we were walking right into a trap.

"There are the cannon's controls!" cried Tifa. "This is where we fought Hojo, right Cloud?"

"If my memory does not fail me..." I said. "There's no one here."

"What should we do, then?" asked Cid. "They could be anywhere!"

"Even if we shout their names, they're not going to hear us!" Yuffie said. "The thunders are way too loud!"

"I don't think they're anywhere in Midgar, guys..." Tifa muttered. "Cloud, what do you think?"

"I told you, I can't... Huh?" I suddenly gasped. They all stopped shouting and stared at me with worried eyes...

A presence. A most familiar presence. It was a presence I had not felt in years. And yet, I always thought it to be near whenever Sephiroth was around. No, whenever I woke up. Because the cells of that monster lived in me. There was no questioning it. As I directed my eyes towards the vast city, I knew she was coming. Slowly rising from the ground to the place where we stood. She was ready to fight us once again. I could feel her evil presence and her reckless hate.

"She's here..." I groaned, grasping the hilt of my sword.

And as I finished saying these words, a monster appeared in front of us. My friends gasped and took a step back in alarm, reaching for their weapons. We had encountered that fiend before. Its body was round and enormous and had arms that appeared to be long tentacles coming out of it. A deformed torso came out of it: its face seemed human yet had horrible features. The white color of the entity made it shimmer like a specter in the middle of the chaotic, red storm in the mist of the city. Its power had grown since the last time we had met... the battle had begun.

"JENOVA!!" they all cried.

The creature let out a chilling shriek and attempted to crush us under the weight of its tentacles. We all leapt aside as she slammed the metallic platform with rage, making it shake with each terribly hit. For a moment, it seemed as if it was about to collapse.

Vincent quickly withdrew his gun and shot at the enemy. Jenova shrugged off the bullets as if they were pebbles. She then succeeded in hitting our friend with one of her tentacles, flinging him off as if he were a stick. However, Vincent managed to get a hold of a metallic pipe and swung himself back onto the platform where he continued his relentless shooting. His purpose at the moment was not to harm Jenova, but to draw her attention to him.

Nevertheless, the monster wasn't falling for his plan. She hastily picked another target: Yuffie. Her tentacles thrashed madly, trying to tear the girl to pieces. But the agile ninja managed to bounce off the walls, run up them, and swing herself from pipes to thin platforms in order to escape Jenova's wrath. She wailed madly, begging the rest of us to help her the hell out of that mess.

Cid was the first to intervene. He lit a TNT stick with his cigarette and then threw it at Jenova. The enemy was so busy trying to kill Yuffie that the cartridge hit its target and exploded, wounding Jenova. She screeched in pain and tilted her enormous body up, revealing her lower part which, surprisingly, had the emblem of the Heartless carved on it.

"She's a Heartless??" Yuffie exclaimed.

"Who cares?! Let's kill her already!" Cid replied. A fine answer, I might add.

Tifa took advantage of the monster's momentary weakness and leapt at her, kicking her body with all of her strength. Jenova reeled back in pain, shrieking horribly once more. But before Tifa could reach safety, Jenova recovered and pushed her away with her tentacles. And just as she touched the metallic ground, the fiend summoned a terrible lightning spell which fell from the red sky and hit Tifa, making her scream loudly and then fall to her knees, smoke coming from her flesh.

"TIFA!!" I cried and rushed up to her, throwing her aside before Jenova could pulverize her with her tentacles. Yuffie, Cid, and Vincent started to attack the fiend from a distance, drawing her away from Tifa and me. "Tifa! Tifa! Please, say something!"

Tifa shook her head and coughed a bit. She then looked at me and said: "I'm okay. Just a little shaken, but I'm alright. I can still go on." She sounded quite sure of herself and her voice didn't quail. It seemed to me that she was being sincere and she wasn't just trying to play hero.

"Okay, then." I said. "Let's go."

It was now my turn to do something. Once Tifa was back on her feet and ready to battle on, I leapt onto a high platform and from there, I threw myself at Jenova pointing my sword at her immense body. The monster was so busy dealing with our other friends that she was unable to stop my lunge. I delved my blade deep into her skin, making her cry out in pain and spitting a disgusting fluid from her hideous mouth. I retrieved my sword and got ready to unleash more blows, yet Jenova launched her tentacles at me and forced me to leap away. She readied herself to cast another spell, but before she could conjure it, Vincent shot a bullet directly at one of her eyes.

The monster floated away from us, her tentacles thrashing wildly in front of her face, repelling all the bullets Vincent shot at her. Seeing that he wasn't going to score a hit anytime soon, he stopped his doing and approached us as we all got together, readying ourselves to counter whatever Jenova might try next.

"Weird... I thought I sensed more power in her this time." Yuffie said.

"We have grown more powerful as well." Vincent said. "Don't forget that."

"What's she up to now?" murmured Cid, tightening the grip on his lance, staring at our opponent carefully.

Jenova had now surrounded her body with lightning and seemed really pissed off. I had no idea what she was planning on doing next, but one thing was certain: this wasn't going to be pretty. One could tell this as soon as her furious growls and a rage-filled wind seconded the thunderclaps.

Then she let out a most frightening yell, making us all stagger back in alarm. We all wished we could just drop our weapons and cover our ears from that ghostly howl. But of course, we had to do something about the fiend that now flew at high speed at us. For an instant, its purpose was unclear, but then, we understood what she wanted to do and looked desperately for something to hold on to.

Jenova crashed against the metallic structure, making it shake as if an earthquake had struck the Earth. We all fell to the ground and covered our heads as we looked up and noticed stairs and other sorts of debris had begun to fall down. Luckily we were not hit by anything. That didn't mean, however, that we were out of danger. Jenova floated away from us once again and got ready to ram the structure one more time.

"We've got to get off this thing!" Tifa shouted.

"There's no other place to go!" Cid exclaimed.

"There!" Vincent cried, pointing at yet another metallic structure. This one seemed to be still under construction. "We have to get there now!"

"Are you crazy??" Yuffie wailed. "That thing will fall down the minute we set foot on it!"

"Do you have a better idea??" asked Vincent as Jenova started to gather energy to her body.

"Do it, now!!" I said and leapt with the rest of my friends to said structure as Jenova rammed the construction, making it come down like a tree.

The place was really dangerous. One wrong step and we would surely fall to our deaths. We were sitting targets. Jenova needed only half of her strength and half of the blows she had used against the other construction to bring this one down. We needed to do something and fast.

It was then that Vincent decided to quit playing and summoned all his energy to him, unleashing it in the form of a terrible gargoyle-like creature which quickly flew at Jenova. Chaos – Vincent, that is – swiped the monster with its sharp claws, inflicting great damage upon it. Jenova tried to get him off her, yet Chaos was too quick for her tentacles. Be that as it may, we knew our foe had more tricks up her sleeve and that Chaos wouldn't last long against her all by himself.

Tifa decided to aim him by firing a deadly blast of energy.

"FINAL HEAVEN!!" she yelled.

The wave of energy hit Jenova as Chaos flew away from her. The damage was terrible, for the monster seemed out of energy for a moment and began to descent. But after a few seconds, she recovered her strength and was ready to give more battle.

The structure shook and cracked. It was so fragile that even Tifa had weakened it more by firing that blast. We were more defenseless than we had thought at first...

"What now??" Yuffie cried.

"How should we know??" Cid exclaimed. "Stop asking us what to do and come up with a plan for once, kid!"

"Damn it!" the girl cursed and leapt off the platform, throwing a rain of shuriken at Jenova. The monster thrashed and used her tentacles to get rid of some projectiles. She then attempted to hit Yuffie, but Chaos stopped her from doing this by swiping her tentacles with his claws once more. The battle between the creatures continued as Yuffie landed back on the construction next to us.

Jenova was now really angry. She decided that it was time to put an end to us all. She grasped Chaos with one of her tentacles and threw him far away. She then started to gather a great deal of evil energy to her. To protect herself from any other attacks, she hastily cast a magical barrier around her body. Knowing that this move of her would surely bring down the construction, we started to look for another place to move on to. But the construction was the only building in the surroundings.

"We have got to get off here!" I yelled. "Try to reach the bottom! Go, go, go!!"

We leapt from pipe to pipe, from metal bar to metal bar in a desperate way, not knowing if our efforts would suffice. In the end, we were too slow.

Jenova's evil energy exploded in the form of a green, burning mist which clouded everything. We all screamed in pain as our legs failed and we began to fall along with the structure. We could've fallen on our feet and rolled on the ground if we would've not been so hurt by Jenova's magic. That at least would've given us a chance to save ourselves. Yet we had been momentarily weakened by that powerful blast and could not find the strength to escape the debris.

It was then that Chaos appeared. His body bled but his wings were still strong enough to keep him airborne. He swooped down at us and grabbed us all. Then, he tried to fly away from the construction, yet our weight was too great to let him fly at full speed. In the end, a metal bar fell on top of him and pinned him on the ground. An inhuman howl escaped from his throat as all strength abandoned his body. He was going to be crushed by the structure.

"VINCENT!!" we all cried in horror as he reverted to his human form.

Fear and rage had made our power come back to our bodies. We all stood near Vincent and started to destroy the debris that fell as best as we could. I cut them apart with my blade: Cid and Yuffie pushed them away with their weapons, and Tifa bent them with her powerful fists and legs. We had survived the rain of metal bars and pipes. Vincent was out for the count, but he was alive. I saw this as Tifa and Cid lifted the metal bar that trapped him and Yuffie pulled him out. But Jenova wasn't going to spare us any mercy...

The monster started to gather evil energy to her body again: this time, she meant to crush us with her body. Lightning struck her as she screamed in rage. We all stood firmly and looked at her with anger in our eyes. Our fear had vanished: we were going to make her pay for what she had done...

"What now?" asked Yuffie, only that this time her voice had been rigid and demanded a plan of action that would rid us of that hideous creature once and for all.

"Cloud..." Tifa muttered softly, knowing that this time I had something on my mind and that I was just as angry as them.

"Give me your energy." I grumbled. "I will channel it to the Buster Sword... and I will drive it through that abomination's body."

"I like that plan." Cid said. "We'll through you up, Cloud."

"Do that."

"Let's do this..."

They all started to build up their power just as Jenova finished accumulating her strength and got ready to rush at us. Once they were done, they touched me and I felt an incredible warmth flowing from within me. I felt a hundred times stronger. I was ready.

At that moment, Jenova let out a terrifying howl and lunged herself against us. As a response to this, Cid, Yuffie, and Tifa got a hold of my legs and with a grunt, they threw me upward. As I flew up to meet the creature, I channeled their power into my blade and added my own. The Buster Sword started to shimmer with a blue fire. I held it fiercely as I flew to Jenova's encounter, never taking my eyes off her.

At last, I reached her. I swung my blade as violently as I could, letting out a battle yell. For a moment, everything turned white. I only felt a slight friction which slowed me down on my ascent. But then, the world became visible again. I looked down and saw Jenova's body split in two, surrounded by blue flames as it fell to the ground without making a sound...

My friends didn't even move as the monster's carcass fell about them and was consumed by the flames. It took me a while to fall back on the ground and I slightly hurt my legs when I did so, because my friends had thrown me way too high. But we had won the battle. Jenova was dead, hopefully, once and for all.

"Cloud..." muttered Tifa as I approached them. Without saying another word, she smiled at me and held my hands. I answered with a smile of my own and gently kissed her brow. And at that moment, Vincent started to cough and opened his eyes.

"You're awake already." Cid said, smiling. "I didn't think you'd come back so quickly, Vincent."

"I..." he muttered. "I'm all right." Despite these words, Yuffie held him by the arm and helped him up. "...You got her already?"

"What did you think?" Yuffie said. "It's not like we need you to kick that monster's butt."

"A thanks would be nice every now and then, Yuffie." Vincent said.

"I don't know if you'll ever get it from her, but I thank you." I intervened. "You saved our lives, Vincent. I don't think repaying you will be easy."

"It was nothing." The dark man said, with a soft smile. "Right now, we have more important things to look up to..." as I looked into his eyes, I saw a strange glow. No doubt he had been staring at something neither of us had seen.

"What the hell is that?" asked Cid as he saw the bizarre glowing green light which had appeared behind us.

"...The way back to our friends, I should think." Tifa guessed.

Whatever it was, we decided that it was our best chance to escape our home. How ironic... the one place we had been looking forward to see in our travels... and the place we escaped from most quickly.

_(Termina: Link)_

My breath had been taken from me. Of all the possible places we could appear in, not even in my wildest dreams... or nightmares... would I have thought of this specific location. Aeris, Hyoga, and Shiryu were troubled that the rest of our friends had vanished under the light that now engulfed us: only Sephiroth and myself were paying attention to the landscape in front of us – he was studying it carefully, ready to receive any Heartless that might try to ambush us, whereas I was stupefied and did not know what to do or say.

"Guys!" Shiryu cried. "Where are you? Seiya!"

"Shun!" Hyoga added. "Leon! Donald! Goofy!"

"Cloud! Tifa!" Aeris called. "Where did you all go?? Please, answer us?"

"You're wasting your breath." Sephiroth intervened. "Quiet down, already. Screaming like that won't help us at all. You'll just draw the Heartless' attention towards us."

"Damn it!" Hyoga grumbled. "Where did they all go...? Wait a moment... Better question: where the hell are we?"

"It's not like everybody's lost but us." Shiryu muttered. "I guess they're all looking for us as well."

"Well... If that's what they're doing, then we should get busy and see how we can get out of here." Aeris said. "Something tells me, however, that we're not inside those weird caves anymore."

"No..." I finally said, briefly coming out of my trance. "No, we are not within the caves."

"Link? Do you know where we are?" she asked, walking towards me.

"How can this be?" I started to say, falling under the intriguing spell the place cast upon me again. "This cannot be happening... It is impossible... This place should be no more! It should be shattered – only a vague memory which haunts the dreams of the people of a place I have not seen in the longest time..."

"Hylian!" Sephiroth shouted, bringing my feet back to earth. "Enough of flashbacks, already. Tell us where we are."

"You've been here before?" Shiryu asked. "Then you must know what's going on. Who could be doing this?"

"If you ask me, it could be Ansem." Hyoga guessed. "He must be making all of this up. Though I don't think this is an illusion..."

"Link?" Aeris said, gently grabbing my arm. "Is this Hyrule?"

"No..." I answered. "No, this is not Hyrule. Yet it is a land that is known to me, if it can be called 'land'."

"Explain yourself, you're not telling us anything and I'm getting tired of it." Sephiroth grumbled. His hastiness began to make me anxious, yet I was once again able to answer their questions clearly.

"This is not a country of any sort." I said. "This is a curse. A curse which remains inside a giant rock that looms over a peaceful town called Termina." I paused and took a step forward. "We are inside the evil moon that is – or was – determined to crush that town."

I had only seen that place once, yet remembered every last one of its flowers. We were standing in the middle of a beautiful meadow, with the light of the sun in our faces. Thousands of flowers bloomed around us – red, yellow, blue, purple... their colors were breathtaking. Unseen birds chirped a wonderful melody and the warmth of the sun and the clear blue sky welcomed us to this beautiful illusion. Far away from us, there was a lonely tree which cast a fresh shadow over the meadow. And at said tree's feet, were some children running about, laughing merrily... All of them wore white robes and masks...

And as we all stood there, carefully studying our surroundings, we suddenly heard a giggle and looked down. There stood a little child that wore a mask which seemed to be the face of a rock fish that hides on the sand and waits for its prey to swim by. He pulled Aeris's dress, urging her to pay heed to him.

"...Hi there, little boy." She greeted kindly. "What are you doing here?"

"Do you want to play hide-and-seek with me?" asked the child.

"Hide-and-seek?" Sephiroth sighed, exasperated. "I can't believe this. I never thought Ansem would use such pitiful distractions."

"Sephiroth, why don't you do us all a favor and shut your mouth?" suggested Hyoga. A most valid proposition, I should say.

"Um, I don't think we can play right now, honey." Aeris said to the boy, not minding our friends' words. "Actually, we're looking for some of our friends right now. I don't suppose you've seen anyone else around here, have you?"

"I haven't." the kid replied. "But maybe my friend has. Why don't you try asking him?" he added, pointing at the tree... At its foot, sat a lonely kid wearing a mask which I knew quite well. Yes, he was the one we should speak to.

"Okay... Thank you, boy." Aeris said and hurried to the tree, to meet the kid, yet I caught up with her and stopped her in her tracks.

"Not so fast, my dear." I said, almost in a whisper. "We have to do this together."

"What? Speak to a boy?"

"These are not ordinary boys." I went on, as the rest of our friends caught up with us. "The masks they wear... they are not ordinary masks."

"He's right." Shiryu added. "Can't you guys feel it? There's a strange power emanating from each and every one of them... especially from the one that the little kid under the tree is wearing. In fact... one could almost say it's an evil power."

"It is." I assured and they all turned to me in alarm. I took a deep breath and said: "Let us go. There is nothing to worry about... yet."

They said nothing more and they all followed me, their guards raised. We arrived at the comforting tree and came face to face with the child. I remembered that mask too well... The many decorations that hung by its multicolored skin... the spikes that came out it... and its most evil eyes. It had a stare cold enough to freeze the heart of the bravest man. Many curses and other heathen spells lay behind that foul mask. And I know that, wherever our friends had gone, we would only get to them by standing up against that mask.

"Hello, boy." I greeted dryly. I knew the dialogue, even though I had only done it once.

"Hi." He answered with the same dryness. More than that – his voice was void of emotions. "Would you like to play with me?"

"We're not here to play games, kid. Now beat it." Sephiroth answered, yet I raised a hand to silence him and hastily replied:

"Yes, we would like to play with you. What game should we play, little boy?"

"Okay." He said. "Let's play good guys against bad guys. You'll be the bad guys, so that means you'll have to hide. I'll be the good guy... Are you ready?"

And he stood up, and before any of us could say another word, a strange light engulfed us, blinding us for a moment, and the meadow disappeared. We were transported to a most different place. A magical, dark chamber with no door that led in or out of it. There were different masks hanging by the walls, all of them were they very same masks each of the children had been wearing.

"What??" Hyoga exclaimed. "What the hell happened? Where are we now?"

"Those masks..." Shiryu muttered. "They're the same masks the kids have! What's going on here?"

"Link..." Aeris said and her grip on my arm grew. I could sense fear in her. And to see her afraid frightened me as well.

"This is the chamber." I said, trying my best to remain calm. "Be ready to let your wrath loose, my friends. We are about to face a most terrible adversary." And so I walked towards the mask the kid who had asked us to play with him had been wearing. Its evil eyes stared at me lifelessly for a few moments. But when I came close enough, they shone maliciously and the mask got off the wall. All my friends gasped and took a step back as the mask grew as big as either of us and started to float. "Majora's Mask has awakened once more." I said to myself and tightened the grip on the Master Sword.

As the mask started to move about us, spots of the ceiling began to turn black and they began to leak a strange liquid. This fluid took shape and became solid in the form of dark, masked fiends. Their eyes were yellow and the emblem of the Heartless was carved on their chests. Their arms seemed to be shape-shifting tentacles that could turn as hard as giant hammers or as sharp as swords. It was not until then that I realized the crest of the Heartless was also carved onto Majora's Mask, only that its many colors made it hard to see.

Our enemies began the attack. Majora's Mask started to spin, turning its spikes into razor saws, and it threw itself against us. We all leapt aside in order to evade the blow, except for Aeris, who cast a magical barrier around her body and resisted the attack without having to move at all. Once Majora's Mask started to float again, the rest of the Heartless started to swipe their tentacles at us and managed to score a few hits. They burned like swords with red hot blades...

Hyoga and Shiryu quickly unleashed their fury against these enemies in the form of an icy storm followed by the blow of a dragon. The foes' attacks were terrible, yet their bodies could not withstand much punishment and so most of them fell. Those that were left were killed by Sephiroth, who stabbed them from afar with his long blade. He got hit a few times by some enemies wielding shadow maces which quickly changed into blades, but Aeris hastily healed his wounds.

I took a deep breath and decided to attack Majora's Mask while the rest of my friend kept the Heartless busy, for more enemies were spawning from the ceiling. The hideous mask looked at me with its evil stare and threw itself at me, attempting to cut my head off. But Aeris was looking out for me and when she saw Majora's Mask's cruel intentions, she cast a windy spell that kept it immobile for a few seconds. Since it was still too high for me to attack it with my blade, I decided to use my bow and arrows. I used an arrow of light for greater damage and let it fly at its soft bottom. The mask uttered a growl as it thrashed in pain and retreated to a wall.

It was then that what I had feared happened. The rest of the masks detached themselves from the walls and began to float about the room in the same way as Majora's Mask. They all directed their eyes toward me and I raised my shield, awaiting their attacks. They were four: one was the fish-like mask I described earlier; a second one was the face of an ancient tribal warrior; a third seemed to be a face with two horns came from a bull's head, and the last one had the appearance of a three-eyed worm. Enemies of old, the whole lot of them...

"Link! I'll help you out!" cried Aeris, standing by my side. I could see that the other three were doing a fine job in keeping the Heartless at bay. Even though I was worried about what could happen to Aeris, I knew that inside that room, she was all but safe from danger. It did not matter if she helped me or the saints and Sephiroth: Majora's Mask would try to kill her no matter what.

"Be wary of the four masks." I instructed. "They will fire beams of energy at us. Do you think you can conjure a spell that will bounce back their attacks?"

"I can try." She answered.

"Very well. Do not lose sight of Majora's Mask. It has many tricks up its sleeve."

"Okay."

And, as I had expected, the four masks started to fire energy beams at us. I took out my Mirror Shield and bounced back some of their attacks, while Aeris cast a windy spell which surrounded her and kept her from harm.

Meanwhile, the rest of our friends were battling fiercely against the Heartless. More and more dropped into the chamber by the minute. Some of them joined their bodies with other Heartless fellows to turn into stronger, more dangerous enemies. Those ones were even capable of withstanding one of Shiryu's attacks. His fists were not going through his opponents as easily as before; Hyoga's icy attacks did not entirely freeze the monsters, and Sephiroth's steel had ceased to be as effective. The Heartless were cornering our friends. We had to rid ourselves of Majora's Mask and go to their aid.

The abomination then fired a terrible ray of fire at Aeris. She withstood it with her magical barrier, but Majora's Mask's attack did not fade right away. It pressed on the attack and began to weaken my sweet sorcerer. Knowing that she would not be able to last long against that cursed ray, I leapt in front of her and used my shield. Majora's Mask howled in pain as its own ray lit it on fire. The rest of the masks fired at me furiously and I was unable to evade all of their attacks. I fell to the ground, weakened by the sudden blows, yet Aeris quickly cast a healing spell upon me and helped me to my feet. She then conjured a lightning incantation and struck the four masks, reducing them to ashes... I was truly amazed. I did not think she would be able to destroy them so quickly, with such ease!

This clearly maddened Majora's Mask. The fiendish creature threw itself against us at great speed, giving us no time to cast any spells to stop it. I was barely able to raise my shield to block its attack and fell on my back next to Aeris.

There was almost no time left. The Heartless had multiplied much and had now formed a dark giant which swung its sharp tentacles at our friends, wounding them severely. One of its hands then turned into a giant hammer and it began to pound the ground, trying to squeeze them. The floor shook as it was shattered by the terrible Heartless' strength. Our friends tried to take it down, but its skin had become to hard and was not easily cut.

"Link! We have to help them!" Aeris cried.

"I know!" I replied. "I shall distract Majora's Mask! Cast your most potent spell to stop it!"

"Okay!"

And so I began to fire arrows at the creature. They bounced off it like pebbles hitting a house. The monster's eyes shone briefly and then it shot its fiery ray at me. I tried to reflect it back to it, yet Majora's Mask had learnt the lesson and stopped the attack before it hurt itself. It went after me mad with rage... all of this while Aeris worked on her spell.

After a few minutes of escaping it, my sorceress finished her incantation and stopped Majora's Mask on its tracks. Knowing that the spell would not last long, I leapt at my enemy and buried the Master Sword deep into it. The mask cried out in pain and fell to the ground, apparently lifeless. It was then that Aeris and I directed our attention towards the huge Heartless and attacked it. One arrow and one fireball hit it from behind and it turned its head toward us. Seemingly we had not hurt it, but we gave our friends enough time to perform a deadly counterattack. Hyoga froze its legs with his most potent attack, Aurora's Ray; Shiryu hit its chest with a terrible hit, practically leaving it without strength. Finally, Sephiroth leapt at it and cut off its head, thus ending the Heartless menace.

"At last!" Shiryu cried, triumphantly. "It's over!"

"No." I corrected. "Though I do not see anymore Heartless, this is far from over."

"What do you mean?" Hyoga asked.

I did not need to answer. Majora's Mask suddenly rose from the ground and started to float in midair again. In a matter of seconds, arms and legs grew from it. And then an eye with wings, which looked upon us with chilling malice. Taking a deep breath, I put myself on guard and waited for the enemy to move.

For a moment, I did not know what happened: I merely fell to the ground out of breath, as did the rest of my friends. Majora's Incarnation had moved so quickly that I had been unable to see its movements. It was a lot faster than I remembered it. Things were not looking up.

I responded to the sudden aggression by firing an arrow straight at its eye. Yet my projectile hit only one of the walls that surrounded us and broke in half. The enemy was much too quick for my arrows. It moved at an amazing speed, letting out evil giggles as he went. All of us tried to hit it: Shiryu used his fists, Hyoga his icy attacks, Sephiroth his sword, and Aeris her lightning spells. The enemy's speed, however, was too great. It was mocking us, for as I looked closer, I could see it dancing like a mad Cossack.

"Damn this thing!" cried Sephiroth with rage. "We're never going to score a hit if it moves so fast!"

"I have an idea..." Hyoga murmured. "It's going to get cold in here! AURORA'S RAY!!" cried the saint and shot his attack at the ground, covering it with ice. Majora's Incarnation slipped for a moment and almost seemed at our mercy, yet it quickly recovered and kept running. "Damn thing!!"

Before either of us could say anything else, the opponent ran at us and started to hit all of us at full speed. I could not see where the attacks were coming from, I could only feel the blows. And as I was being pulverized, so were my friends. Majora's Incarnation was so quick that it could attack all of us at once. Its offensive then ended at suddenly as it had begun and it started to run around us again, mocking us, leaving us on the ground, badly hurt.

"Stupid thing..." Shiryu mumbled. "It's too fast!"

"Aeris... are you all right?" I asked, crawling toward her.

"I'll be fine." She replied as we helped each other to our feet. "I'll just cast a healing spell on us." And so she began to conjure the spell. But before she could summon the holy wind to soothe our wounds, Majora's Incarnation returned and attacked her.

"AERIS!!" I cried, trying madly to cut the fiend with my sword. Nevertheless, I did no harm and received many hits as well. The rest of our friends tried to help us, but the results were the same. Its speed was unbelievable. "No..."

"W... What now...?" asked Sephiroth, out of breath.

"Link..." muttered Aeris, reaching for my hand. I held it tight and then embraced her. "I'm so sorry..."

"Do not blame yourself..." I murmured as I eyed the fiend.

"...Damn it." Sephiroth growled. "...Hey, do you think you can still conjure one more spell?"

"If she tries to heal us, it'll come back to attack us..." Hyoga said.

"I don't want her to heal us right now." He replied. "I think I thought of a way to stop it..."

"Then share the idea, by all means." Shiryu urged.

"Hylian, can you melt the ice with a fiery arrow?"

"I believe I can..." I answered, beginning to understand his plan.

"Good. Once that's done, you cast your best lightning spell." He said to Aeris. "That should weaken it enough for us to attack it."

"I agree." Shiryu said. "But if we're going to do that, let's get away from the ice: we don't want to be fried, too."

We had to be swift in our actions. We quickly got away from the ice as I pulled out an arrow and got ready to fire it as flames engulfed its tip. Majora's Incantation still danced about the battlefield, but I could see in its eye that it was not its intention to let us live much longer.

"Be ready to cast your spell, Aeris." I said. "The flames of my arrows spread widely and quickly."

"I'm ready." She assured with a firm voice.

As soon as I released the arrow, the sheet of ice created by Hyoga began to melt. Aeris hastily cast the spell and unleashed a lightning which hit the water. Electricity flowed right to Majora's Incarnation's legs and paralyzed it momentarily, gaining a chilling scream of pain from it.

"NOW!!" we all yelled and threw ourselves at it, before it could move. Using our last strength, Hyoga froze the monster's legs so it would not move again; Shiryu unleashed a potent punch right onto the creature's eye, an attack so fierce that it shattered the ice capturing its legs and knocked it down, and once it lay there, Sephiroth and I leapt on it and pierced it with our blades. The enemy let out an agonizing scream and became still. My friends smiled and let out a satisfied breath, yet I knew the fight had not finished.

"Heal us, Aeris!" I shouted. "And get away from that! We have one more enemy to face!"

My friends, alarmed by my indications, did as I told them and we all got away from Majora's Mask. A few moments later, the creature began to shiver and got up. The eye disappeared and was replaced by the head of a horrid demon. I had seen it before and I had felt fear... Nothing had changed since then. The monster's glance was too terrifying. And I could see that all of my companions felt their hearts stop for a second as well. We had awakened the most terrible enemy. Majora's Wrath would be terrible... I could only hope that we would be able to survive it...

Majora ceased to be our only opponent: once again, the Heartless appeared before us and quickly melded into a huge, lumbering enemy. We were now facing two terrible opponents, similar in appearance and in skills, which was disastrous, to say the least. Majora began to shoot rapid bolts of electricity at us while the Heartless buried its razor sharp tentacles into the ground, making them come out from underneath us randomly, like spikes activated by a device.

Sephiroth's and Aeris's legs were hurt from these attacks, while Hyoga was reached by an electric bolt and was considerably weakened. As for Shiryu and me, we escaped the wrath of the Heartless' tentacles, he thanks to his stout armor, I by rolling from side to side and leaping back and forth, and also defended ourselves from Majora's electrical bolts by using our shields.

"Aeris!" I cried, running to her side, carrying her away from the Heartless' tentacles, although there was nowhere to be safe in that dreadful chamber. "Aeris..."

"I'm fine, Link." She replied, rubbing her hurt legs. "I just need to cast a healing spell, and it'll be all right..." yet as she said these words, her eyes started to drift away.

"I still have a bit of potions." I answered and hastily fetched one and let her have a few drinks. "Be careful, Aeris. These monsters are much more aggressive than—"

"LINK!! LOOK OUT!!" exclaimed Shiryu.

I turned around and promptly raised my shield in order to protect myself from Majora's new whip-like tentacles. It knocked me away from Aeris, who screamed in horror as she saw me get beaten by those infernal things. I tried to roll sideways to evade the tentacles' wrath, but they were simply too fast and too powerful. My shield did not suffice and in a mere instant, I was being beaten badly by a terrible opponent that would not stop until every breath of life had escaped my body.

"Stop it!!" cried Aeris and she quickly cast a powerful fiery spell which burnt the creature's extremities, making it yank them away from me. I tried to get up, but I felt as if all the bones in my body had been pulverized.

Aeris tried to heal me, but Majora kept her from doing this. Seeing that she had curative powers, it attacked her without hesitation. It used a terrible weapon: a strange eye with the shape of a bladed top which spun fiercely against my sorceress time after time. She had to take cover from these relentless attacks by casting a magical barrier around her once again, yet she was unable to conjure any more spells.

The rest of my friends were not doing very good, either. Sephiroth could barely escape the Heartless' attacks, and Hyoga and Shiryu, who were trying to direct Majora's attention towards them, were barely damaging the stout enemy. Whenever they tried to hit it with one of their attacks, Majora would swiftly evade them with the same speed it had boasted earlier. And if they proved to be too tenacious, it would slap them with its tentacles, knocking them off their feet. Not Hyoga's icy beams or Shiryu's terrible fists could penetrate the being's body.

The Heartless suddenly managed to grasp Sephiroth by his legs and started to slam him against the ground repeatedly. Our companion tried to break loose, yet the Heartless grip was awfully strong. At long last, he managed to cut the Heartless' tentacles with his sword and fell to the ground, almost unconscious. Our enemy, however, unexpectedly developed new deadly tentacles. Once Sephiroth was on the ground, almost unable to move, the Heartless began to beat him just as Majora had almost killed me.

The bladed top that had been relentlessly attacking Aeris suddenly exploded, shattering her magical barrier, knocking her against a wall. And like Sephiroth, she almost fell unconscious. Meanwhile, Hyoga stopped his attack on Majora and hastily went after the Heartless, who seemed determined to murder Sephiroth. He attempted to freeze him with his Diamond Dust, but the being shattered the ice and buried his tentacles on the ground, attacking the Cygnus's saint from places he could not see. Shiryu was not having much luck either: Majora struck him fiercely and quickly and evaded his attacks with terrifying grace. There was simply no way we would be able to overcome our opponents.

"Goddesses..." I begged, silently. "Please... Grant us the strength to conquer our enemies! I fear not death... At least not mine... Please, give me the power to save my friends and my beloved!"

And as I spoke these words, the goddesses answered me. I had a sudden thought. How could I have forgotten, I do not know. Yet the answer to my prayers had come... I had the strength to challenge both Majora and the Heartless. I had the power to annihilate them.

"If this is indeed the room where I challenged Majora all those years ago..." I said to myself. "Then it must still work." And so I took out a mask I had only used once in all my life... the very same mask that had granted me the power to vanquish the evil that loomed over Termina. "The Fierce Divinity Mask..." and without thinking about it a moment longer, I put it on.

The mask seared my face like red hot fire. I screamed in pain, yet the mask would not release me. Its strength was such that it raised me to my feet. My clothes changed and I could feel a heavy armor appear on my shoulders, although to me, it was as light as a feather. My shield disappeared and my sword transformed. When the metamorphosis was completed, it seemed to be a sword with two blades intertwining with each other. As I tightened my grip around the handle, I felt all of my power returning to my body. Not only that; now the strength of the mask was added to my own... and what a power it was. With sky-blue clothing and pupil-less eyes, I was ready now to destroy the evil fiends.

"Link... what... what happened to you...?" muttered Aeris as she slightly opened her eyes and looked at me.

"Worry not, my dear." I replied in a voice that was not my own. "I will not let them harm you anymore."

Majora had captured Shiryu by the neck with its tentacles and was choking the life out of him, while the Heartless had knocked both Hyoga and Sephiroth down and was about to drive its needle-like arms through them. With renewed fury, I swung my sword with a battle cry, shooting beams of energy at the two monsters. They were both caught off guard and when hit by the magical beams, shook in pain as if they were being struck by lightning. Majora released its grip on Shiryu, who landed on the ground, coughing, and the Heartless stepped away from Hyoga and Sephiroth, who quickly got up and put themselves on their guards with what little strength they had left.

I then ran towards Majora and attacked it as fiercely as I could. I struck it many times, making it screech in pain, and was able to fend off many of its now desperate attacks. I saw into the masks eyes and I noticed fear: Majora had somehow remembered the power of the Fierce Deity Mask and its heart was riddled with fright. I smiled and the glitter in my eyes grew fiercer as I knocked it down and kept on striking it with all my fury.

Seeing that I was dominating Majora's Wrath, the rest of my friends aided Aeris to her feet and she cast a healing spell upon them, and once they had all recovered their strength, they attacked the Heartless with all their might. Hyoga froze its legs once again. Only that this time, the power of the Diamond Dust was not easily broken, for Aeris also cast an icy spell to make the cold as terrible as it could be. While the Heartless tried to free himself from the ice, Shiryu and Sephiroth attacked it simultaneously: the Dragon's saint hit its shoulders with all of his strength, weakening his tentacles with every punch, whereas Sephiroth delved his sword on his chest and started to cut all of the beings body as hastily as he could. The Heartless slowly recovered from its wounds. However, it was unable to drive Sephiroth away, for Shiryu would not let him use his hands, while Aeris and Hyoga kept it from moving its legs. Very soon, the Heartless started to fall to its knees... and then, when he was able to reach his neck with great ease, Sephiroth swiftly beheaded him, thus ending with the Heartless' menace.

Majora tried hard to pin me to the ground with its tentacles, yet nothing it did worked on me anymore. My body was as strong as metal and would not yield to its attacks. Every time it hit me, I countered, making deep cuts on its body. Soon, I had weakened enough to deliver the final blow. It even appeared to me that Majora tried to escape back to the wall, that it was desperately trying to turn back into an unanimated mask so that I would not break it. Nevertheless, I was not going to give it that chance. And as it crawled on the ground back to the wall from whence it had come, I gathered as much magical energy as I could into the tip of my blade and then shot it at the monster's head. Majora thrashed in pain and squealed, but its wails were soon deafened by the sound of its own head exploding into a hundred pieces. And then, the monster was consumed by blue flames, and the room lost all its magical essence. All of it vanished, along with my mask's power. It fell off my face and onto the floor, taking with it the strength it had giving me, and so I also fell on my knees, exhausted.

"Link!" Aeris cried, running to my side. "Link! Are you all right?"

"I... I am now..." I answered, nearly out of breath, smiling at her happily. "I am glad you are safe."

"Where did you get that thing from?" asked Sephiroth as he and the others walked to me. "Why didn't you use that thing from the beginning?"

"It has been such a long time since I had last used it." I explained. "I completely forgot I had it... Its power only works in this room, I fear. It may have something to do with Majora's power, yet that I cannot tell..."

"...Well, lucky us." Sephiroth muttered. There had been no irony or anger in his voice. "We nearly got killed by that thing."

"It's a good thing you had already faced it in the past." Shiryu said. "It had many nasty surprises in store for us..."

"Yeah, it was a tough fight." Hyoga sighed. "Well, we shouldn't worry about that anymore. Now we have to go and find our friends..."

"What's that?" the Dragon's saint interrupted, pointing at a green light that had appeared before us.

"...I don't know..." Aeris murmured. "But if it gets us out of here, then I'm going." She helped me to my feet and then added: "And you're coming with me. I'm not taking my eyes off you now."

"You could just heal me, you know..." I said.

"I want to carry you for a bit." She answered sweetly.

"Are you mad...?"

"You're not heavy. I just want to protect you the same way you've protected me, Link."

"... It is my pleasure, my dear Aeris."

She smiled and tenderly kissed me as she helped me walk to the beam of light...

_(Ancient Forest: Octavius)_

That smell... The perfume of a long-forgotten forest that had nearly slipped off my mind... I knew that smell. And not only was the fragrance of the woods in the air. There was another essence. The essence of a being that I had looked throughout many lands; the smell of a demon whom I had tried to kill for the longest of times... yes, he was here. And at that moment, I could not care less about the fact that none of our other friends were there... Well, perhaps that is a bit of a lie. I was worried about the companions that were with me at the moment... especially about Felicia.

"Where... where are all our other friends?" asked the cat-woman, with a concerned voice.

"I cannot feel their presences anywhere near here." Tish replied. "But that worries me not at the moment. There is an evil being nearby... I can feel his power."

"Indeed." Demean added, unsheathing his daggers. "And it is quite a mighty presence... full of hatred. Yet... it is somehow... familiar."

"...Octavius?" muttered Ikki. "Do you think it could be the being you spoke about? You know... your enemy?"

"Yes, it is." I growled. "I can smell his stink." I took a step forth and then I shouted, angrily, defiantly: "Come out from wherever you are, Haken! Damn you! I have looked everywhere for you and now that I have found you, you cower before me! Pathetic were-bear! Face me and let us settle our dispute once and for all!"

We were in a clear inside the woods, surrounded by tall, dark trees. It was dark and the stars shimmered like diamonds in the sky, although the glitter they emitted was not a jolly one. At that moment, I felt them allies of the evil that dwelled in that place; the evil that I was so eager to obliterate. The soft, short grass under our feet would surely not prove to be an inconvenience: it seemed to me that Haken had chosen a good place to wage our battle. Surely he was as excited about the idea of killing me as I was about the thought of seeing him lifeless at my feet. Yet, like myself, he was not alone...

"Wait, guys..." Dante muttered, unsheathing his sword and looking about in alarm. "This guy that you speak of... his presence isn't the only one I'm feeling. There's some one else here."

"Damn it! They're using the forest to hide!" Felicia grumbled.

"Ah, that smell..." I muttered, as the other being's essence reached my nostrils. "Yes, that foul creature. Shnider... I suppose it would be too daring of you, Haken, to come after me without the help of one of your lackeys."

"Bold words for one who is accompanied by five henchmen, no less." Replied a grave, malicious voice which I had no desire to hear and yet... how I had longed to see that foul beast again, so I could end with his life.

Out of the trees, came out a young-looking man. His hair was blonde and he wore a cape made out of bear skin, similar to mine. His eyes were blue and were filled by evil. The man was just as large as me and his power was just as great as my own. Haken and I had a few things in common and the most obvious of these was our hatred for each other. Yet our choice in weapons was not one of the things we shared: whereas I opted to wield the katana, he liked to dispose of his enemies using a bastard sword. I remembered the glitter of his blade all too well. Yet what I did not expect to see was the Heartless crest carved on his forehead.

And as Haken showed himself, from the opposite side of the forest, emerged an old vampire, whose intentions were just as evil as the ones of my nemesis. He was as tall as Ryu or Ken, yet his body was slimmer, more athletic and less powerful-looking, despite the fact that, in his fist, he had the strength to bring down a great oak tree. His hair was as black as his heart and his eyes glittered with the essence of the children of Cain. The emblem of the Heartless was also drawn on his brow. And his smile revealed two small, deadly fangs. He seemed eager to sink them in the neck of one of my companions, or better yet, my own.

"What??" Dante exclaimed. "They're Heartless, too??"

"It does not surprise me." Demean growled, putting himself on guard, Tish flying about him, ready to cast a spell on his knives and arrows. "After all, Octavius did not speak very well of these characters. It does not shock me, to find out that they have lost their hearts to the darkness... if they ever had hearts at all."

"Ah, the mighty Demean." Shnider cackled. "Your skills and your reputation are legendary. Many of my race thought you and your fairy friend were just folklore. I will be delighted to tell them that I successfully slain such a legend."

"Careful, child of Cain." Tish answered. "You have too much confidence in yourself. Perhaps you did not pay enough attention to the legends..."

"You are greatly outnumbered, imbeciles." Ikki added. "You might just get out of here while you still have a chance. Believe me: you don't want to mess with us."

"It's three against one, for either of you." Dante said. "Your choice, fellows."

"No!" I quickly shouted, to my friends' surprise. "You may have Shnider's head if you so wish. But Haken's putrid heart will lay still on my hand only!"

"What?? Octavius!" Felicia cried. "You can't just fight this guy on your own! We're a team, and--!"

"He is mine!" I roared, shutting her up, almost making her leap back with fright. "No more arguing."

"Ha! I see that at least you still have courage to stand up against me alone." Haken sneered, walking toward me, his sword at the ready. "Well, son of Exequias, are you ready to face death now, after such a long time? It is time that I sent you to your father's side, if indeed that is where you will travel once I choke the life from your body. I am sure you are eager to find out if you will spend your afterlife next to your father's side, are you not?"

"Perhaps, Alwar Haken." I replied, feeling the blood in my veins start to boil... I could not stand him speaking about my father when he had been the one who had buried his blade in his body and had taken him from me... "Yet that is not something that I will find out today. Today, I will send you straight to hell!"

There were no more words to cross with that filth. I unsheathed my blade, and with a roar, I threw myself against him, my heart pumping in excitement at the very thought of slitting his throat.

"Octavius!!" I could hear Felicia yell, yet I heard how the elf placed a hand on her shoulder and kept her from aiding me. Smart lad. "But he needs help!"

"He asked us not to intervene in this battle." He said. "And so we shall respect his wishes. If you wish to fight, however, there is another scum that needs to be taken care of."

"Interesting." Shnider muttered. "Let us test your strength... See if you are as strong as the angels... and fall just as beautifully!"

My first move was to swing my katana at his head, to which Haken responded by parrying my blow with his bastard sword and then attempting to cut through my stomach. I blocked his steel and elbowed his face. He fell on his back and rolled away from me just before I pierced his head with my blade. Haken swung his head at my neck, yet I ducked underneath the blow and countered with a kick to his stomach. He protected his body well and took a few steps back. Smiling evilly at me, he said: "Very well, Octavius. I see you have improved in your skills. But your strength is merely impressive: now I will show you how little effect it has on me."

"Underestimating me, as usual, Haken?" I growled. "You will soon find out that this is nothing compared to what I have learned!"

I took out my shotgun and fired at his head. He quickly evaded the shot and threw an uppercut at my chin, knocking me down. Once I was on the ground, he tried to smash my head with his foot: I managed to grab his leg and pushed him away from me. I then got up and patiently waited for him to make the next move...

Meanwhile, my friends fought valiantly against the powerful vampire. I did not see them with my eyes, but the smell of the fighters and the sounds they made described me the battle perfectly... First, Dante cast a fireball and shot it at Shnider, who quickly vanished into thin air, allowing the boy's magic to hit one of the trees nearby. He teleported behind him and tried to cut off his legs with a sword engulfed in flames. Nevertheless, the vampire was also underestimating his opponents and the kid jumped high into the air, escaping the deadly steel of the blood sucker. Ikki then leaped into action and managed to hit the vampire in the back of his head, making him roll on the ground. He then leapt into the air, ready to crush his opponent's head with his knee. But Shnider turned around and swung his blade at Ikki. The flaming steel hit the saint's armor, which protected him from all harm, yet it did not keep him from flying into a nearby tree. Then, Felicia's turn came. As Shnider got up, the cat-woman managed to get a hold of him and started to madly scratch his face with her sharp claws. The vampire screamed in pain and pushed her away, covering his face with his hands. Before he could heal his wounds, Demean intervened and, with Tish's help, he engulfed his daggers with a magical fire and hacked at Shnider's stomach. The child of Cain wailed as he jumped away from my companions, to the top of one of the tallest trees. He gasped in anger and terror as he realized that the wound Demean had inflicted upon him was not healing.

"Miserable elf!" he cried. "I was planning to make your death a swift one, for the sake of your legendary stories! But now, I will feast upon every last drop of your blood! And before that, I will make you watch me rip your fairy's wings apart!"

"You will not touch her, foul creature, not while there is a breath in my body!" Demean replied, with rage.

"Come back down, evil vampire, and let us end this!" Tish added.

Shnider leapt off the tree and fell next to Demean, swinging his sword madly at him. The elf skillfully back-flipped, avoiding the vampire's onslaught. Yet the vampire hastily teleported at Demean's back and kicked him down. Once the elf was out of the way, the blood sucker ran after the fairy, his fangs bared. Tish protected herself by emitting a blinding glitter that made the vampire stagger from side to side, his eyes burning because of the light. The rest of my companions took advantage of this instant by letting a rain of attacks fall upon him: Dante hacked at his legs, making him fall on his knees, and then made a large cut across his back. The vampire screeched in pain, but was quickly silenced by Ikki, who threw an uppercut at his face. Such was the strength packed in his fist that he actually made Shnider stand on his feet again. The Phoenix's saint was, I think, the one who possessed less mercy of my friends, and this became clear to me as I heard the blood sucker grunt repeatedly from the combinations of punches and kicks Ikki was delivering him...

My friends seemed to have control of the fight... for the moment. I knew Shnider, and I was well aware of his strength: he would not fall so easily, not even before my powerful friends. In the mean time, however, I had other matters to take care of. Haken was not making things easy... Well, I did not expect him to do so. After all, he wanted me dead just as much as I wanted to see him rot in hell.

Our swords crashed against each other in furious combat. We struggled to defeat each other's strength, locked in a contest of hatred, both of our steels immobile, in furious contact with each other. Suddenly, I swung my fist at his hands and disarmed him. Following this, I spun on my feet and aimed my blade at his neck, but he ducked and threw a kick at the hilt of my katana. I was unable to hold the sword within my grasp and it flew far away from me. It had become a bare-handed battle. I threw a punch at his jaw, making his head snap backwards. He answered with a kick to my abdomen. His power was great and he nearly succeeded in knocking the breath out of me. I quickly grabbed his foot and tripped him and then threw myself upon him. Once we were on the ground and I was on top of him, I held his arms and head-butted him as hard as I could before he pushed me away and kicked my shoulder. Indeed he had grown strong: he nearly rendered my arm useless. However, I was not about to grant Haken victory: my profound hatred drove me forth and we became locked in a terrible struggle. The first to fall to the ground would surely die... My rage-filled eyes and his evil smile revealed our intentions.

As the battle between Haken and I raged on, I could hear now that Shnider had run out of patience and was not willing to play any more games... As he lay on his knees, Dante approached him, ready to deliver the killing blow. He aimed his sword at the vampire's heart, but even though his speed was great, Shnider parried his thrust and quickly captured him by the neck, rendering completely helpless.

"So, the little cockroaches are a bit of a challenge..." he growled with anger. "In that case, I will have to modify my tactics to destroy you all!"

And with that said, he unleashed a fireball right in the boy's neck, making him howl in pain, sending him flying into a nearby tree: the impact was so fierce that both of them collapsed and Dante nearly lost consciousness. Ikki ran to the vampire and readied himself to attack him with one of his deadliest techniques. Yet as he threw his fist at him, Shnider dodged his hand and then cut across his stomach. The flames of his evil sword scorched his flesh so terribly that I could even smell his burnt skin. He then revealed his fangs and attempted to pierce Ikki's neck with them and to drain him from his blood. But before he could do this, Tish flew in front of him and emitted a powerful glimmer that blinded him for an instant, giving the Phoenix's saint enough time to crawl to safety. Once the blood sucker recovered from the fairy's attack, he tried to cut her with a single swing of his sword, yet Demean leapt in front of him and skillfully parried his blow. Seeing that the fairy was well protected, the vampire decided to let the elf and the fairy be for the time being and from his back, emerged a pair of dark wings. He then flew at high speed at Felicia and caught her in a deadly embrace and flew high into the sky where nobody else could reach them. As I heard the cat-woman's scream, I could not help but to look back and desperately yell her name.

"FELICIA!!"

This was all Haken needed to throw me off balance and over his shoulder. I rolled over the ground and became a bit dizzy as my head crashed against a rock nearby. I was able to get on one knee and realized Haken had recovered his sword and was running towards me, ready to drive his steel through my torso. I leapt aside and his blade went through the rock, shattering it to pieces. I hastily ran to my katana and got a hold of it just in time to stop another deadly swing of his blade, directed at my neck. Either way, he had the advantage: I was bleeding and was slightly disoriented... After many brutal attacks, he finally managed to knock me down and tried to bury his steel in my cranium. I held it with my bare hands, and even through blood began to pour out of them, I would not yield. I then looked up and saw how Shnider held Felicia...

The vampire was trying to sink his fangs into the cat-woman's neck, yet she was managing to hold his head back with her powerful paws. For a moment, though, it seemed that Shnider was about to win the battle. However, before he could cut through her skin, Felicia delved her claws into the vampire's cheeks and pushed his head back with such strength that she made cuts so deep that they would have stopped an adult lion on its tracks. Shnider yelled in pain and released Felicia, holding his face with his hands. The cat-woman fell from a great height, but this did not concern her. As she looked down, she noticed that I was seconds away from losing the battle and her eyes were filled by fear.

"Oh, no! Octavius!!" she cried.

There were some very tall trees about. Felicia used the impulse from the fall to her advantage: she got a hold of one of the branches and swung herself from tree to tree, gaining more speed with every bounce, and finally threw herself against Haken. My adversary had not foreseen this and could not help but to be knocked down by Felicia's attack. Once she was on top of him, she began to swipe at him with her claws like a lioness that fights to protect her cubs. Haken roared in pain as he desperately tried to get her off him, yet Felicia's attacks were too quick and powerful to be taken lightly...

Meanwhile, Shnider had healed his wounds and was attempting to swoop down upon Felicia and catch her like a hawk preying upon a careless rabbit. Yet his anger and his hatred towards the cat-woman proved to be his downfall.

As he flew down, Demean took out his bow, and with Tish's help, fired a deadly, fiery arrow at his stomach. The projectile flew swiftly and true and reached its target. Shnider's wings failed him and he began to fall. Yet he promptly removed the arrow from his body and healed. His eyes went to the elf and he flapped his wings only once to land right next to him. Once there, he put his hands on the ground and summoned an evil aura to him. The elf and the fairy, I presume, luckily knew what they were dealing with and leapt back as rapidly as they could. A wall of solid flames the rose from the ground, burning many trees that stood around the malicious vampire. Tish was unharmed, but Demean got his legs burned so badly that he nearly lost them. As he fell on the ground, nearly losing consciousness because of the terrible pain, Tish quickly started to heal him, leaving herself open to one of Shnider's attacks. The vampire walked to the fairy and the elf, ready to kill them both with a swift blow, yet Ikki intervened. He quickly placed himself between our companions and the blood sucker and stopped his blow with one of his arms. The steel of the vampire's blade made contact with the armor and shattered it, yet it did not take Ikki's arm. The saint fell next to the elf, also helpless. Shnider raised his arm and let it fall upon his opponents. The blade, however, flew astray and then fell on the grass, along with the vampire's arm, which had been cut off by Dante, who had recently recovered and had snuck behind Shnider unnoticed. The vampire yelled loudly as he watched his dismembered hand in horror and fell to his knees. Now that he was defeated, Tish hastily healed both Ikki and Demean, who then got up and, along with Dante, administered the _Coupe de Grace_: the boy drove his blade through the vampire's chest; Demean buried his daggers in the demon's lungs, and Ikki unleashed a furious attack at Shnider's face, scorching him with the same strength and fury he had used to create the wall of flames. Their opponent screamed no more. He nearly fell to the ground with a deformed face and a lifeless heart. And after a moment of remaining there, in silence, his carcass was consumed by blue flames.

Meanwhile, Haken had gotten tired of withstanding the wounds inflicted upon him by Felicia. He grabbed his hands and with a swift movement, threw her at a nearby rock with all of his strength. The cat-woman's head was the first to hit the boulder and she fell on the floor, not a breath of life coming out of her nose or lips.

"NO!! FELICIA!!" I yelled, horrified.

I hastily got up, rage beginning to fill my body. Haken turned to me, an evil smile plastered on his disgusting face, and sneered: "Oh, so you have finally learned to love again? After everything I have done to you, one would think that you would have learned your lesson. Your stupidity knows no boundaries. Oh, well... I guess I can always content myself by looking at your miserable face, filled by anguish and sadness. It reminds me of the time I killed your pup..."

"...D-damn you!!" I screamed, the blood within my veins boiling with hatred and fury. "HAKEN!! I WILL KILL YOU, BASTARD!!"

The world about me began to vanish. I could feel the Rage of the Forests within my body beginning to wake up. This, surely, was what Haken wanted... No doubt he would now run away from me and would leave me standing against my friends: we would then have to wage a battle in which only few, if any, would remain alive... I tried to control myself. Yet as I thought about Felicia's lifeless body lying on the ground, my rage grew more and more...

"Octavius!!" Demean shouted at the top of his lungs. "Calm your anger! Felicia lives!"

Those words suddenly got me out of my trance and the world became visible again.

"What...?" I uttered.

I turned to them, unable to believe what I had heard, and saw them kneeling around the cat-woman, who, although still unconscious, drew breaths of life. On her chest, lay an exhausted Tish, who had used all of her strength to summon a powerful healing conjuration that had gotten Felicia's heart pumping once again. Dante had healed the wound on her head and was also tired, although I sensed that there was still strength in him...

"What?!" exclaimed Haken, most disturbed by their doing. "How can that be?! NO! I will not have that _Bastet_ breath any more!" he took a step forth but Demean, with the speed of lightning, fired an arrow at his feet, making him freeze.

"You two have a battle to wage, and we will not interfere." He said. "But if you dare come near one of us, _Narsua_, we will not stand idly."

"Get away from us, you idiot." Threatened Dante. "Or we will rip you to shreds. And believe me: that's not a euphemism."

"No..." I murmured, still marveled by my friends' spells. Felicia was alive and that was all that mattered. I have recovered reason and was able to wage battle once more. The wounds on my body had not healed, but they did not trouble me anymore. And once I was sure that no more harm would befall any of my friends if I should win, I called out to my enemy: "No! Haken, your fight is with me! Leave them out of this: it is I who deserves to have your head."

"You coward!" he roared. "You tell me this when that stupid _Bastet_ saved your life!"

"She will not interfere again." I said and sheathed my sword. I realized that this would not be a fight that I would win by my skill with the katana. "Now stop your pathetic wining and have at you. Let us see now once and for all who the most powerful Narsua is: the one who truly deserves to be the immortal were-bear!"

"My patience has a limit, Chronicus... and you have exceeded that limit!" he shouted, throwing his blade away as well. "Now you will experience the same agony your father did when I killed him!! AAARRGHHH!!" and with that roar, he began to transform into a powerful monster. His clothing disappeared as fur began to cover his body. His nails turned into mighty claws and his mouth turned into a jaw riddled with sharp fangs. His eyes turned black and his human voice turned into the growl of an adult bear. Yet the metamorphosis had not been complete: he could still turn his hands into fists and he could still stand in two legs. He had transformed into a creature that was half bear, half human.

"It is you who will quail in horror as you will gawp into the darkest and deepest pits of hell the moment I avenge my father's death, monster!! AAAHHHH!!" my shout echoed in the trees nearby as I suffered the same change he had gone through. We spoke no more words and let the battle commence.

He drove his fist against the ground, making it tremble under his might. I lost my footing and nearly fell to the ground and my friends were also thrown off balance. Haken hastily charged at me and slammed my face with his shoulder, making me roll over the ground. I grunted as the world started to spin madly: his attack had completely taken me by surprise. I shook my head and focused my sight on my opponent: he was running madly at me, foam coming out of his mouth, his claws aimed at my face. I rolled to the side just in time to evade the blow, got up behind him and with a roar, swiped at his back. The wound I made was much deeper and fiercer than any of the cuts my blade could have ever done. Haken took a few steps forward, letting out a roar of pain, and then turned to me, throwing a punch at my face. I stopped it with my arm, although I was still hurt by his tremendous strength.

Our battle raged on as my friends watched in silence, weapons in hand. They were ready to leap on the attack and kill Haken should I fall, I supposed (or wanted to suppose). They knew I would not let them interfere, so they stayed well away from us.

Another swipe, another fierce cut; another bite, another nasty wound... our strengths were equal. Roars and growls were the only language we understood at the moment. Our footsteps made the earth quail. The forest's wind had stopped blowing. The fight was terrible and seemed like it would last forever. We battled for a very long time: I actually cannot tell how long the duel lasted, but it seemed to me that we had been fighting forever. And with every swipe that I gave (and received), I felt how my heart was managing to get rid of terrible weights. It is a terrible thing to say, but it was true: at that moment, I felt that my existence had a sense... I was meant to kill Haken or to die fighting him. And that made me terribly miserable, yet encouraged me to fight on.

Haken hit my face with his strong claws and I fell on my back. I guess I was divine luck, but I fell in such a way that I was able to look at my friends. Felicia had now started to wake. She had sat down and was shaking her head. Time froze for an instant. Perhaps my life only had sense because Haken was still alive... nevertheless, as I thought things through for a brief moment, perhaps there was something else... Something I had not considered in the longest of times... And then, time flowed on and I sensed Haken's paw coming down upon my head. I rolled away from it and got up and let loose an onslaught of furious attacks directed at his neck. My opponent was not ready to stop such an assault and I soon manage to push both of his arms aside. My paw became as heavy as a boulder as I brought it down with all of my power and let my claws cut through Haken's jugular.

Again, time stopped. I could see my nemesis before me, his eyes filled by confusion and dread, as blood oozed from his jaw. My friends' faces revealed relief, for the hour of my ultimate triumph had arrived. I could feel the life of my enemy on my claws, taken away by that single, deadly strike. And as the seconds started to pass again, he stepped back in disbelief. No roar or growl came from his jaw, for I had destroyed his vocal cords. He merely looked at the ground as his blood left his body and formed a pond at his feet. He then gazed at me and, in a desperate attempt to take me with him, tried to bite my neck. However, I pinned him on the ground with the greatest easy and kept him still, forcing him to experience the horribleness of death and to feel the agony he had inflicted upon so many. His breathing slowed down... Until there was no more air on his lungs and no more blood on his body. His eyes did not shimmer with any spark of life whatsoever. Haken was dead.

Blue flames started to consume him. And as they reached my hands and harmlessly licked it, I realized something terrible: this was not the Haken that had hunted me for so long. Even though the essence, the smell, and the evil in his gaze were the same I had hated for so long, this was not the Alwar Haken I had desired to kill since the death of my father. I do not know why I knew this: my beating heart was the only thing that knew the truth. I slowly reverted back to my human form with no bitter words of joy. My opponent had died... but my real nemesis still lived... I was certain of this.

"Octavius!" Ikki cried as he and the others approached me. "You finally did it..."

"Yes..." I sighed. "Yet... this was not the real Haken."

"What? What do you mean?" Dante asked. "I know he was a Heartless and all... but it's logical to think he could turn into one, right?"

"I do not know why. I cannot offer you any sort of explanation, but that was not the real Haken." I said.

"Well, in that case, what are we to do now?" Tish asked. Yet I did not sense doubt in her voice: I knew what she meant. And as I looked at Felicia's eyes and her quiet (at long last) mouth, I realized that there was disappointment in my heart... but there was also hope and a faint palpitation of joy...

"It does not matter now." I quickly answered. "We should look for the rest of our friends."

The cat-woman smiled and put her soft paw on my shoulder, to which my heart gave a sudden leap, although my lips could not form a smile. A strange green light then appeared before us... The rest of our companions' essences came from it. But something had happened... I could smell fear and confusion on the other side of the light...

_(Nerima: Sora)_

I really have no idea of how it happened. Whatever the Heartless did or whoever was toying with us, they or he just made us appear in a quiet town, where the moonlight reigned (thank goodness, too, because we still had Adrian with us). Were had everyone else gone was beyond our understanding... I don't think that any of us even bothered to call for them. It was clear that they weren't in the same place than us... But where the hell were we? That was the real answer.

The place had totally nothing to do with the cave we had just been in. We were in the middle of a street, around many buildings. Most of them didn't have much charm, so to speak... Yeah, I suppose that's something Adrian would say. Which is weird, because he didn't say a word. I suppose he was too shocked to say any jokes... which was even weirder. Well, either way, the buildings were mostly square and had rectangular windows. There was one, however, that stood apart from the rest...

It seemed to be a small restaurant of some sort. It seemed to be an oriental restaurant. In fact, as I looked at the place, I noticed that all the rest of the buildings were not as dull as I thought. All of them had an oriental air to them. I don't know if I was the only one that noticed, because Donald, Goofy, Siegfried, and Adrian were all busy staring at our surroundings, their guards up. The place had a sliding door that lay half open. Inside, I could see a grill and a few chairs. The place seemed small, but comfortable. And it had a name, too... It was called "Ucchan's".

"No way..." I murmured. "...Ukyo? Is this your restaurant?"

As my other friends heard me, they all turned to her in shock. But she didn't answer. She had walked away from us and stared at the darkness of the night, Renamark in her hand. I knew Ukyo didn't just like to stand like that for her sake... There was something near. I raised the Keyblade and hoped that I could soon feel the Heartless about us with its aid. And then I felt a presence... and thank God I didn't yell like a frightened little girl as I looked to where Ukyo was staring and found in the mist of darkness a pair of horrible blue eyes peering at us.

"...You're here." Ukyo said in a hoarse voice. I then realized I had never sensed so much anger in her. Something was horribly wrong... At that moment, I really, really wished I had the slightest clue of what the hell was going on. But it was not like all of us were oblivious as to what was happening...

"No..." Siegfried muttered, raising his sword and shield. I turned to him and I saw hatred in his eyes that I would've never expected to see. "No... You're alive..."

"I suppose, rat, the shock is mutual." Said an evil voice which came from the being with the blue glance. He came into the light, showing himself.

The creature was abominable. I almost squealed when I saw him. He was almost as tall as Siegfried or Adrian, but he hunched. His skin was as white as the one of a ghost and seemed horribly scorched at some places. He had long, bony fingers and was dressed in ragged clothing. He was a Heartless: the crest of the enemy was carved on his upper chest. His weapon of choice was what seemed to be a halberd. He had two incredibly long fangs coming out of his mouth and... Well, I suppose I've talked about his eyes enough, so I guess you already know that they were two blue, shinning orbs that could stop the heart of even the fiercest demon.

"Who in the world is that??" asked Donald, readying himself to fire off a spell if needed.

"...How can this be?" Adrian muttered. "Ukyo, I thought you said you had killed this jackass."

"Therein is the surprise, is it not, idiot of a Ventrue." The enemy said, with a cackle. "Like that stinking rat standing beside you, I was brought back to life. And I daresay it would be quite a pleasant surprise, if I would be the one to kill you."

Just as he said this, with the speed of lightning, Adrian turned around and raised his scythe just in time to parry the attack of another foe. I don't know where the rest of us had our heads: we hadn't even heard him! Luckily he went after Adrian, who seemed to be most alert, because if he would've tried to stab any other of us with his long, thick dagger, it would've meant the end.

This other enemy had a white piece of cloth covering his head. All I could see from it were his eyes, which were as dark as an abyss. I could barely see any of his skin, but it was also pretty dark. He had a tough build and, like I said, carried a long, thick knife as his weapon of choice. Oh, he was a Heartless, too: he had the emblem drawn on his clothes. I guess it's useless to say that I suspected that these two Heartless, Adrian, Siegfried, and Ukyo all had their story... What am I saying? Of course I knew who the first guy was!

"I see you are still as sharp as always." The enemy with the knife said. "Well, I did not expect any less from you, my cautious friend."

"Get away from me!" Adrian exclaimed and pushed the enemy aside. "Don't you call me 'friend', Hommaph. I'm not in the mood for joking and I certainly wasn't in the mood to see you."

"I, on the other hand, longed to meet you again." The enemy replied. "To kill you has been something I have desired for the longest of times."

"Keep dreaming."

"I must admit I made a mistake last time I faced you, girl." Said the other foe, his voice turning more evil. "I underestimated you. That is why you managed to land the fatal blow. But now, as you can see, I brought company myself. Not even with the aid of the Ventrue fool, these three idiots or the stinking rat will you be able to defeat me... especially now that that insolent brat is irrevocably dead."

"I never thought I'd have to see your face again, Magnus." Siegfried intervened. "Ever since that night... I've hated you with all my heart. I can't stand to see you alive..." the grip on his blade tightened. "I'm going to kill you. And God forbid me for saying this... but I'm going to enjoy watching you die!"

"You forget your place, rat." The fiend cackled. "I once skewered you like a pig. It will bring me great pleasure to do it again with so much ease."

"No one hurts our friends when we're around!" Goofy cried, raising his shield and standing between Siegfried and the vampire who had once killed him. "You'll have to go through us, first."

"My intention precisely, dull-witted imbecile."

"What did you call him??" Donald challenged.

"You're going to get quite a surprise if you think you can call us names just like that!" I added.

"Even though you brought a lackey with you, you still underestimate us, Magnus." Ukyo finally said. "Moreover, you still underestimate the power of Renamark. I'm sure you've not forgotten the touch of its steel." She paused and then Renamark began to growl and was engulfed by furious flames. Ukyo didn't mean to take prisoners. "No matter how much you cry or beg for me to spare you, I'm going to cut through you. For Siegfried and Wilheim!"

I think that Magnus wanted to say something else. I think that he wanted to have the last word, but Ukyo quickly threw herself at him with a furious yell. And what's more, I think he caught Magnus completely off guard, because she swung Renamark at his chest with all of her might and the vampire barely escaped its steel. The magical sword's fire cut through his clothing and made small blisters on his flesh, although it didn't wound him gravely. It just made him mad. But now that Ukyo had begun the attack, I don't expect that the enemy would think that the rest of us would just sit on our butts and enjoy the fight. We all charged at him, our weapons at the ready, except for Adrian, who was keeping Hommaph at bay. It looked to me that those two had their past and it didn't seem that our friend wished for any of us to help him settle things with the foe.

Once he recovered from Ukyo's attack, Magnus faked a punch at her face and then teleported behind her and tried to impale her. But it appeared that my friend hadn't forgotten about the enemy's tricks and swiftly avoided the vampire's spear. She threw a kick at his face but he ducked under it and counterattacked. Yet before his sharp nails could go through her skin, Goofy stopped his hand with his shield and then swung it at his face. At the same time, Donald summoned a time-stopping spell, while Siegfried and I dashed at him, our swords aimed at his body. I really don't know how, but the foe amazingly got rid of all our attacks. First, he ducked under Goofy's blow and kicked him on the face as he back-flipped. This way, he also evaded Donald's attack and before the duck could recover, Magnus launched a fireball at him. Donald had enough time to cast a magical barrier of winds about him and this just kept the harm from being lethal. He was still knocked down. Finally, with the steel of his halberd, the vampire pushed both Siegfried's and my weapon aside and then hit us on our faces with the other edge. As I fell on the ground, I was still unable to believe it... Four attacks done simultaneously and he had evaded them all! What the hell were we up against?

At least someone was making some progress. Adrian and Hommaph's strengths appeared to be equal. Their fighting styles were very different: while Hommaph relied on single, quick movements and made a great effort in having his dagger hidden under his sleeve all the time, Adrian swung his scythe as much as he could to ensure that the steel would always be in movement. The dark vampire would strike once and then try to return to the shadows and Adrian would follow with a flurry of attacks. They leapt onto the roofs of the buildings around, back to the pavement, all over the place. I could barely see what they were doing. Of course, it was not just because they were as fast as bullets, but because I sort of had another opponent to worry about. If things came to worse, I suppose one of us would have to go help Adrian. After all, the only one of us who seemed not to be completely clueless was Ukyo, and that was because she had fought Magnus before.

We had gotten back on our feet and were doing our best to find out what the best moment to strike Magnus was. Actually, we were doing quite horribly, because... well, I have never really liked to blame other people for losing, but this time, Siegfried had gone way out of line. Not that he was scared and had decided to step away from the battle. On the contrary. That would've actually proved to be more of a help. He was attacking Magnus so fearlessly that he nearly got killed many times. If not for Goofy, Donald, Ukyo, and myself, he would've been already murdered. He refused to stay on the ground: after taking a hard fall, he would quickly get up and rush at Magus, attacking with a loud battle yell and with madness in his eyes. I really have no idea what the vampire did to him, but I never thought I would see so much hatred in Siegfried's eyes.

We had only managed to strike Magnus about four times, and three of those wounds had already vanished – only Renamark could truly damage his skin... which surprised me a lot, because, as a Heartless, one would think that I had the upper hand. I hit him on the knee once, but after throwing me away from him, making my body slam into a wall, he promptly recovered. I really had no idea what we should be doing against this monster. Goofy tried hard to slam Magnus's face with his shield, yet every time he tried to do this, the vampire would grab his arm and throw it away from him, and that's just because the rest of us didn't give him time to drink blood from it or to break it or to cut it off. Donald did his best to stay away from our opponent and to cast spells at him from afar. Magnus however, would teleport closely to him and would sit him down with one brutal punch. I don't know how, but I can bet that he was aware that Donald knew how to cast healing spells and he wouldn't even let him breathe the first syllable of the conjures. I swung my Keyblade from one side to another as furiously as I could; I fired plenty of fireballs and other sorts of spells and threw my weapon as a boomerang – among other things. The vampire evaded all of these attacks with ease and managed to cut my arms and legs. Not gravely, but I was losing blood, nonetheless. Siegfried... well, I think I told you enough about him. Ukyo wasn't doing so badly, but I knew she wouldn't be able to take on Magnus with just a pitiful lending hand...

Suddenly, I heard a cry of pain and rapidly turned my head to the other fight. Hommaph had managed to delve his knife into Adrian's right leg. The dark vampire's eyes glittered with obscure satisfaction, while our friend showed his furious fangs. Then, before Hommaph could retract his small blade, Adrian grabbed his hand and thrust it into a wall, making the dagger stick in it. Once the enemy's weapon was stuck on the wall and he was disarmed, Adrian swung the steel of his scythe at Hommaph's stomach. The foe leaped back, but was still cut by it. He let out a low growl and then stood still and alert, waiting for Adrian to make another move. Our friend quickly put his body between the dagger and his opponent and remained still until the wound on his leg healed. Of course, Hommaph recovered too, but Adrian knew he wouldn't be as dangerous with one hurt leg.

Meanwhile, Siegfried had started another mad dash at Magnus, aiming his sword at his head. The fiend easily disarmed him and sank his fangs on his shoulder, making him howl in pain. Donald and Goofy leapt to the rescue, as did Ukyo and I. Magnus carried Siegfried with great ease and threw it at us. Ukyo caught his torso and I his legs and we all fell down on the ground while Donald began to conjure an icy spell. The vampire quickly went after him, but the duck was ready for this and hastily swung his staff at Magnus's face. Finally he scored a hit and threw him off balance. Then, Goofy began to spin like a tornado and, as Magnus recovered from Donald's attack, hit him with his shield in the face multiple times.

Siegfried, not willing to rest, got up and got ready to throw himself at Magnus once more. This time, however, Ukyo put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back to the ground. I thought he would stare at her in shock, but instead of that, he tried to get up yet again and press on the attack. Again, Ukyo stopped him. Knowing that he wouldn't stay still, I grabbed him and struggled to keep him in one place. He put up quite a fight, but in the end, both of us finally got him to stay still.

"Siegfried, please stay still!" I cried.

"I'll kill him!!" he shouted, one would say, possessed.

"Damn it, Siegfried! Don't force me to knock you out!" Ukyo exclaimed, pretty angry herself. At last, Siegfried calmed down and looked at her. "You're not helping. You're just attacking madly and that's precisely what's hurting us."

"I want to make him pay!" he replied. "I want him to pay for all that he did to Wilheim and me!"

"If you want to keep attacking, start fighting smartly!" she said. "I'm tired of looking after you when there's no need! Better put your head where it belongs, Siegfried, or I'm knocking you out so that you stop getting in the way!"

There was silence for a few moments. Siegfried looked at Ukyo with anger. I think that he felt as if Ukyo was trying to steal the kill from him... And while this happened, the fight between our friends raged on. I'm surprised Donald and Goofy could keep Magnus busy for such a long time.

"Siegfried..." I intervened. Since I was the one who was less angry, I thought perhaps I would be able to make more progress with him than Ukyo. "Listen. It's not just about you. Magnus is our enemy... He wants to kill all of us. I know he did a lot of terrible things... to you and Wilheim. But you have to understand that it doesn't matter who defeats him, as long as we get rid of him. Just fight with your head on, or you'll just get yourself killed!"

He took a deep breath and stood up. With sword and shield in hand, he simply looked at Magnus without saying a word. He limited himself to nod his head and then approached the enemy... slowly and carefully. With a somewhat relieved sigh, I followed him closely, as did Ukyo.

The battle between Hommaph and Adrian looked like it was going to be eternal. The way I looked at it, there were two possible outcomes: one – we defeated Magnus and helped Adrian get rid of Hommaph – or two – Magnus killed all of us and then joined forces with Hommaph to destroy Adrian. Whatever the case, it didn't seem to me that any of them would win the fight by themselves. Not even when Adrian managed to get a hold of Hommaph's arms, swing him and then throw him into Ukyo's restaurant, shattering the door with his body.

"Crap!" he exclaimed. "Was that your restaurant, Ukyo?? I'm sorry! I swear I'll pay for the damages once I get my severance check from Scotland Yard!"

I guess that could sound funny now, but at that time, I don't think any one of us was paying attention. Either way, Hommaph suddenly emerged from the shattered restaurant and threw himself at Adrian. The latter spun on his feet and hit Hommaph in the back of his head with the hilt of his scythe. Yet just as he fell to the ground and before our friend could do anything else, the dark vampire bounced off the floor and with the speed of lightning hacked at Adrian's face. I don't know exactly how he cut him, but I'm sure that the wound was really serious, because Adrian fell flat on his back, taking his hands to his face.

At that moment, I became really alarmed. Hommaph had Adrian at his mercy and he wasn't willing to spare him any. He readied himself for the kill, raising his dagger over his head and the he started to bring it down upon Adrian's chest...

"NO!!" I cried and took my eyes off Magnus for a second and decided to attack Hommaph with a fireball. Luckily, I think that the enemy's head was still a bit shaken from Adrian's last attack and didn't do anything to dodge my projectile. I hit him on the back, making him take a step forward, grunting in pain.

At that moment, Adrian got a hold of his scythe and swung it fiercely and rapidly at Hommaph's neck. I turned my head too late: Hommaph's body rolled forward as his head fell to Adrian's side. He then got up, a hand still on his face, which still bled awfully and said: "Thanks, Sora, but I had it all under control – and I'm not joking this time. It was just a matter of – LOOK OUT!!"

With a spark of fright in my eyes, I quickly turned around and came face to face with Magnus, who had apparently made a wall of flames rise from the ground, knocking all of my friends down. Now he was going after me and was going to drive his halberd through my stomach. I parried his blow with my sword and then spun on my feet, swinging the Keyblade at his face. I managed to land the blow and then kicked him in the stomach. Sadly, I didn't even harm him: I merely drove him away from me and nothing more. And that only lasted for an instant.

Magnus moved so rapidly that I was unable to see his hands. He knocked the Keyblade off my hands and then knocked me on the ground. I quickly got up, only to find out that he was about to drive his halberd through my stomach... Donald, Goofy, and Ukyo were knocked down and Adrian was still badly hurt. There was no way I could escape this...

"SORA, LOOK OUT!!" cried a voice as it ran through me and stood before me. Siegfried then pushed me aside, knocking me down next to the Keyblade. I immediately grabbed it but then froze in horror as I heard a dreadful sound and a low groan of pain...

I can't describe what I felt at the moment, because too many emotions invaded me at once. By the look in my friends' eyes, I can also tell you they were feeling the exact same thing. Magnus put on a most wicked smile, which I hated with all my heart at once as he raised Siegfried above the ground, his halberd dripping blood. I swear that I even saw some of my friend's entrails coming out of the most deadly wound I had ever witnessed. He coughed blood as we all stared in horrified amazement, too shocked to even help him. And then, Magnus said, with a cold, evil voice: "I did not think it would feel this good, to drive my steel through your flesh again, filthy rat... but I suppose I simply do not know myself too well yet." And so he tossed Siegfried aside, a river of blood pouring out of his body, his hands trembling in agony.

Naturally, Donald's first reaction after coming out of the shock was to conjure a healing spell upon our companion. However, the evil vampire foresaw this and immediately rushed at the duck. Donald reacted in time to stop Magnus's halberd with his staff, but the vampire threw a mighty kick at his face and made him fly through one of the nearby buildings' wall, leaving him unconscious... Siegfried was a few seconds away from death and there was no way to heal him...

"SIEGFRIED!!" we all cried in horror. Adrian – who had already healed – and I raced to his side and knelt beside him, horrified tears coming out of my eyes, while Goofy got Donald out of the building and dragged him to where we stood. Siegfried's eyes were rolling back as blood still came out of his mouth, his final moment drawing nearer and nearer... Adrian held his head as I put my hands on his wound and pressed as hard as I could. But the sad truth was that we still had an opponent to face. Without leaving Siegfried's side, we simply turned our heads to Magnus and looked at him with a fury I didn't know I had inside me. I don't think I have ever hated anyone more than I hated him at that time. Not even Ansem had been as detestable and he was that filth's ruler...

"...Damn you!!" I roared in a low voice.

"You son of a bitch..." Adrian whispered with frightening anger, his eyes shining with a horrifying light and his fangs piercing his lower lip. Goofy merely stared at him with rage, but uttered no sound.

"Get up, worthless scum." He said, quite amused by our anger. "Do not worry. I will send you to his side in a moment..."

"How dare you?!" shouted Ukyo from the opposite side. She had just gotten up and I could see she was crying tears of hatred. She even drooled a bit, I have to say. "How dare you do that to him?! After all the tortures he had to endure... you killed him again!!"

"I told him it would bring me great pleasure, and it did." Magnus answered with a cackle. "The only thing I regret is that it is Siegfried who I have destroyed... I only wished it would have been that worthless son of a whore who loved his humanity like a pig loves the mud."

"You..." she growled, Renamark, amazingly, quiet in her hand. "You're not a vampire... What are you? A demon? A freaking monster? Yes, that's what you are... A goddamn monster!!"

And the moment she said that, a strange wind, cold as hell, began to blow. The sky, which had been a clear, starless sky at the moment, suddenly became cloudy. Thunder began to roar. Neither Goofy, Adrian, nor I could tell what was happening... and by the look of things, Magnus was clueless as well. Renamark began to growl and started to burn. Its moans for blood became so fierce that they even deafened the roaring sky. We were all frozen in fear... even our enemy. And then, lightning began to surround Ukyo, blinding us for a moment.

"Sora...!" Adrian suddenly said, bringing my feet back to earth. His voice had sounded very distant, thanks to the thunderclaps. "We're losing Siegfried! We have to do something!"

"Like what??" I asked, remembering our agonizing friend, whose trembling hands were losing mobility. Knowing that there was no way I would be able to stop the bleeding by just pressing it with my hands, I grabbed Siegfried's hands, with tears in my eyes, noticing that there wasn't any strength in him whatsoever. "Siegfried... no! Don't go! Please!!" he couldn't even look at me, much less say anything. He was slowly fading away.

"I can't get Donald to wake up!" Goofy exclaimed. "If only I had some potions left! But I don't have anything! I had to use them during the battle!"

"Damn it!!" Adrian cried.

The storm began to grow fiercer. The wind was so strong that I felt that I had to grab the pavement so that it wouldn't take me with it. Renamark's moans had now turned into deafening roars. We could barely hear ourselves speak. The lightning striking the ground turned into fire which quickly joined the rage-filled blade.

"...There's no other way!" our vampire suddenly shouted. "I have to give him some of my blood! There's no other way to save him!"

"But he hates being a vampire!" I cried back, realizing what Adrian wanted to do. "He once said he would rather die!"

"If he hates it so much, we can always look for Gabrielle!" he replied. "I have to do this, Sora! I have to do it, or he will die! And there will be no force on this Earth to bring him back! Not one!!"

I really had no idea of what to do or say. Surely Siegfried couldn't even hear us. I felt I had to make a choice for him. I looked at Goofy, as if asking for counsel. He hastily nodded his head: he only wanted to see Siegfried alive. I let out an exasperated sigh, hoping that he wouldn't hate us for what we had decided...

"Do it!!" I shouted.

With that said, Adrian bit his wrist and quickly put it in Siegfried's mouth. Our companion didn't seem to be alive, for he didn't even move his tongue. But then, I pushed his head back, forcing some blood to pass through his throat. And so, instinctively, Siegfried began to drink. His arms recovered enough strength to grab Adrian's wrist and press it against his mouth. Slowly, the vampire's power began to flow into him, although his skin didn't pink up...

"Crap! I hate this part!" exclaimed Adrian, who seemed to be in a bit of a pain. Siegfried, on the other hand, couldn't stop drinking... At long last, the vampire pulled his arm away from our companion, and as the blood stopped flowing into him, he started to convulse horribly.

"NO!! SIEGFRIED!!" I shouted, thinking that this was the end for him.

"No, it's okay!" Adrian quickly said. "He's just turning into a vampire... let him be! But don't leave his side! I'm not going to let that son of a bitch get near him anymore!"

"He'll have to come through us!" Goofy added, raising his shield and turning to the lightning, which had started to fade, as well as the blade's roars...

All became dark once more. The first thing we saw on the battlefield was Renamark, engulfed in flames that even licked Ukyo's arm, although they didn't hurt her. And as I looked closely, I gasped in horrified surprise. Ukyo's arms and legs, which had become nearly as white as snow, was the only thing I could see from her: the rest of her body was hidden behind a pair of large, dark wings that came out of her back. I turned to Magnus and saw that he was staring at these wings... and was shaking in fear. Slowly, the wings began to uncover Ukyo's body... It hadn't changed at all... except for her face. As she opened her eyes, I saw in them the exact same violet that I had once seen in Wilheim's glance, when I first saw him as a vampire that night in which he saved us from Ursula's clutches. All of her skin had acquired a ghostly color and her mouth revealed two small fangs... But what amazed me most was the power flowing from within her... it was simply terrifying. If she had been our enemy, I would've given up all hope on ever winning.

"What the hell...?" Adrian muttered, unable to believe his eyes, as the rest of us, I guess. "Is this Renamark's true power...?"

"How... how can this be...?" Magnus stuttered, struck by a terrible panic.

Ukyo didn't say a word. She merely spun Renamark once and then, with a speed that I didn't think existed, flew at Magnus and punched him in the stomach. The evil vampire didn't even yell as the creature buried her fist in his belly. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out of it. He dropped his halberd and took a few steps back, before falling on his butt. There was no air left within his body... Ukyo approached him and stared at him with those terrible eyes. I had to turn away from her, because she was stopping my heart with that horrific glance.

"If you think I'm going to kill you..." she then said in a low voice. "You're greatly mistaken. Not now, at least... No, Magnus. I'm going to make you beg for death."

And with that said, she lifted one of her fingers up and a pillar of flames rose from underneath Magnus, making him fly high into the cloudy sky. Then, Ukyo flapped her wings and went after him, Renamark at the ready...

I was unable (mostly unwilling) to see what happened. I just turned to Siegfried and went right beside him once again, noticing that he had stopped shaking and lay still, his eyes closed and his skin pale, although not as much as Adrian's or Ukyo's. But what was most important, he was breathing and the wound on his stomach was gone. By the look of things, he wouldn't be able to even lift a finger: I could see almost every vein in his body... That, I understand, meant that he was really weak. But he was alive. And what was even better, Donald was beginning to wake up as well.

"You did it, Adrian..." I murmured. "He's okay... He's a vampire, but at least he's still with us."

No one answered me. Goofy's head from Siegfried to Donald, but never did he look up. Adrian, on the other hand, had his eyes on the dark sky and had an expression of shock and fright plastered on his face. I didn't dare to look up. All I could hear were Magnus's frightened and pain-filled cries. It was clear to me that Ukyo was massacring him... I didn't want to see her doing that. Even if Magnus had turned into the creature I had hated the most, I even – get this – felt sorry for him. Though he probably deserved the death he was having, I couldn't help to think that perhaps a quick, clean kill would've sufficed...

"Look out." Adrian said softly and pushed me aside. I didn't know what that was about... until an arm fell right where I had been kneeling. I let out a gasp of horror and crawled next to Goofy and Donald's side, who were staring at the dismembered extremity with terror in their eyes.

"What the heck is going on??" Donald muttered as the arm was consumed by blue flames. And the screaming went on and on...

"...We-we won the fight..." I stammered.

"...What happened to Ukyo??"

"...I don't think we should be asking ourselves that." Adrian murmured, his eyes still nailed on the carnage that took place. "...I don't know if this is just Renamark's doing... I know that's its power, but..." he paused for a second and gulped. "Maybe the darkness that's in everyone's heart momentarily burst out of her... Oh, that's got to hurt." He crawled slightly to where we were and one of Magnus's feet fell on the ground, making Donald, Goofy, and I let out a gasp of horror. It may sound cheesy and ridiculous but we actually hugged one another in fright...

"How long...?" Goofy muttered, closing his eyes.

"Adrian... tell her to end it now..." I whispered. I'm actually surprised my voice reached him through the agonizing screams.

"Not on your life!" he replied. "Would you want her to get madder?? Oh, snap, here comes another one."

I didn't know which extremity it was. I just closed my eyes and let out a moan the moment I heard it touch the floor.

Then, another sound reached my ears. It had been another moan... but it had come from Siegfried's mouth. We all looked at him as he sat down and rubbed his stomach...

"Siegfried!" we exclaimed and crawled back to his side. "Are you all right??"

"...I'm alive...?" he stuttered. "...How? I'm..." he then looked at his hands, which's nails had already grown, and noticed his pale skin. "No... I'm a vampire again?"

"It was the only way to save you, Siegfried." Adrian hastily said, still without taking his eyes off the sky. "I'm sorry about that... But don't worry. We can get you back to your older charming self once we find Gabrielle... Actually, you'll do more good to us now that you've gained the power of my race... Jesus! That was way out of line!"

Donald, Goofy, and I covered our heads and waited for whatever it was that Ukyo had cut off Magnus's body to fall. I heard the faint crash and then Siegfried asked in a low, tired voice: "What's this...?" and after a moment of staying silent, we felt how he practically threw himself at us, yelling in horror: "A tongue?? What the hell is going on here??" actually, I don't think he was concerned about the fact that he was a vampire again at that moment.

"You've been avenged." Adrian answered. "Let's just leave it there... Finally. That's that."

We all opened our eyes and, with hard breathing, looked at the buildings about us. There were no more screams. But then, we heard a hard thud behind us. I didn't dare to turn my head, nor Donald or Goofy. But Siegfried looked back and then shouted in horror: "Christ!! Magnus's head!!"

The dismembered body of the vampire turned into nothingness after a few seconds and it was as if nothing ever happened there, except for the mess at the restaurant. We all got to our feet and cleaned our clothes from dirt and dust. Then, after a moment of silence, Ukyo landed right next to us, gaining a terrified gasp from all of us. She let her dark wings rest on her back and looked at us. Her violet glance wasn't filled by anger anymore, so it was, let's say, only half as horrifying...

"Well, no use to ask if you won." Adrian said. "All of us noticed... Not as fancy as fireworks, but you announced your victory quite well. What a mess..."

"Siegfried...?" she asked, staring at our friend with a bewildered glance. "You're alive?"

"I... I am." He stammered. "...Adrian and the others saved me. Not in the way I would've chosen... but beggars can't be choosers." As I turned to him, I noticed his eyes had also changed. Now their color was a grey one... it was strange. I had once heard that when Siegfried had been a vampire, there had been no life in his eyes, but now, I could see that was not true. Admitted, they reflected fear, but there was life in them. Perhaps it was due to Magnus's death...? I guess I'll never know.

"Thank God." She said, smiling. "Don't worry. We'll get Gabrielle to turn you into a human again. She did the same thing for Wilheim."

"Ukyo... what happened to you?" asked Donald, with fright in his voice.

"I don't know." She answered. "I think I became so angry that I woke Renamark's true power. I really can't tell. Either way, it doesn't seem that I'll be changing back to my older form soon... which is a bit convenient, because we still have to face Ansem, and I fear it will be much harder than this battle."

"Battle is one thing... this was a slaughter." I said, quickly regretting my words. At that moment, I felt that I didn't know Ukyo...

"Don't worry, Sora." She said with a smile, although I noticed dryness in her voice. "I'm on your side."

"...Okay..." I said and then took a deep breath.

"Hey, what's that over there?" asked Goofy, pointing at a ray of green light that had just appeared before us.

"The way out." Ukyo said immediately. "Come on. It will take us to our friends."

"How can you be so sure?" asked Goofy.

"The moment I turned into this, I acquired incredible power... I managed to read Ansem's mind. This is just an illusion he created by foul craft by taking the darkest fears that lay on some of our hearts." She explained. "Our most sinister terrors and our most intense hatred. That's how he built this place and our enemies. That wasn't the real Magnus or Hommaph. They were just illusions."

"Illusions?" we all asked.

"That's right." She went on. "She also built some for the rest of our friends... but they all made it through." she let out a sigh and then added, turning to us: "Come on. We're just wasting our time here." And so she vanished under the ray of green light.

"I don't believe this!" Adrian muttered after staying silent for an instant. "I've been a vampire for a bit over two-hundred years; she just turned into one and managed to read our enemy's mind?? That cheater! I'm going to have to submit a serious complaint to my elders when I get out of here!"

We all looked at each other and, without saying another word, followed Ukyo into the green haze...

_(Change of scene)_

I suppose I don't need to say that our friends were quite surprised the moment they saw Siegfried and Ukyo as vampires. We were also quite shocked, because some of them were very badly hurt. Those who knew healing spells quickly cast them to cure the group's wounds. As Ukyo had said, they had all had hard battles as well...

Whatever the case, I could feel that the final battle was at hand. And as I looked into the small room that lay before us, I let out a surprised gasp as I saw the very same door that had stood in the island from where I came, and in my strange dream...


	41. Chapter 40: Friends Forever

_Chapter Forty: Friends Forever_

_Narrator: Ukyo_

That stink... that horrible, repugnant stink... The essence of the Heartless had turned truly unbearable, thanks to my new, inhuman powers, I should think. It grew more and more detestable by the second. And so did Ansem's power... It came from beyond the door in front of us and as I looked upon it, I could only guess that our final test lay behind it...

We had decided to rest for a while before entering it. Many of our friends had been gravely injured during the battles they had waged against the specters Ansem had created to stop us. The wizards were exhausted: they had cast many healing spells and didn't have much more strength in their bodies. And, throughout this time, few were the ones that took their eyes off me for a moment.

Siegfried didn't get as many glances as I did, and I believe that I know why. Not only had I turned into a vampire by a unique way; not only did my new, dark wings refuse to vanish; not only did Renamark's flames licked my arms, legs, torso, and face from time to time without harming me: I had acquired a new glance; a new color in my eyes. The blue tone which had defined my irises my whole life was gone. Now, they had turned violet – just like Wilheim's. I could feel his strength in me flowing through my veins. I swear I could even smell him every time I breathed (his fragrance, of course, was very much different from that of the Heartless). And as I noticed this, I became terribly afraid. What if his essence had melded with me? What if he and I had become one? Did this mean that he would never become as he once was again? He would always be with me, yet I would never be able to see him, hug him, or kiss him again. The thought of this hardly thrilled me. Yet, even though I was desolate, it didn't... let's say... "show".

To be perfectly honest, many of my friends' thoughts resonated in my head. All they could see in me was Wilheim's furious ghost. My eyes reflected nothing but the rage that used to flood my beloved's gaze whenever his heart pumped with anger. Siegfried was amazed by my glance, for in it, he saw his brother, but he didn't find enough courage within him to look at me. The rest of my companions simply tried their best not to pay attention to me as I sat down, hardly making a move. My newfound strength would prove to be a blessing during our final battle, no doubt... but it confused and frightened them.

After a while, Sora finally gathered the valor to walk next to me and sit by my side.

"You... you okay?" he asked, nearly stammering.

"Eager to end this." I answered with a dry, perhaps even cold voice.

"R-really?" he stuttered.

"Aren't you?" I said, turning to him. He was unable to peer into my eyes for more than a couple of seconds.

"Well, I... You know, I... I-I have mixed f-feelings..." he confessed.

"Why?"

"Don't you realize?" he asked after a brief pause. "Ukyo, no matter how things turn out, this is going to be the last time we'll be together."

"How do you figure?" I questioned the same coldness still in my voice.

"Well... if we defeat Ansem, things will go back to normal, right? Everyone will return to their own world, right? Before Ansem did all of this mess, we didn't know each other... We didn't even know of each other's existence... If we succeed, we may never see each other again." He explained. The other set of events that might happen was, of course, obvious and so he wisely chose to omit it. "I'm not exactly looking forward to that..."

"I see..." I said with a soft sigh.

"Come on, Ukyo... I need a bit of encouragement here... Please, comfort me a bit."

It had been a long time since Sora had come to me in need of a friendly ear. He had grown up and had become quite a courageous, smart, young warrior. Be that as it may, these thoughts had weakened his spirit and I had become his older sister once more, even if for an instant. The Keyblade's bearer's hope was failing and needed to be kindled.

I wasn't precisely in the mood for comforting. Rather, I myself was in need of a shoulder to cry on (although if someone would've made such an offer, I would've undoubtedly rejected it). But in spite of this, I decided o give him what he asked. With a kind smile, I hugged him and let his head rest on my shoulder.

"We'll get through, sugar." I answered. "Don't let such awful thoughts invade your mind, especially now." I amazed myself: my voice had turned so warm and reassuring I had even started to believe that I wasn't the least worried. "We'll worry about it when the time comes, and even then, I wouldn't worry too much. We have all created a most special bond, one that nobody nor anything can undo. We all love each other, right? I'm sure we'd all give our lives for one another, if it came to it. But don't worry. Nobody will die. And when we return to our own worlds, we won't be away from each other. We'll always be in each others' hearts."

"That's so cheesy and not entirely encouraging..." Sora muttered, looking at me with a smile. His words, though, had been honest.

"We'll figure something out somehow." I said. "Like you said, at first, we didn't even know of each others' existence. But know that I know you're someone real, some one brave, righteous and good-hearted, someone who has turned into one of my best friends..." I paused to let out a sigh and added: "I won't ever forget you. And because of that, I know without a doubt that we'll meet again."

"That's still really cheesy." Sora said, his smile turning tender. "But I feel much better now. Thanks, Ukyo."

"Remember, we're not saying good-bye. Not now, not ever. Take heart, Sora... This will be our last battle."

He nodded and we held hands for a moment, as he gathered his courage.

"I'll do this... I'll do it for Kairi... and for Riku... and for you all."

"Then what do you say we get going?" I mused, getting up. "Ready, Sora?"

"Ready." He answered, rising up. Then, he turned to our friends and said aloud: "Guys, time to end this."

All of our friends nodded, let out a deep breath and then we all piled up in front of the door.

"Ah, you're achin'... for some bacon... he's a big pig... you can be a big pig too..." a voice suddenly sang in the back. I suppose it's needless to say who that had been.

"What the hell are you doing?" asked Cid.

"I can't help it." Adrian replied. "I tend to hum when I'm nervous."

"Then hum, but don't sing!" the man grumbled, pretty nervous himself, to which Dante let out a laugh, muffled by his own hands.

"Okay, okay... Jeez, try to calm down a bit. You're making everyone nervous."

"I'm making all of you nervous?!" Cid yelled. "You're the one singing like a--!"

"I'm opening the door now!" exclaimed Sora, making everyone shut up. With a steady grip, he approached the Keyblade to the door, muttering to himself that this had been the door that had allowed Ansem and the Heartless into his world. At last, while holding his breath, he tapped it and opened it. Then he turned to us as Donald and Goofy went by his side, like a pair of bodyguards, and signaled us to go in as he himself crossed this mysterious threshold. We all silently followed.

We couldn't believe our eyes as we entered the realm before us. We seemed to be on some sort of island: before us, there was sand, which seemed as white and as soft as silk. Yet once we set foot on it, we discovered that it was as hard as the rocks on a mountain side. There was a forest behind us, giving the illusion that we had just exited fair woods. A tree house was near, on top of a small mountain. But there was something very strange with the scenery before us. Trees were missing from their spots. An empty pond and a dried waterfall lay near us. And where the sea should be, peering at us with its immensity, there was nothing. Not a cliff, nor a meadow, nor a haze. Nothing. And the same nothingness was here and there, giving the impression that a god had descended from above and had gnawed the land. A bright, cold sun poured its unwelcoming rays upon us without hurting Adrian, Siegfried, or myself.

We all remained on our guards, looking for enemies nearby. But Sora walked forth as if hypnotized, his gaze captured by the scenery. We looked at him with confusion for a moment, yet then we realized what was going on. At long last, after months of battles and voyages, Sora had finally returned to his land.

"Sora?" asked Donald.

"Are you okay?" muttered Goofy.

The boy slowly turned to face us and answered: "I'm going to save it all."

And suddenly a voice, a most foul and dark voice spoke. It seemed to be coming from everywhere and from nowhere at the same time. It's hard to describe... perhaps the nothingness invading the island caused that effect. But as we turned to look for the owner of the voice, we saw, standing just a few yards away from us, turning his back on us, dressed in a strange, black attire, was Riku, peering into the sea of emptiness.

"This world has been connected... tied to the darkness... soon to be completely eclipsed. A meaningless effort. You understand so little. One who knows nothing can understand nothing." And as we approached him, Riku turned to face us and revealed his true form: Ansem; our final rival. "Welcome to the end of the world."

"Finally..." Sephiroth muttered to himself, his rage and hate growing. "I've waited too long for this... You're dead, Ansem!"

With a loud shout, he lunged against Ansem, his sword aimed at his chest. But the enemy let out a low laugh and Sephiroth bounced off him as if he had hit an electrified fence. He let go of his sword and spun in the air. Before he hit the ground, Octavius caught him. Our unlikely ally shook his head and looked at Ansem, gritting his teeth, despair and hatred in his eyes.

"But if it isn't my rogue Heartless." The enemy mused. "As feisty as ever, I see..."

"Perhaps you can repel Sephiroth because he's a Heartless." Seiya grumbled. "But I am most definitively not one!" he jumped high into the air and unleashed his potent attack. Yet all of his energy-fists vanished before Ansem and, with another laugh, with a mere smirk, wounded the Pegasus's saint just like he had done with Sephiroth.

"What the hell??" cried Cid, tightening the firm on his spear.

"Do you really think that my powers are limited to the absolute control of the Heartless?" Ansem sneered. "Foolish boys. You cannot possibly hope to defeat me. Especially now that you have made me stronger."

"Made you stronger??" Donald quacked. "Us??"

"What the hell are you talking about, bastard?!" Siegfried demanded.

"I must be honest." He said. "I hoped that my illusions would be enough to stop you. But you defeated them all. I must congratulate you: the test was not easy. However, my servants awoke in some of you an incontrollable darkness within your hearts..." as he spoke these words, I felt how most of my friends' eyes rested upon me. I wasn't the least intimidated by his speech, though. "As long as there is darkness in the heart, I will have power. The stronger the darkness, the stronger I will become. That's why I must thank you... you have helped me grow more powerful. In other words, you have machinated your own downfall."

"You still don't get it, don't you?" Sora exclaimed. "The heart may doubt! And some times, it may fall to darkness... but deep inside, there's a light that never goes out! And that light is stronger than any darkness!"

"Do you really think so, boy?" Ansem said, but his eyes then turned to me. "Do you believe it, girl?"

It was then than all of my friends turned to me. I was speechless for a moment. Indeed, my heart had given in to darkness a while ago. I had become a monster. I had killed Magnus once... yet this time, I had made him suffer a terrible agony before I extinguished the dark flame that was his life. Renamark had transmitted its thirst for blood to me. I thirsted too. Yes: there was darkness in my heart.

But Wilheim was there. And to me, Wilheim was the brightest light there could be. And even though my heart had plunged into shadows, there was a warm beam that refused to go away and lit every part of my spirit. If Wilheim had become a part of me... then I would free his light. I would let his strong fists control mine: I would let his eyes burn through mine and I would let his breath flow through my mouth. I was not evil.

"The stronger the darkness..." I muttered. "The brighter the light within the heart is. You cannot possibly hope to win, Ansem." As I spoke, Renamark began to growl and my thirst for blood grew. "We will not let you harm our friends... Prepare to face the true darkness, Ansem: we will take you there!" For a moment there, I had begun to sound like Spiderman's Venom...

"We end this now, king of the Heartless!" Demean roared as the rest of my friends forgot about me and got ready to fight. "On your guard!"

"Yeah!" cried Donald.

"We're ready!" shouted Goofy.

"This ends now, Ansem!" Sora exclaimed. "I'm going to save my friends! Riku, Kari!! This is for you!!" and so he charged at Ansem. The fiend responded to this with an evil laugh and allowing a most foul being to emerge from his back. It was like a shadow turned to rock. His horrible, yellow eyes were the most menacing I had ever seen in a Heartless. Ansem began to hover and with a loud yell, he thrust his palm forward and pushed all of us back with a dark wind.

Adrian, Morrigan, Camille, and I flapped our wings fiercely and managed not to fall like the rest of our companions. Ansem then shot hundreds of dark balls of energy at all of us. Our friends quickly got up and did their best to evade and destroy them. Most of those projectiles had been directed at the four of us: we hastily destroyed them, but were unable to counterattack: the foe had quickly moved at our backs with a speed greater than the one of the fiercest vampire. This was our final battle: no doubt it would be our toughest test.

Ansem flew at me with great speed, his dark servant ready to strike me. I parried his blow with Renamark and tried to cut his chest, but his Heartless protected him from all harm: his body was harder than stone. He then unleashed a flurry of projectiles aimed at my body... and, I don't know exactly how I did it, I dodged them by turning into mist. It was more of a reflex, actually. I had no idea how to turn into mist at that time. After I materialized myself again, Ansem pushed me away with a current of air, knocking me down. He didn't have time to hurt me, however, because many of my companions attacked him at once. This was, actually, the only advantage we had over Ansem: his powers were monstrous, his speed unmatched, and his dark servant protected him from every single blow; but we had a tremendous numerical advantage. He couldn't stay focused on one of us for more than a couple of seconds, not even if he directed all of his attacks to a single group.

Every sort of attacks rained on our adversary from all directions, but the evil fiend blocked them with his Heartless and flew away from them. Whenever there were too many of us attacking him at once, he would drive us away with his fierce currents of air. Until that moment, we hadn't landed a single blow. Fortunately, Ansem hadn't wounded any of us severely... But that was mostly thanks to our wizards, because one blow from the Heartless protecting our greatest enemy could mean the destruction of a bone.

Demean threw himself at Ansem and swung his daggers at him repeatedly, not even making a scratch, to which the fiend responded by summoning a dark wave of energy from underneath the ground, hitting him on the face and knocking him on his back. Morrigan attacked with a projectile of energy which was reflected back to her by a quick flick of Ansem's wrist and was badly burned. Ryoga shattered the ground in front of the enemy with his Breaking Point technique, yet as he tore the rocks beneath a floating Ansem, the latter let out a weak chuckle and our friend's technique lost all of its power; then, Ansem lifted his arm and a pillar of earth and flames rose under Ryoga, making him fly high into the air, screaming in pain. Siegfried, now wielding the strength of a vampire, fired many balls of fire at our opponent, yet as they reached him, they turned into vapor. He leapt in front of him and tried to stab him with his blade, but the Heartless protected Ansem's body. The fiend delivered a blow to Siegfried's head, which he stopped with the Hylian shield Link had given him. The shield, however, was bent as if it had been made out of tinplate and was turned into a useless ball of metal. Cid jumped high into the air and came down upon Ansem using his spear, a great deal of energy focused on its tip, ready to blow upon impact. The fiend grabbed it with terrifying ease, making Cid's weapon lose all of its power, and slammed him against the ground. Shiryu and Ryu raced at him, their fists ready to unleash a deadly blow, each one attacked from different sides. Ansem faced Shiryu and before he could get to him, he unleashed a terrible wave of fire that turned into an explosion and sent him flying back against the rocks. Meanwhile, the Heartless stopped Ryu's mighty Shoryuken, leaving him defenseless. Ansem turned to him and charged with furious might, making him spin in the air as he passed through him. Ariel and Merryck snuck up to him and attempted to stab him with their weapons. The fiend merely swung his arm at them and turned their heads around with a nasty hit. Donald used lightning spells; its effects were nullified by Ansem's hands and were turned against him. Goofy charged at him with his shield and the enemy responded with a body attack of his own; Goofy rolled over the ground rapidly as Ansem floated nearby... The battle raged on like that. Not one of our attacks, not a single one, had any effect. At first, I thought that perhaps we would end up tiring him and that he would drop his guard in any second. Nevertheless, we were the ones losing strength, and this was truly unbelievable: more than thirty warriors against a single foe, and we hadn't scored a single blow.

Octavius's strength paled before Ansem's monster; Felicia's speed was the one of a tortoise before our foe; Yuffie's agility didn't suffice to fool the enemy... When I thought of all the armies of Heartless we had managed to defeat, I felt despair, because we weren't able to handle one foe. Ansem had to have a weak point: it didn't seem to be Sora's Keyblade, for he had parried it as if it were an ordinary sword. Most of our combined attacks didn't seem to have any effect. There seemed to be nothing that we could do... Unless we joined our forces to unleash a devastating blow. But, naturally, Ansem wasn't going to give us the opportunity to gather our strength.

There wasn't any other choice. We all understood this right away and, without even saying a word to one another, we gathered about and formed a circle around Sora, Donald, and Goofy. They had a connection that no one else shared, a strange power that emanated through their bodies whenever they were near each other. Besides, Ansem wasn't going to allow any other fighter to join the Keyblade bearer, the duck wizard, and the knight with a shield: he kept the rest of us very busy. As he saw that they were amassing their power, he quickly attacked. The rest of us charged against him and, one by one, we fell like flies. It didn't matter too much. Our objective was to delay him until Sora, Donald, and Goofy had gathered enough energy to launch a devastating attack, not to defeat him.

Dante leapt at Ansem with his strong legs, swinging his sword skillfully. The fiend shot a dark ball of energy at him and sent him flying far away. Shun unleashed his chains upon him, only to have Ansem grab them and shock him with a current of electricity greater than the saint could produce. Sakura and Akane leapt at him and attempted to deliver flying kicks at his face; our opponent merely let out a powerful, sudden yell and repelled them just as he had thrown a current of air at them. Adrian teleported behind him and swung his scythe at him. Just when it looked that he was finally going to score a blow, the dark Heartless appeared before him and gave him a shock, knocking him flat on his back.

My turn to attack came. I gathered all of my strength and summoned Renamark's fury. The sword howled with rage as I side-stepped before Ansem and tried to cut him in two. Luckily for me, Cloud and Sephiroth had distracted the Heartless by attacking Ansem from behind. They were quickly repelled by it, but this gave me enough time to land my blow. The enemy stopped it with his hands... with his hands! I could not believe it. I could not believe that Renamark's blow had been ineffective. This weapon was legendary... How could it have lost its power against a single adversary?! Nonetheless, my attack had not been completely useless: as Ansem grabbed the sword, its fire started to burn the palms of his hands and for the first time since our battle had begun, I saw pain in his face. I kept a firm grip on Renamark and let it burn fiercely. I could hear how Ansem's flesh was beginning to get scorched under the furious steel of Renamark. He refused to let go, for if he did, I would then surely score a deadly blow. And best of all, Renamark's flames seemed to keep the Heartless at bay: it was unable to attack me. And meanwhile, Sora, Donald, and Goofy gathered the required energy to launch one single, desperate blow.

"Get out of the way, Ukyo!" Sora exclaimed and again, by mere reflex, I teleported away from our opponent. Ansem ended up facing our three friends and his expression revealed a sudden surprise as he found himself unable to flee their attack...

They let out a fierce shout and the ground was lit up. We all had to look away and cover our eyes, for the light had been so fierce that it had blinded us for a moment. Then, a powerful explosion that shook the earth and knocked us all down came. As we hit the floor, we all promptly opened our eyes and looked at Ansem. His Heartless had absorbed the damage of the powerful explosion: all of it. But its power had been so great that the Heartless was dangling in a lifeless way at Ansem's back. Unsure of how much this was going to last, all of us let out a battle yell and charged at Ansem. The fiend, taken aback by Sora, Donald, and Goofy's offensive, protected himself by shooting hundreds of energy balls at us. Many were hit, but Felicia, Yuffie, Adrian, Siegfried, Merryck, and I made it through the storm of dark power and reached him. Without mercy, we attacked at the same time and, despite his tremendous power, the foe faced an onslaught that even he was unable to withstand. Felicia, Yuffie, and Siegfried were unable to hit him due to a powerful punch which he threw at their faces, but they distracted him enough time for the rest of us to hurt him: Adrian head-butted him; Merryck leapt as high as he could and slashed across Ansem's face, and I slashed across his body, Renamark's flames causing pain and blisters as they gnawed his skin. Ansem had been hurt, at last.

The furious enemy then let out one of his terrible yells and pushed us back while floating away from us. The Heartless came back to life and put himself in front of his master. Despite this, Ansem had already been wounded and didn't seem to have the means to heal himself. Thanks to Sora, Donald, and Goofy, the tide, although unnoticeable at first, had turned.

Ansem lifted his arms up and cried in a loud voice which echoed on the invisible walls that trapped us in Sora's shattered island: "Come to me, Heartless!" and so, an army of Heartless started to emerge from the ground. At the sight of the first Heartless, the magicians, who had conjured nothing but healing spells so far, began to cast aggressive incantations against the army which threatened to overcome us. Meanwhile, Ansem resumed his attacks, yet now that he had been hurt, fury and hatred had blinded him and his blows, although much more powerful than before, were much more careless and he left himself open many times. Not even his tough servant could protect him from the rain of attacks that befell him.

Link and Demean shot magical arrows at his legs, powered by the magic of Zelda and Tish: both projectiles found their marks and wounded our adversary. Ikki and Hyoga used attacks of fire and ice against our opponent, making him roll over the ground. Ryu, Ken, Sakura, Ranma, and Ryoga fired waves of energy at him, hitting his arms, legs, and stomach. Yet whenever Ansem fell to the ground, he teleported to a different location and attacked relentlessly anyone that stood in his way. Tifa was caught by surprise by this technique and was hit by one of Ansem's charges. She flew against a palm tree and knocked it down: thankfully, she was hastily healed by the wizards. It wasn't long before Ansem started to aim his attacks at the magicians: it was during these times that Shun and Seiya drove him away by unleashing a rain of chains and fists of energy. Of course, they were severely wounded, but the magicians which they protected hastily healed them. The rest of us chased after him, slaying every Heartless that got in the way.

As the battle went on, Ansem's attacks began to miss us. Yet his fury wasn't wasted, for the island fell victim to his terrible power. Whenever he hit a mountain or the ground, the world shook and even knocked some of us down. The winds became fierce and it was difficult for the vampires and the succubus and for everybody else on the air to keep control, because it seemed as if an invisible tornado had come and was sucking everything into its vortex. Some of our companions halted their attack on Ansem and the Heartless and looked after everybody else. For instance, Octavius had to rescue several of our companions from the clutches of the fierce wind and to return them to the ground safe and sound: with his weight and strength, he was one of the few that were almost unaffected by the terrible gales.

Sora, Donald, Goofy, Sephiroth, and I were the ones who followed Ansem wherever he went all the time: we slaughtered some Heartless, but never once did we lose sight of our most powerful foe. Sora, Donald, and Goofy, I suppose, were driven by the desire to bring an end to the chaos that Ansem had unleashed with his army of darkness; Sephiroth's strength and mine, on the other hand, was fueled by fury and hatred. I am certain that his resentment was greater than mine, yet Renamark's flames were unique when I felt rage, and the blade's fire longed for blood. Sephiroth was no match for him: he simply couldn't touch him. However, his shouts and relentless attacks proved to be a distraction for the rest of us to score a few hits. Ansem was growing weaker. And the weaker he became, the more violent the winds and the earthquakes turned. It was ironic, but it sure as hell wasn't the least fun.

Then, all of a sudden, Ansem took to the skies. He flew as fast as he could and was surrounded by a barrier of his own wyvern Heartless. Not Goofy, Donald, Sora, or Sephiroth would be able to jump that high. Only I, with the help of my dark wings, could be able to reach such a height. Even so, I would no doubt be torn apart by the combined forces of the fiend and his allies. No, there was no way I would be able to do this alone.

I turned to my other flying fellows and saw they were all very busy exterminating the Heartless which were turning into a most terrible menace, for they multiplied with frightening speed. Adrian, Camille, and Morrigan fought side by side, eliminating every Heartless that stood even one inch above the ground. They killed lots of them, but more were coming. We had no choice but to destroy Ansem before he spawned an army too great for any of us to conquer it. Their numbers seemed endless.

I ran next to Sora and grabbed him. Then, without saying a word, I started to fly as fast as I could at Ansem. A platoon of wyverns swooped at us. At that instant, I threw Sora upwards. The boy, no longer surprised by my sudden actions, spun his blade as skillfully as he could, destroying many Heartless as he went up. I followed him closely and also slaughtered countless enemies. When he reached the apex of my throw, I grabbed him and gave him another lift. Slowly, we were coming closer to Ansem, leaving the wyverns behind us as we went.

Our fierce opponent seemed to have fled the battle for a moment to heal his wounds. He was casting some sort of curative spell upon him. Naturally, having him in the pink of health again was the last thing any of us wanted. Our friends noticed our charge and, even though this left them a bit defenseless against the rest of the enemies, they all directed their attacks at the wyverns about us. In a matter of seconds, they were all overrun by the Heartless and we were facing Ansem, who had momentarily left his guard down. This was our best chance to take him down, if not our last, for who knew if the rest of our friends would be able to survive the onslaught below.

Sora shot a fierce fireball directly at Ansem's face. He reeled back in pain, covering his eyes and wailing. His guardian appeared before him, ready to block any other attacks. Expecting this, I hastily teleported behind him and unleashed a quick stab. I didn't wound him deeply, but Renamark's flames gnawed his skin like rats eating through a wall. Again he shouted and turned to me, looking at me with his fierce, hatred-filled, yellow eyes. His guardian remained facing Sora, while Ansem shot many projectiles of energy at me. Thanks to my new, supernatural speed, I was able to dodge them. In the meantime, Sora restlessly attacked the Heartless guardian, bouncing off his solid body, keeping himself airborne. Then, the shadow threw a punch at Sora, which he gracefully evaded, and the boy counterattacked with a swipe at the guardian's eyes. Surprisingly, the Heartless let out a wail and momentarily vanished. Noticing this, I immediately teleported behind Ansem and helped Sora to remain on the air a little longer and then teleported to my fighting spot again. I can't explain how was it that I used my powers so well, even though I had barely used them. Perhaps it was adrenaline; maybe it was Renamark's dark nature that aided my movements; possibly it was all Wilheim's spirit's doing... I couldn't tell. But whatever it was, I had succeeded: Sora and I were attacking a now defenseless Ansem on both sides.

The enemy managed to block some of our blows, but he didn't even have an opportunity to counterattack. Whenever one of us finished delivering a blow, the other one had just begun another attack. It was a rain of devastation and the purity of the Keyblade and Renamark's flames proved to be too much for Ansem to handle. At long last, he extended his arms to the sides and pushed us away with a current of air. I teleported to where Sora was and caught him before he crashed against the ground. When we looked to where Ansem had hovered, we saw nothing: both he and the army of Heartless had vanished, leaving every one of us terribly confused.

"Look! There he is!" yelled Felicia as she pointed to a crater that had just appeared in a far corner of the island. In the middle of it Ansem lay on his knees, seemingly without anymore strength.

"I'll finish this!" Sora exclaimed, escaping my grasp and running towards the crater at full speed, his sword at the ready, his guard raised, for not for one moment did he think Ansem had been rendered powerless.

"Wait, Sora!" we all cried and ran after him. Yet, as he entered the crater, a wall of dark energy appeared, forming an impenetrable dome. Those of us who were following Sora as he ran to Ansem's encounter crashed against it and fell on our backs, stupefied.

Octavius threw his furious fists at it, trying to break it, but its toughness was something not even all of us together would be able to undo. We could all see that Sora was battling Ansem by himself: the fiend had been weakened, but still proved to be an extraordinary opponent. Thankfully though, the wielder of the Keyblade had a strength that no Heartless in any of the worlds could conquer...

As we looked at the battle unfold, the wind became fiercer and the tremors began to crack the earth. A howl was heard: a terrible call which I instantly recognized. Looking at the sky, I saw, with horror, that a black hole had appeared. Slowly, it began to swallow the island whole: trees, rocks, and sand. We all tried to hold on, but little by little, the abyss dragged us into its dark, indomitable stomach. I tried to fly away from it, yet the currents of air were too powerful even for the greatest vampire to escape them. And as I was dragged into the belly of the monster, I was an enormous monster materialize before Sora, who seemed to be the only one of us immune to the effects of the black hole. His dark hair seemed to be made out of snakes; his mouth was covered by a black scarf and part of his body was not even there: where a stomach should have been, was a void in the shape of a heart. With a terrible growl, he aimed his fist at Sora and tried to smite him with a single blow, but the boy leapt backwards and counterattacked with admirable valor. Where had Ansem gone to...? I could not tell.

"SORA!!" I wailed at the top of my lungs. My shout, however, was swallowed by the terrible black hole, along with the rest of my body.

_(Change of scene)_

When I opened my eyes again, all I was submerged in shadows. I couldn't see, hear, or feel a thing. I got up effortlessly. The ground under my feet... it was so strange. It was as if I was standing on thin air, yet I stood. I wasn't falling. And I wasn't imprisoned in a small box of some sort. No, this was something I had never experienced before... or had I?

As I walked around, looking for my friends in the deep darkness, I started to realize that this obscurity was familiar to me. But why had I forgotten? It still lingered somewhere in my mind, this place. Yet I was having so much trouble remembering it... why? I took a step forth and took a deep breath... nothing. I was alive, I wasn't choking... but I couldn't feel any air coming into my lungs. A cursed place, this was; a temple of fear and emptiness. I was terrified. I couldn't find anyone.

I screamed as loud as I could, calling my friends' names. Nevertheless, though I shouted at the top of my lungs, I couldn't even hear the sound of my own voice. It got lost the minute it came out of my mouth and was swallowed by the shadows that imprisoned me in this infinite world of vacuity. Desperation began to strike my soul. I began to cry, but my sobs were deafened by the darkness and the tears that came out of my eyes vanished into the void. I fell to my knees, holding Renamark, my only company, my wings wrapping themselves about my body. I was alone in a horrible place that had been my prison not too long ago...

Suddenly, I heard footsteps. I looked at the direction from which they had come from, expecting to find the Grim Reaper herself... but my visitor was engulfed by the shadows. I tried to call out a name, yet my voice was lost again. The footsteps came nearer and nearer, deafening the only other thing that I could hear: the frantic palpitations of my terrified heart. Rather than get up and put myself on guard, I embraced Renamark with even more strength. I was helpless, defenseless. My hope and courage had failed. There was nothing I could do against this invisible enemy...

The footsteps approached more and more. As I listened closely, I noticed they came from above as if the creature approaching was on an upper level. I turned up and waited for the longest of times for it to show up. I had no idea of what it was planning to do to me... My fear grew more and more. I was sure that he could listen to my heart, that he could smell my fear. And then the being appeared in front of me and, just as I had suspected, he seemed to be standing on an upper level.

Though the shadows were everywhere, I saw him clearly. First, his strong legs: he wore pants and a comfortable pair of snickers. Then, his tough waist and his beautiful torso: strong as the one of a mythic semi-god, covered by a white shirt. His arms were gentle; his hands, tern and caring. And then, I saw his face... A small nose, a strong chin... green eyes. His lank, light chestnut hair fell on his shoulders. His lips formed a kind smile that soothed my heart as if he were singing a lullaby... I looked into his eyes and noticed they had changed. Now they were violet and his skin had become pale and a pair of small fangs adorned his mouth. And then he changed again... he was shifting in and out of humanity like he was doing in and out of this dreadful place. Yet if he disappeared, where would he go to?

I tried to pronounce his name with a smile of happiness in my face, but again, my voice was lost. And as a reply, he knelt and offered me his hand... I stared at it as its color changed and as his finger nails grew long and short... Afraid that he would vanish from one moment to another, I ran to him and grabbed him. His touch was so warm... I held on to him and kissed him and then let my head rest on his hand. I lifted my head; my eyes met his. And, while still smiling kindly, he slowly moved his lips and pronounced my name with his beautiful voice...

"Ukyo..."

I kissed him again as he began to pull me up.

"Ukyo..." he repeated. Yet there had been something strange in his voice... it was beginning to change as well. I looked at him again and noticed that his face was also transforming... "Ukyo..." he called again, this time it seemed to me that he had shouted. His hair ceased to be lank: it turned darker and spiky and his eyes turned blue. "Ukyo!!" he exclaimed in a voice that wasn't his own, and when he did, I began to feel pain and let out a loud shout. This time, I managed to hear my voice.

"Ukyo! Hang on!"

I began to leave the darkness behind me. I felt as if I was being pulled out of a thick bubble. I held on to my rescuer's arm with both hands and my wings began to flap fiercely, aiding me to escape the darkness. I then fell to the ground, on top of Sora, who had pulled me out of my prison.

"Ukyo! You're alright!" he said with a relieved voice.

"Sora..." I muttered. "...I... I saw him...!"

"Huh?" he said, getting up and looking at our surroundings. "What did you say?" he was so busy studying the place we were in he hadn't heard me at all.

"I..."

All of a sudden, I began to forget the warmth of his hand. I could not remember his eyes shifting from a green to a violet color. I had almost forgotten the sound of his voice. Had he just been an illusion of Ansem to make me go mad? Or was it my own mind that had played that trick upon me? Of course, it was ridiculous to think Ansem would've machinated such an illusion... at least that's what I think. Either way, as I began to forget about how he had looked at me, how his touch had felt, I got back on my feet, sad and despaired, but at the same time, alert, furious, and with renewed courage.

"Never mind." I forced myself to say. "What's this place? Where the hell are we, Sora? Where is everybody else?"

"I don't have a clue." He replied. "I just found you and that's it. I haven't seen anyone else. Although I don't think they're far... We have to find them fast. As for where we are, I'm not sure how to answer that. For starters, we're inside Ansem, I think."

"Inside Ansem?"

"He adopted the form of a monster of some sort. After you guys fell in the black hole, I defeated a dark Heartless that had only appeared in my dreams and fell in an abyss myself. I saw a light and then a door... and then, I fought Ansem again. He was really weak, so I defeated him easily... But now, he's hiding behind a strange barrier and I think he's recovering his strength. We have to find the others and beat him as soon as possible!"

"So... we're inside a monster?"

"That's not all." He said. "The kicker is that, I think we're right in front of Kingdom Hearts."

"So he's dragged us all here..." I mused. "Maybe he thinks that by unleashing whatever's inside Kingdom Hearts he'll destroy us all."

"I really hope you're right, Ukyo." He replied, to my surprise. He said nothing more of the matter and kept looking around.

"What are you searching for?" I questioned.

"Another one of those black bubbles: that's were I found you."

"Ah, I see."

We were in a stance that was submerged in darkness, shadows covered it: only the blue shinning floor was somewhat visible. And that wasn't all: the reek of the Heartless was everywhere. I couldn't see him, not even with my vampire eyes, but that didn't mean at all that they weren't there. They were waiting for us to drop our guards... Yet Renamark's fire and the very essence of the Keyblade kept them at bay. They knew we were ready for them.

I looked around and I quickly saw something moving in the darkness... some sort of bubble hovering above the ground. It seemed to me as if someone was struggling to escape it. No doubt it was the same kind of prison that had trapped me.

"Sora, over there!" I exclaimed, running towards the bubble.

"How could you see that?" he asked. "It took me ages to find you... you just take a look around and find it!"

"Like Wilheim once said, being a vampire has its benefits." As I mentioned his name, I grew more afraid, sad, and furious.

We reached the bubble and I hastily cut it with my blade. I reached into it and grabbed someone's hand. Pulling fiercely, I freed Ariel from her prison, who, the second she poked her head out of the round confinement, took a deep breath as if she had been choking.

"Ariel!" we shouted. "Are you all right?"

"What... what happened?" she asked as I helped her out and let her lean on me.

"It doesn't matter right now." I said. "This is far from over..."

As I finished these words, the Heartless came out of their hiding places and rushed at us. Ariel was really weak and she could do nothing more than to throw a couple of magical potions at them. Even so, she destroyed enough fiends. Sora and I swung our swords with furious animosity, beheading enemies here and there, tearing limbs apart, and cutting demons in half. Renamark roared as the Keyblade burned with righteous anger, destroying everything in its path. It wasn't long before every Heartless had been exterminated. And it was then that I noticed yet another black bubble. And next to it, floated another one.

Ariel, Sora, and I ran to them and quickly helped the people inside out. In a matter of seconds, we had freed Ranma and Hyoga from their prisons.

"What... what the hell went wrong?" asked Hyoga.

"No... Akane... where is she?" questioned Ranma, despair in his eyes.

"Don't worry, Ran-Chan. We'll find her." I assured. "Right now, I can't see anymore bubbles. We have to find a way to get out of here. Sora, how did you enter this place?"

"I saw some sort of warp and I just flew as fast as I could to it."

"Flew?"

"Oh, right. Outside this place, where Ansem is, there seems to be no gravity. It's just like when we fought that monster moments after we disembarked."

"Okay... and how did this warp look like?" I asked.

"It was some sort of a haze." He answered. "A static, blue mist, hovering nearby Ansem's monster..."

"Well, I can't see anything of the sort around here. So we'll just find to look for something else."

"Hey!" Hyoga suddenly exclaimed, drawing our attention to a strange light that hovered in the middle of the room. "Do you think that this might have something to do with the way out?"

"There's just way to find out." Ranma said. "Since I don't like anything in this room, I say we tear it apart."

"I agree." The saint said and hastily froze it. Then, he delivered a powerful kick and the light, which was apparently solid, broke into a million pieces. Then, the same blue haze that Sora had mentioned appear right where the radiance had dwelled. We all looked at each other for a moment and nodded. It seemed like the way out. We hastily stepped into it and all became black for a few moments before the world took shape again...

Ariel screamed in horror; Hyoga and Ranma let out a soft cry and I gasped in terror... For the monster that was now Ansem was far more hideous, gruesome, and menacing than what I could have possibly imagined. Ansem had turned into a creature that could have only come from the most terrible nightmare; a living ship of evil commanded by a demonic captain it was. The enemy had become as large as a giant, his chest bare, the symbol of the Heartless protecting him like an infernal shield. The ship was just another part of Ansem's body; it had many breathing protuberances that fired blue rays of energy when threatened: a face was beneath Ansem's body, its eyes shining menacingly, its sharp, fang-riddled mouth stroke fear into our hearts... It was indeed the most horrible spectacle I had ever witnessed. And behind this ship of evil, was a huge, white door laying on a small piece of land that floated in that dark abyss... I was certain that was Kingdom Hearts.

"Guys!" a voice suddenly called to us, drawing our gazes. It had been Donald's.

"You're safe!" Sora cried with joy and we flew to his encounter, realizing that many of our other companions were with them, too. New hope awakened within our hearts.

"What happened? Where are the rest of our friends?" asked the duck. He and Goofy seemed to be leading the small group of warriors which no doubt had been freed from the strange bubbles that had imprisoned me and my other companions a few moments ago. The ones that came with them were Dante, Demean, Tish, Ryu, Sakura, Leon, Tifa, and, much to Ranma's relief and joy, Akane. He quickly went to her and embraced her, to which she responded by kissing him tenderly on his cheek.

"I don't know. They're probably still inside that thing..." the boy answered, pointing at the evil ship.

"Gwarsh... how do we go inside it again?" asked Goofy.

"That is quite the question, correct...?" the elf murmured, eyeing the monster carefully. "It may be just desperation speaking, but perhaps we could make our way into that beast's mouth."

"What??" we all asked, as you can notice, none the least happy about his ludicrous idea.

"Demean, is that not a little bit rash?" Tish said. "Perhaps if you gave yourself a bit more time to think things clearly..."

"That maybe so, but time is a luxury we do not have."

"I don't like that idea at all, but he's right." Dante said. "Either way, I'm not going inside that thing while that head is still moving..."

And as Gaia's soldier finished saying these words, the head of the ship let out a terrifying howl and shot many rays of blue energy at us. Indeed, there was no way either of us was going into the beast's mouth at that time only to get torn apart.

The creature was soon overwhelmed by our merciless attacks: arrows, fireballs, lightning, swords, and punches and kicks rained upon it so violently that very soon it began to bleed dark blood. It tried to bite us with its terribly large and sharp fangs, not to avail, for we all flew away from it as soon as we saw it open its jaws. For my part, I had become quicker than the rest of my friends when I changed into a vampire, and at that moment I was even faster, because we could all naturally fly and my wings gave me an additional boost of speed every time I flapped them. Very soon, the monster yielded to our might. Its life faded away, but unlike the rest of the Heartless, which vanished as soon as they died, this creature merely lingered, its jaws wide open as if inviting us to fly forth. We didn't utter a word; we advanced into the jaws of the beast.

Once inside the ship of evil, we found ourselves in a room similar to the one we had been moments ago. Apparently, Demean had been right... As we walked about the stance, many Heartless stepped out of the shadows and attacked us. Again, they failed miserably. I suddenly began to think that the only real enemy which we had left was Ansem... but what an enemy he was. If he had almost defeated all of us back in Sora's shattered world and he hadn't used all of his power, then what could we expect now that he was gathering all of his evil strength to him?

I chose not to think about this for the moment. We quickly found the dark bubbles trapping some other friends and freed them. In a matter of seconds, we recovered Camille, Morrigan, Ryoga, Ken, and Cid.

"Thank you..." Camille muttered as we helped her out of her prison. "I had never felt so afraid... I reckon hell is not much different."

"What's going on?" Cid asked. "What's the story with Ansem? Is he still alive or what?"

"He's alive. Very, very alive." Leon answered.

"...What's that supposed to mean?" muttered Ryoga.

"Just follow us, Ryoga, and you'll see." Sakura replied.

Hyoga rapidly found the light which hid the warp back to the black abyss which housed the huge monster Ansem had turned into. And to our surprise and joy, apparently more of our friends had managed to escape their prisons. I suppose all of this was thanks to Sora: if he had not weakened Ansem, it would be very likely that they would all still be trapped. Yet luckily, the rest of the saints, Cloud, Link, Aeris, and Vincent were alive and well.

We didn't bother in explaining the whole situation to them. We just told them that, as they could see, we were still missing some people and we had to find them fast. It was then that the ship of evil started to fire at us from its biggest cavity, involuntarily revealing to us the place which we needed to register next. Our combined strength proved to be too much for the living entity to handle and we hastily exterminated every threat inside the ship, thus revealing a warp which led to another black stance.

Again, the Heartless came after us and again they were annihilated. We found the black bubbles and freed the rest of our friends. At last, no one was missing: the group was complete again.

We exited the small, dark room and now faced a giant Ansem. Slowly, the emblem of the Heartless started to vanish and the living ship spat his upper body away from it, but his legs remained attached to the monster, for they had become part of the entity themselves. Ansem looked at all of us with his evil, yellow eyes and drew his weapon: an enormous staff which was surrounded by an aura of dark energy. With a deafening yell which sounded more like the roar of an ancient dragon and that echoed in the emptiness of the abyss in which we hovered, he swung his weapon, producing an immensely fierce current of air that blew us all away from him. We yelled in horror as we fiercely tried to regain control of our bodies and remain still, but we were unable to achieve this until Ansem and the monstrous ship had become very small...

Looking at the demon, I wondered if this was Ansem's last attempt to foil our valiant offensive or if he had another trick of his sleeve. I was very tired and the only energies that remained in my body were the ones Renamark was giving me. Despite this, my fury drove me forth. I would keep on battling until I had not the strength to move one of my fingers. Unfortunately, Renamark's spell would not last forever. Even though the blade was alive and nurtured me with its powers, there would come a moment in which I would be defenseless. The same thing had happened to my beloved one time... But the rage inside me, the desire for vengeance for the death of my darling would not rest. I held the blade fiercely and looked at my companions: I could only see courage in their eyes. They were all brave warriors fighting with something more than swords, staffs, chains, and fists... they fought with their heart. Their strong heart helped them to stand their ground. Perhaps their hearts were filled by anger, hatred, valor, or something else; I could not know. Be that as it may, that which drove them forth made them heroes... they were all beautiful.

"My friends..." I muttered to myself. "I won't fail you. None of you have failed me... I love you all."

Ansem yelled fiercely, as if challenging us, and his dare was answered with brave battle cries that clashed with his scream. We then charged at him, the strength of our hearts dissipating the darkness as we flew through it. The enemy swung his weapon, firing yet another fierce current of air, this time it was accompanied by thousands of lightning bolts. Some of our companions were hurt by the attack, but the rest of us did not stop our charge. It was then that the living ship's protuberances began to fire at us. A few of our friends stopped their rush in order to deal with the projectiles. They were hastily aided by those who had fallen victims to Ansem's first attack: despite the wounds on their bodies, their spirits were unbreakable and they didn't give up. Our final foe attacked again: he spun his staff so rapidly that he created a wall capable of tearing anything to shreds: he obviously desired to keep us from striking him. But it would take more than a barrier of dark power to keep the Keyblade bearer away from him.

Sora bravely flew into the wall created by our opponent and parried the staff with all of his strength. Incredibly, Ansem lost his grip momentarily on his weapon and was left defenseless. Then, Donald and Goofy attacked the enemy with all their might: the duck by casting his most potent spells and the knight by throwing his shield as hard as he could. Meanwhile, me and some others cut through as many swellings as we could. Ansem was wounded and his anger grew. He repelled us with another gust of wind as the protuberances' fire grew fiercer and more numerous. Once we were far away from him, he gathered all of his energy into a dark ball which exploded into a powerful ray which headed towards all of us.

We yelled in pain as we all felt our skins burning. It was as if hell had managed to pour out of a hole on earth and its infernal flames had reached us. Tears came out of my eyes and were instantly vaporized by this most terrible attack. I could hear all of my friends screaming over the big boom that echoed in the void. I couldn't escape. I was about to be burnt to a crisp... as were the rest of my friends...

It all suddenly came to a halt. But I was out of energies. I floated there, along with my companions, defenseless. Ansem knew this... he knew it would take only one more shot of those to finish us. I raised my head to look at the monster and saw him gathering all of his energy to him once again...

"...We're going to die..." I whispered.

"NO!!" Sora roared. I turned to him and noticed him gathering energy to his Keyblade himself... "I won't let him kill my friends...! I won't let him take Riku and Kairi from me!"

"I didn't come all this way... just to die..." Seiya muttered. "Saori is going to need my protection after this... our protection... This is just one mission... I won't lose! I won't die!"

"Just one more..." Cloud said. "Just one more... and then we can go home... I've fought long enough... One more... One more!!"

"Tulharieth's strength flows through my veins." Demean added. "I will not let him down...! I will not fail you, brave warrior! I shall not let any evil befall upon you, my Tish!"

"For our friends, my eternal companion!" the fairy replied.

"For my master and my sister, I will not lose this battle!" the dragon's saint roared.

"If I go down, I'm taking you with me, bastard!" Sephiroth wailed.

"For my princess and my land, my sword will not rest... nor shall I." Link said.

"I still have so many things to see..." Merryck said. "Great-grandfather... please, let me see a little bit more..."

"You are just getting in my way, fiend." Octavius growled. "My real mission is far from over..."

"Ryu, we've still got an old score to settle..." Ken said to his life-long friend. "Let's not mess up here."

"Right..." Ryu replied, with a smile.

"I want to go back to my family and back to my Takeesha, and not you or anybody will get in my way, Ansem!" Dante cried. "I've almost lost the once... I'm not letting them lose me!"

"For my kingdom and my friends, I will send you into the abyss from whence you came, foul creature!" Camille wailed.

"For the king!!" Donald and Goofy exclaimed at the same time.

"Time to get serious!" Adrian said. "No more clowning around!"

"Ukyo..." suddenly Siegfried murmured. I turned to face him; he was by my side. "Big sister... for my big brother..."

"Yes..." I whispered. "Yes... for our Wilheim. For my dearly beloved."

"ALL OF YOU!!" Ansem called "OPEN YOUR HEARTS TO THE DARKNESS!! SURRENDER TO THE BLACKNESS THAT AWAITS YOU!!" and with that, he launched his most potent attack.

Standing side by side, our hearts became one. The small light which shone in each and every one of our spirits melded with the one of the companion hovering next to us and our power began to flow like the waters of a river through our bodies. The pain vanished and we all felt stronger than ever. We were one... and as one, we slowed down time to almost a stop as we gathered all of our energies and melded them into a single entity which covered life. Every one gave a little bit of his or herself to everyone else. We could all feel each other in our hearts. Our light became so fierce that it blinded us for a moment, yet it was just an instant. We looked into the light and saw ourselves, united by our spirits. It was right then, at that very second that, with the most courageous and fearsome battle shout that we fired our energy at Ansem.

Both rays of power crashed and they remained struggling against each other for a while. But the light within cannot be swallowed by any darkness, be it as deep as the ninth circle of hell. Our energy dissipated Ansem's and then obliterated him and the ship. His wail of pain could be heard over the palpitations of our hearts. Our light shone the fiercest, smiting all evil, all fear, all doubt. The river of shadows was broken: Ansem and his living ship of evil and his army of Heartless faded into the light. And when our light finally dimmed, we all saw our opponent, defeated, back to his normal shape, floating without any strength left in his body. We had won the final battle. We had won the war.

"Y-you fools!!" Ansem cursed. "This is only the beginning! You think you're victorious, but I can't lose! Not when I have the ultimate power of darkness at my disposal! I will wield it now and annihilate you in the blink of an eye!" then, he turned to the giant door that lay behind him on the small piece of land and cried: "Kingdom Hearts! Open your doors to me! Give me the power of the ultimate darkness! Let it come to me! Let me wield it! Let them be consumed by your might! THEIR HEARTS ARE MINE!!" and as he said this, the door began to open and shadows began to pour from it like water escaping a dam, threatening to flood it all...

"You're wrong, Ansem!!" Sora suddenly cried. "I know now... without a doubt in my heart... KINGDOM HEARTS IS LIGHT!!"

"WHAT?!"

Ansem's shout was deafened by the glitter of a light so fair that it dissipated every shadow in its path. The fiend turned away from it, unwilling to believe what he was beholding, fear festering in his eyes. "How...?" he struggled to murmur in a raspy, agonizing voice. "Why...? Light...? No...!" and then he started to fade away like the shadows that run away from the dawn. Little by little, the light consumed him. It swallowed him and his power and his essence. His secret weapon had been his downfall. Ansem had gone.

We all swiftly hovered to the piece of land where the door stood and fell on our knees, exhausted. I closed my eyes for an instant and began to feel a strange tingling on my back. When I looked again, my skin had recovered its natural, human color. My nails had shrunk back to their normal size, as had my teeth. My wings had vanished and the color in my eyes had changed to their blue tone once again. Renamark was satisfied: it thirsted for blood no more... Slowly, I forced myself to my feet and turned back, as did we all.

Sephiroth stood on the edge of the land. The expression on his face was a tranquil one. His sword was lowered and his eyes were sparkling with pride and peace. We looked at his feet and noticed blue flames were starting to consume him... It was then that we remembered that he and Ansem had a bond. The enemy was dead... this meant that Sephiroth would soon join him. But there seemed to be no regret in him. For a moment, he didn't seem like a bad guy. He never smiled. But as the flames swallowed his body, he simply bowed his head and closed his eyes. Then, he vanished from existence.

"...So long, Sephiroth." Cloud muttered. "I'm glad that, for once, you acted the way I once knew you."

No one else said anything regarding this. Sora hastily ran to the huge door, along with Donald and Goofy. We remained still for a moment, but then followed them as they peered to see what was on the other side of it. I stood next to the brave lad and opened it enough to see what was on the other side...

"THE HEARTLESS!!" we exclaimed in horror.

"How can that be??" Ranma wailed.

"I don't know, just close the damn thing!" Cid cried and began to push the door as hard as he could. We all did the same thing... yet the door was as heavy as a whole city. If we did manage to move it an inch, then we were lucky.

"Sora!" a voice exclaimed from the other side of the door. It was a voice I had only heard once... and when we all turned to it, we saw Riku, who had appeared at the last moment from the deepest shadows... "Come on, Sora! We can do this together!"

"Riku...!" Sora muttered.

"Come on, I need your help!"

"...Got it!"

And the boy then started to pull. I don't know why, but his coming gave us new energies and we pushed harder. The door began to close...

"Never give up!"

These words had been spoken by someone I had never met before. We all stopped pushing and peered to the other side. Amongst the shadows, we discerned the shape of a small being who wore red shorts and white gloves. His ears were huge and round and his eyes were brave and kind. He held a weapon... a golden Keyblade which shone as a candle in a room devoured by shadows.

"YOUR MAJESTY!!" cried Donald and Goofy. "KING MICKEY!!"

"...King Mickey...?" Sora murmured.

"Now, Sora, let's close this door for good!" the king said in a loud voice. The sight of him renewed our strength, even if for a moment, and the door yielded to our might. "Donald... Goofy... everyone... thank you." He said before he disappeared behind the gate. "Don't worry, Sora..." his words echoed on the great void. "You're the one that will open the door to the light."

"Take care of her." Riku whispered to Sora as he looked at him with kind eyes and a friendly smile. Sora, with tears in his eyes, nodded and kept pushing.

Finally, the door was closed and the hero stepped back, gathering the last bit of energy to the tip of his Keyblade. He then shot it at the keyhole. At the same time, a golden glitter illuminated the doorknob... Surely it had been King Mickey, who had fired his weapon from the other side. And it was then that all of us heard the last keyhole get locked... Our adventure had finally come to an end.

Sora turned back and noticed something that made his heart pump with both sadness and relief. He saw Kairi standing on the edge of the land, looking at the floor with doubt and fear... and as I saw this vision, I realized that the ground was beginning to shake gently. I sniffed the air and noticed a familiar smell... It was the scent of Nerima. My home.

"Big sister..."

I turned to Siegfried and my eyes were filled by tears. He smiled kindly and he seemed to be at piece... Looking into his eyes, I realized he had also turned back into a human once more. But his body was turning into a white mist which was being blown away by a gentle wind which had come from countless worlds. I ran to him and hugged him as hard as I could.

"No! Siegfried! Don't go!" I sobbed. "Why? This can't happen!"

"I came back because of what my big brother did to save you from the Heartless... and now that they're gone, I must return to wherever I came from." He said, ever so calmly. It was obvious that he had already accepted his fate. "You have to let me go, big sister. Don't worry about me... I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Siegfried..." turning back, I saw all of my friends looking at us with sad faces. Too many emotions... too many good-byes. But I couldn't tolerate this one. "...I love you, little brother."

"I love you too, Ukyo." He answered, kissing my brow. "I hope you'll be very happy... That's what my big brother would've wanted..."

"...Say hi to him for me. Tell him that I will always love him."

"I sure will... Good-bye, big sister. Good-bye, guys." He shone as brightly and as beautifully as the first star to appear at twilight and then he left... leaving me on my knees, crying inconsolably. Oh, but that was not the end of it...

"Ukyo!" Sora cried, running to my side. "Ukyo..."

"Sora..." I muttered. "He's gone... Siegfried's gone..."

"I know..." he answered, tears in his eyes, but his voice strong and gentle. "Ukyo... I want you to know that you'll always be in my heart..."

"I-I didn't think it would be t-this hard, Sora..." I stuttered. I then got to my feet and held him between my arms for as long as I could, crying on his shoulder. "Thank you, Sora... I won't ever forget you!"

"Thanks, Ukyo... " he said. I heard him wipe his tears off his eyes and then he added: "I promise you that, some day, somehow, we'll meet again. Even if for another adventure of the sort... I'll find you, I swear. You're a friend I refuse to forget. Ever."

"My heart aches, Sora. The pain will only go away the next time we meet... I pray for the day to come soon... Take care, sugar."

"You too, Ukyo. Thank you..."

He then broke the hug, and with a smile, he ran in the opposite direction, passing by Donald and Goofy, who waved me farewell.

"Good-bye, guys!" I cried to them.

"Ucchan..." Ran-Chan said softly as he walked to me and put his hand on my shoulder. "Let's go home..."

I turned to him and noticed he was holding hands with Akane. They were part of a circle... a circle of friends which belonged to the same world. The others stood near us, yet our home was not theirs. Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, Vincent, and Cid held hands and waved at us with a sad joy. Dante stood by himself, tears in his eyes, waving at the rest of us quietly. Leon was close to him, standing by himself as well. He didn't wave, yet he smiled happily as we all bid him farewell. And Link and Aeris stood together, embracing each other fiercely, for the sorceress had given up on her home to be with the one she loved and the Hylian refused to return to his world without the keeper of his courageous heart. To my joy and relief, unlike Siegfried, Aeris didn't vanish when the final keyhole was locked. It was as if a divine spell had been cast upon her and kept her from returning to an eternal slumber or to go back to her homeland. Cloud and the others looked at her and, understanding her feelings, said farewell with happy faces...

Far away from us, I saw Sora reach Kairi by himself: a gap had appeared between them. The floor in which Kairi stood had turned into sand and the breeze of the ocean reached her as she held Sora's hand, an unknown force driving them apart.

"Kairi!" the hero shouted. "Remember my promise to you, Kairi! I'll find you! Trust me! I'll return to you!"

And the girl, with hope in her tear-filled eyes, nodded her head once and replied at the top of her lungs: "I KNOW YOU WILL!!" and then she let go.

We all started to drift away into our own worlds. We were engulfed by our own lands; the sky which we had so much longed to contemplate began to extend itself over our heads. Our dear friends grew small as they themselves were covered by the warm of their own homes. In a matter of seconds, they turned into just another star in the nocturne sky. Yes, the scent of my own home invaded me. We had returned... We were in Nerima. All of us, for the Earth is immense and it is our home.

Ran-Chan and Sakura, who had held my hands during our short travel, let go of me. All of them looked around. Some started to shout in joy, while other fell to their knees and sobbed happily. Some others hugged whoever was the closest to them and a few more smiled quietly, looking at the nocturne sky without saying a word. For my part, I stood still, with a sad stare upon my eyes, looking at my restaurant... it was just in the middle of the block.

"Yes, I am invincible!!" Adrian shouted, to which most of my friends cheered.

"We are home!" Felicia cried, hugging Octavius. And although the were-bear didn't cheer or even smile, for once, just for once, he returned the embrace.

"Bless my eyes! I didn't think we would return!" Merryck laughed.

"Yeah! We made it, guys!" Seiya cried. "Now it's back to Greece to protect Saori!"

"Come on, Seiya! I say we actually deserve a few days off, don't you think?" Shiryu joked.

"I agree with you, pal." Ikki chuckled. "You're such a workaholic, Seiya!"

"Wait a minute..." Ken muttered joyfully, looking at Camille. "What are you doing here? I thought you said you were from another realm... Urth... what was that?"

"Urthalien." The succubus said. "It is of no matter. My kingdom is connected to Earth. That is why I am with you. I can come and go as I please. It has always been like that."

"Whatever! I'm happy to have you here!" he exclaimed, hugging her, to which she laughed and embraced him too.

"Oh, boy..." Ariel said. She seemed a little worried that she had not appeared back in her palace in her mermaid form, but she was more than happy to remain with the rest of us. "My dad's going to kill me..."

"Hey, you've got nothing to worry about, Ariel." Ryu said. "We'll look for your father in one of Ken's ships. He can afford one. Right, Ken?"

"But of course! Anything for a friend!" the fighter laughed.

"It's good to be back, right Ukyo?" Ryoga said to me, after having kissed Sakura passionately. But when I gave no answer, his happiness turned to confusion. "...Ukyo?"

That scent... that most familiar, pleasant scent... I knew it. I could smell my grill, where I had cooked countless Okonomiyaki for my friends and my clients with so much devotion... I could smell my room; my bed, where I had slept so calmly many months ago, before I had been driven into that horrible, black hole. Fat tears began to run down my cheeks and I started to sob. Everyone stopped their celebrating and turned to me. I could sense that they were about to come to me to embrace me and try to calm me down... yet the scent came from inside my restaurant, from inside my room.

"Could it be...?" I muttered to myself, making all of my friends freeze on their tracks. And without saying anything else, I ran to my restaurant as fast as I could.

"Ukyo!" they cried and followed me.

I hastily opened the door and entered. I went up the stairs and tripped once. Yet the pain was momentary and I quickly got up and resumed my race, with the rest of my companions stepping on my heels. I then opened the door which led to my home. My trembling hands released the doorknob a couple of times, but I managed to get inside. Some of my friends tried to stop me... Nevertheless, I shook them off and continued my doing. There was the door to my room. I was terrified to open it. However, there was no way I would stop now. Otherwise, it would remain closed forever, holding nothing but a secrete that needed desperate answering. I swung it open... and held on to the wall to keep myself from falling to my knees.

There he was. Lying on my bed, sleeping peacefully – for sleeping he was: I could feel his exhalations. His eyes were closed and his chest grew and shrunk tranquilly. I let out an ecstatic sob of happiness as I rest my eyes upon him. The rest of my friends looked at him and gasped with joy. Some of them whispered his name, but none shouted: they knew I wanted to walk up to him and wake him up, ever so gently. And so, I slowly went to his side, struggling to contain my sobs. I touched his face tenderly – his warm skin was like the one of an angel. I drew my fingers to his moist lips and desperately wanted to kiss him. But before that, I wished to look into his beautiful eyes, for only then I would know that I wasn't dreaming and that I had been blessed by the Heavens.

I slowly drew my lips to his ear and softly whispered his name, unable to keep my voice from breaking...

"Wilheim... wake up, honey..."

He stirred in his sleep and took a deep breath. And then, he uncovered his gorgeous emeralds and looked into my eyes...

"Ukyo...?" he muttered, his voice trembling with joy. Time froze for a moment in which we stared at each other for the longest time... and, unable to contain myself any longer, I embraced him as hard as I could and kissed him with passion, allowing my tears to cover his face, to which all of our companions who laughed merrily and cheered, except for Octavius, although I was later told that, although he did not smile, he looked at us with a glitter of joy in his eyes and a calm expression upon his face.

"I thought we'd never see you again!" cried Felicia as she leapt onto the bed and hugged Wilheim too, sobbing frantically. Camille ran to us and joined the hug, too, crying happily, without saying a word.

"Felicia...? Camille...?" Wilheim mumbled, apparently a bit confused. "What happened...?"

He stopped asking questions and enjoyed the meeting. All of them hugged him one by one, crying tears of joy. Demean, Tish, Ryoga, Sakura, and Merryck were especially happy to see him alive and well. I daresay even Octavius was glad, even though he didn't let it show. Adrian made some silly remark which I can't remember right now and introduced himself to Wilheim. They later became very good friends.

As for me, to see my hero breathing and to kiss his lips was the happiest moment of my life. His heart melded with mine as I cried and cried on his shoulder and he comforted me with his strong, yet most gentle arms. I love him with all my heart. My Wilheim... my baby... my hero.

"Okay, that's it!" Ken said, trying to hold back the tears in his eyes and to keep his voice from breaking. "You guys have done it! Group hug, everyone! I demand a group hug!!"

Everyone joined the group hug – even Octavius (although I think Felicia sort of forced him, but that's another story). We all laughed and cried together for a long while. The warmth of our embrace reached our hearts and made us remember our friends who had gone back to their own worlds... I still think about them. I miss them.

Mostly, I think about Sora, Donald, and Goofy. I wonder where they ended up. That doesn't matter, anyway... I know they'll do fine either way, because their powers were great, the same as their will and their hearts. I hope they haven't forgotten about us. Because we will never forget them.

_Epilogue_

"Now what are we going to do?" Donald asked with a concerned voice.

"I guess we have to go look for Riku and King Mickey." Sora replied, ever so calmly.

"Yeah, but where do you suppose that we'll find that there door to the light?" inquired Goofy, unable to think of any answers.

The three friends stopped and let out a sigh. Indeed, the road seemed long and they had just waged the fiercest of battles. However, they knew that, no mattered what perils lay ahead, they would face them together. Because of that, their hearts beat peacefully. No force on any world would be able to break them apart.

Suddenly, they saw something on the road. At first, they couldn't believe their eyes, but when they took a closer look, they all let out a happy chuckle and ran to the person that waved at them with a cheerful smile. They stopped a few feet away from her and respectfully bowed.

"Lady Gabrielle!" Sora said. "Boy, are we glad to see you!"

"I am happy to see you too, brave lad." The oracle replied with a gentle voice.

"So, what are you doing here, Gabrielle?" asked Donald.

"I come to you to bring you happy news and guidance."

"A-hyuck!" Goofy chuckled. "That's good to know! So, what's been goin' on?"

"Wonderful things have happened, regarding your friends." She said. "I came here to tell you that the sorceress Aeris not only lives still, but that now she dwells in the castle of Hyrule in the company of the just princess Zelda and her brave beloved, Link."

"Awesome!" Sora cheered. "But why didn't she return to her own world?"

"When you locked that final keyhole, the last remnants of Ansem's power upon the worlds were torn apart." Gabrielle explained. "I suppose you could say I might have had something to do with it."

"You're great!" the boy exclaimed and the duck and the knight cheered happily.

"Is there something else?" Donald asked.

"Yes." Gabrielle replied. "The rest of your friends are fine... Ukyo misses you and she does not do it alone, for her beloved lives again and is by her side once more."

"Wilheim is alive?!" the three friends exclaimed, unable to believe their bewildered ears.

"Yes, he is." The oracle giggled.

"YES!!" Sora shouted at the top of his lungs, leaping high into the air, laughing merrily. "Yes, yes, yes, yes!! I knew it! Wilheim, I knew you'd be okay!!"

"YAHOO!!" Goofy exclaimed joyfully.

"OH, BOY!!" Donald quacked happily.

"Thank you, Gabrielle!!" the boy said, falling to his knees.

"I had nothing to do with it." The oracle said. "Save, perhaps, for the relocation of his unconscious self." She added softly and winked.

"You're amazing, Lady Gabrielle!" Goofy said. "Um, is there something else we should know?"

"One last thing, yes." She answered. "I am sure this will also bring you great joy..."

"Hey, guys!" a fifth voice suddenly said. The three friends turned back and noticed a tall, young man, who, until that moment, had been hiding behind one of the bushes which adorned the green meadows and the road of dirt. Their smiles grew bigger as they all laughed the joy of their hearts. After a few moments, they ran to him and pounced on him, embracing him, and knocked him on his back. Although he was slightly hurt by the fall, the young man laughed and returned the hug.

"I'm so happy to see you!!" Sora cried.

"I thought we had seen the end of you!" Donald added.

"Did you have something to do with this too, Lady Gabrielle?" asked Goofy, between chuckles.

"Yes: of this, I am completely guilty." The oracle giggled.

"Thank you! From the bottom of our hearts!" Sora cried as he got up only to kneel again.

"I do this with great pleasure. You have nothing to thank." Gabrielle said, smiling tenderly. "Now, there is something else you should know..." as she finished saying these words, she stepped aside and revealed Pluto, who had been sitting patiently behind her and wagged his tail enthusiastically.

"Hey, Pluto!" Sora laughed merrily.

"You rascal!" Donald chuckled. "Where have you been?"

"Huh? What's that...?" Goofy murmured as he took a closer look at the dog. He was holding what seemed to be a letter between his teeth... with the royal seal of King Mickey on it. They all noticed this and let out a thrilled gasp. "King Mickey?"

"Do you know where he is?" Sora asked.

Pluto turned around and began to run up the road. The four friends looked at Gabrielle in silence, to which she smiled and said: "You should better hurry up, brave heroes, or you might lose track of him."

"Yeah!" Sora exclaimed. He ran up to her and stood still for a moment, hesitating. In the end, however, he hugged her tenderly, to which she giggled and embraced the boy. The rest of them joined them and, after a few moments, she stepped aside, as if giving them room to pass through.

"Go now, brave warriors. I bid you a warm farewell and wish you good luck on your journey."

"Thank you, Gabrielle..." said Sora. He then turned to the young man and asked: "Are you up for another adventure?"

"As long as you teach me a bit of swordplay, my friend." He replied, with a smile.

"Sure thing! It'll be my pleasure." The boy answered. "Well, let's go, guys!" and so he began to run after Pluto as fast as he could, smiling joyfully as he went.

"Wait up, Sora!" Donald cried as he held his hat and ran after the boy.

"Come on, Siegfried!" Goofy chuckled and followed his other two friends.

"Good-bye, Lady Gabrielle..." Siegfried said. "Thank you for everything..."

"Be safe, brave Siegfried. Let them take care of you. And take care of them." Gabrielle said.

"I'd gladly give my life for them." The young man said, a smile illuminating his face. "Wait up, guys!"

The four of them ran the long road that was ahead of them without barely any rest. But they hardly grew tired, for the strength of one was the strength of the other. United by their hearts, they were. And this union gave them the power to plunge into any dangers, for they knew they would always stand tall and proud. They would always look out for each other. After all... isn't that what friends are for?

_THE END_

_Final note:_

FINALLY!! I didn't think I'd have this finished before school started... Whew! Well, I made it just one day before it all started... I confess I really enjoyed my vacation quite a bit, and that's what kept me from writing as much as I would've liked. Actually, this chapter isn't as long as the previous ones, as you might've noticed, but I like the way it turned up.

Well, now that the story is over, I'd like to thank some special people for their support and ideas:

_Damián Alarcón and Erika Argudín (Demean and Tish): _Thanks for your friendship and to encourage me to keep writing and creating stories.

_Adrián Araya (Adrian):_ Thank you for helping me with your character... and by providing such hilarious tales. I'll need your help for the sequel!

_Jorge Octavio Colmenero (Octavius): _Thank you for letting me use your character in this story, even if he was not entirely himself. I enjoyed using him.

_Alejandro Mesa (Merryck / Siegfried):_ Although I doubt that he'll ever finish my story, because he's not fond of reading, I'd just like to thank him for asking me to write the chapters of the Sanctuary: I had a good time doing that. And if he does ever get this far, then congratulations, Ale, at last you read something, even if it is your older brother's flawed story.

_Kiosce (Dante): _I especially want to thank you for allowing me to use such a wonderful character in the story and for providing your incredible ideas. I really look forward to working on the sequel with you.

And last, but by far not least, I would like to thank everyone who at least troubled his or herself in clicking on the link to the story's introduction. Thanks for your reviews and thank you for your support. I hope I'll be able to provide another crazed idea soon enough. Until then, take care!

Rafa


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